A buddy and I will be doing the border route starting end of next week, which puts us coming thru the Pigeon River around June 3rd. Right now the water is right around 3,000 cfs according to the waterdata.usgs data

I know Beav mentioned in another thread that anything above 1,000 cfs is considered difficult paddling by the FS. Does anyone have any insight into paddling the Pigeon River in roughly 2 weeks? Hopefully the flow will come down a bit but its really hard to plan for where it may be. Moreso just trying to get a gauge on how doable paddling the Pigeon river will be is or if we potentially need to be thinking about an alternative plan because of high water?

Talked to the gunflint ranger station and they didn't know much other than stating she did not think it would be unsafe if we were experienced.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

You might get good information from BeaV or Voyager (Russ) about the Pigeon in high water. Also check with Peter Wagner and Matt Kelso. They did a run at it in high water a few years ago. Look them up on the Member Directory.

I've done it 5 times and I think the highest level was 300 cfs. Peter and Matt ran it high , but if I recall, it wasn't that high.

I’ve done it 4 times. I was just in the BWCA last week. Water pretty high. I stopped at High and Middle Falls on the Pigeon River and believe me you don’t want to run the pigeon at this level, not even the section down to the start of the Grand Portage.
I did it last June at around 500, really fun. I would hesitate at anything approaching 1000.

Hey Dave, Good advice! Now we just wait for the water to go down!

Opening thread may be done with and I hope wanted success on the Pigeon-- but have done S. Fowl to Fort Charlotte 5 times. (never past downstream ) Most worry about low water -- which does suck. ( English Rapids) But high water (as mentioned) above is dangerous and have had a crew capsize after copious rains in fall of 2019 which I would equate with a rate of around 700-800 cfs-- but this "run" was done at night and at compromised conditions.
But from experience- it's easy to see at above avg cfs levels - how the Pigeon can get dangerous. There is basically no side chutes -- you get run down the middle- or side blasted to shore rather quickly is my .02.

We caught a glimpse at St. Croix state park. Climbed the fire tower with a group to see them. Not even sure who we were with. Was just a random deal at Canoe U when we arrived!

Ryan