Pinnacle Rock
| Run Length |
8.7 miles |
Average Gradient |
33 fpm |
| Difficulty |
Class III+ |
Recommended Flow |
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| River |
Arkansas River |
Location |
Buena Vista, Colorado |
| Author |
Gordon Banks & Dave Eckardt |
Current Level |
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| Drainage |
Arkansas |
Elevation |
6020ft to 5735ft |
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Due to its easy roadside accessibility, this is a popular run. It is not too hard, but there is enough whitewater in it to make it interesting, and there's one good-sized, tricky rapid to stun the unwary, unskilled, or unworthy boater. There are also a couple of mighty play waves at higher flows where the road constricts the river.
Most rapids can be seen from a roadside scout, but the key drop, Three Rocks, is a little offset and thus might escape detection. It comes about two miles below the start and is a mixture of holes and big bumper waves curling off rocks as you descend a turn. Here, trying to avoid one obstacle can point the boater straight at another, creating runs that sometimes get progressively unmanageable as the craft heads through the thick of the rapid.
Pinnacle Rock like Royal Gorge, Brown's Canyon, and the Numbers, is hooked into the State Parks Sysytem. A small daily fee or a Parks Pass will get you on the river. Gordon recommends buying the Pass, but I never have. It might be an East Slope vs. West Slpw thing, where the pass is used more oftern if you live on the East Slope, as they have a far greater share of the State Parks.
Flow Information:
- III < 2700 cfs
- IV > 2700 cfs
Disclaimer
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Show Large Images
| | Put-In
Put-in is located at Highway 50 mile 258.2. Spike Buck is an intermediate access point about a third of the way through the run.
| | | test Class I
| | | Prelude Class II
couple of roller waves |  | Three Rocks Class III+
Right line is easiest. Watch out for large wave river right as you enter the rapid | | | 5 Points Class II
Some waves nothing huge |  | Spike Buck Class III
Class III wave train at lower water. Big holes develop in the middle over 2000. | | | Take-Out
The take-out, which is also the put-in for the popular Royal Gorge section, is located at Highway 50 mile 266.6. |
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