Spring rains are funny. They come in, then leave but where do they deposit their moisture? Some areas get large amounts and others, only a light shower. For those of us who make our living running rivers, we have to figure that out. How do we do that? As I mentioned in previous posts, this is not an exact science. We use river gauges from the internet, voice recordings from the dams and even, drive down to the river and look.
Monday was one of the days, where even with all of the technology, driving to the river was in order. The past week has been rainy almost every day. However, the rivers had not risen but a small amount. Where did the rain go? One of the most interesting and difficult things is how to gauge the amount of runoff that actually gets to the river. Now that spring is in full blossom, the plants and trees with a full compliment of leaves soak up a tremendous amount of that water. But once the plants and trees are saturated, the runoff increases quickly.
Monday, New River was at 7 feet on the Fayette Station gauge, about 14,000 cfs(cubic feet per second). Great spring water level, very runnable and loads of fun. Waves are tall and thick, meaning they have large volumes of water, very powerful. Our people on the river were very impressed with the trip. However, more rain had fallen than was in the river bed. Where is the water? Around 5pm, the answer was clear, everything was saturated and the full runoff was on.
The New, Gauley, Greenbrier, Meadow and Bluestone Rivers all have a direct impact on where we raft and which craft we use. All of these went up late on Monday afternoon. New River is now about 10 feet, over 30,00 cfs and the Gauley is 8,000 cfs. High, but still raftable. New River has 10 foot waves and huge hydraulics. Gauley River
New River Gorge Fayette Station Rapid
is raftable on the Lower section but the Upper is not commercially runnable.
What does all of this mean to you? Great water levels for the next several days and that will extend well into May.
Does this help you understand how whitewater rafting works? What questions do you have? Let me know, I will try to answer with information that helps you decide, “Which river is right for me?”
