1. Walters Power Plant at Waterville/Big Creek to Hartford Bridge

The Pigeon is a popular dam release river that offers easy access to a fun and relatively quick and straightforward class III run that is about an hour from both Asheville and Knoxville. This five mile run offers a number of big water Class 3 - 3+ rapids: Powerhouse,  Roller Coaster,  Lost Guide,  Double Reactionary and Accelerator.  The river also has a number of popular playspots throughout the first mile of the river, as well as at Snap Dragon, Lost Guide, and below Double Reactionary. Although the I-40 flanks the run on river right, you are paddling through a scenic gorge that on the eastern boundary of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Just look left for the better scenery. Recreational Releases The Pigeon releases Memorial Day - Labor Day on each Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday, from 12:00pm - 6:00pm. The Pigeon tends to be quite busy on scheduled released days, especially Saturdays. Walter's Power Plant also releases during the winter and spring occasionally.  The number for Pigeon information is 1-800-899-4435. After Labor Day, the recording at this number is seldom, if ever, updated.The good news going forward is that if you go here \[ [https://www.duke-energy.com/community/lakes/flow-releases\]](https://www.duke-energy.com/community/lakes/flow-releases) and use the dropdown menu to change Catawba - Wateree to Pigeon you will get a rolling 3 day forecast of generation / releases.  For the summer recreational releases the water is on from 'noon' to 6 pm, but the measuring point is the USGS gauge 3/4 mile downstream, so the water is on by 11:30 am. All the rafting companies have known this for years and at 11:20 am there is a line of buses waiting to unload passengers and rafts. The 'normal' release on scheduled release days is two turbines (@ ~ 625 cfs each) plus some inflow from Big Creek and the creeks feeding the dries. So on a typical summer release Saturday, you will get 1250 cfs + maybe 60 - 100 from the creeks or around 1350 cfs. Occasionally you will get a 3 turbine release and sometimes the inflow from the creeks is a little higher. The descriptions that I have written are for a 2 turbine release with ~ 100 cfs inflow, but work well from 1000 cfs to 1600 cfs. A History of Pollution The Pigeon was for many years so polluted that is was biologically dead. The river ran a coffee brown for most of the 20th century, containing toxic chemicals such as  dioxins, furan, and chloroform -- all from the Champion paper mill in nearby Canton. As noted by Joyce Coombs 'the Pigeon River was once so polluted that North Carolina classified the best use of its waters to be for waste disposal.'  In the early 1990's the trend was reversed.   The modernization of methods used at the paper mill led to significant reduction in the use and discharge of toxic chemicals.  According to 'a spokesperson for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services ... dioxin concentrations in fish samples taken from the river have decreased 99 percent since 1990.'  - Smoky Mountain News  Jan. 31 2007. In the late 1990's snails and common mussels were reintroduced to the river - the river was again alive! Since 2000 more than 20 species of fish have been re-introduced to the river. The paper mill in Canton closed in 2023 and the river has experienced a vast improvement in water quality. Parking at the takeout(s) and Shuttles Near the first bridge that you come to in Hartford, just upstream from River Rat (formerlyUSA Raft), there is a large grassy field with a gravel bus path through it. This land is leased by Cocke county and you can park there. There is plenty of room for the usual number of private boaters and a few of the spots are shaded. Ultimately the county plans to add picnic tables, changing room and a couple porta-potties. You can also park at nearby USA raft (even in the shady spots) for $5 and you can then use their changing rooms & showers. You can ride USA Raft busses for free, waiver form is preferred. If you go further downriver, you can park at NOC - park near the slalom poles. NOC has changing rooms and you can ride the raft buses for free (must sign a waiver). NOC gets very busy during July and August and parking gets tight. spaces will go to their customers first.  If you take out at NOC, you must use the upper ramp; the lower ramp is reserved for their rafting guests. That means if you go surf the 'NOC wave', you must get out on the island, walk upstream, then put back in and ferry to the upper ramp. You can also park at  Wildwater - in the grassy area behind the 'moonshine still' building, it's free. You can also use the Wildwater busses for free, waiver preferred; and you can use their changing rooms. The Wildwater buses run at 11:00 am, 12 noon, 1:15 pm, 2:15 pm, 3:15 pm, and 4:15 pm. All of the free bus rides are space available - but fortunately it usually is. With the lost parking spaces, the parking / unloading at the put-in is very tight on Saturdays and holidays so try to leave most of your vehicles at the takeouts. Rick Stuart runs a shuttle service and as of this writing charges $15 for a ride from the takeout to the put-in. It's an additional $5 for a boat. His phone # is 423-237-3309. When he is not actually shuttling someone he is usually hanging around the Cocke County takeout in a Ford F-150 .  You can be a little more certain of your shuttle if you call Rick the night before. See also _Carolina Whitewater_, B.Benner.