Trip Changes on the Pigeon

Walters Powerhouse, which is responsible for releasing water into the Pigeon River, has their last release for 2009 scheduled on September 5th. In previous years this has signaled the end of rafting season on the Upper Pigeon River. This is because we rely on these scheduled releases to create exciting Class III and IV rapids on set days of the week to be able to guarantee your trip will be the ride that you expect. However this year we are offering a new kind of trip! After Labor Day we will be offering a scenic River Trip with a chance of whitewater. The trip will be a Class I - II experience with the possibility of a full Upper Pigeon Trip! Why the uncertainty about the size of the rapids? Walters Powerhouse will be releasing water "as needed" rather than following a regular schedule. Lake levels, power demand and weather forecasts will all be used to determine these projected release times. As a result, we won't know more than a day or so in advance when the whitewater will occur and we may not even find out until we reach the launch area! Minimum flows on the river create Class I and II rapids so it can be rafted regardless of flow and the scenery is still fantastic. The Pigeon River will be open on Tuesday’s through Saturdays and this is a GREAT opportunity to see the fall leaf changes and get some excitement in at the same time! September 9th through October 5th trips will start at 12pm and 3pm. From October 6th until November 14th trips will start at 11am and 2pm. The price for the trip is $39 per person – Trips leaving out at 3PM are still eligible for the $8-off discount!

Combining River Rafting and Learning

We have a lot of guides who are teachers and a lot of school groups that raft with us year after year. All of them are saying the same thing, "It's getting harder and harder to get approval and funding from the school board to take trips that are purely for fun." Trips that have an educational component are much more readily agreed to by both the school boards and parents. We can certainly see the reason for this and we want to be able to provide trips that meet the goals and curriculum of our school groups to assist them in getting approval to take their annual rafting trips.

We are currently working on building educational "modules" that meet curriculum standards for schools in the Southeast. The idea is that we will provide materials and lesson plans for teachers planning on coming to the Rivers to raft so that they can provide an educational component to their trip. Initially we're focusing on the Chattooga River although we'd eventually like to adapt the modules to be used on all rivers.

The Chattooga region lends itself extremely well to topics such as geology, cultural history, ecology, biology, water quality, dendrology and even applied mathematics. We would love to hear from any teachers who have built their own lessons into past rafting trips or from any teachers who are considering trips for the future. We have some great ideas and the beginnings of some great lesson plans but any information that have worked in the past would be greatly appreciated! We'd also love to hear what topics would fit in well with your lesson plans for the current year.

Please email groupsales@wildwaterltd.com if you have any ideas or are interested in discussing what we already have in place.