Pitt River (Reach 5, Lower)
| Stretch: | Big Bend Rd to Pitt 5 Powerhouse |
| Difficulty: | Class III- |
| Distance: | 5.75 miles |
| Flows: | 800-3000? cfs |
| Gradient: | 43.4 fpm (64.5 fpm for the first 2 miles) |
| Put-in: | Big Bend Rd |
| Take-out: | Pitt 5 Powerhouse |
| Shuttle: | 6 miles (15 minutes) |
| Season: | Very rare from PG&E release |
| Written: | © 2008 |
The easiest of the runs on Pitt 1, 4 and 5 (haven't run 2 or 3 yet), this run was a nice leisurely way to finish off a day on the Pitt 5 Upper. For a class III boater, this run would provide some thrills without being overly scary. Two nice side creeks came into the river along with several hot springs. The first half of the run was much more fun and offered significantly harder rapids than the bottom few miles. Not long after the hot springs the river eases up and becomes much more of a class II nature.
I don't really remember the details of each one since I also had all the rapids from the upper stretch in my mind. There was one or two that were long and required several moves, reminded me of Meat Grinder on the South Fork of the American, one such rapid is just before some hot springs on your left. Sorry I cant offer more information than that, but know that there are several lines down every rapid on the run, anything that looked clean, was.
That night, we encountered some cows... they look evil.
Take out: To get to take-out, take Big Bend Rd off of Highway 299 (about 4 miles after the town of Montgomery Creek) and head north. Follow for 14 miles or so until you see the PG&E sign for Pitt 5 Powerhouse, follow this road (Pitt 5 Powerhouse Rd) for 4 or so miles down to the river. At the bridge the road splits in three, a dirt road is in the center and leads 100 feet down to the water.
Put-in: Head back up to Big Bend Road and head north towards the town of Big Bend. In the middle of town a small bridge crosses the river. Put in here.
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