O.C.T. New River Rendezvous over Labor Day

hotBOATERchick · Post by **hotBOATERchick** » Tue Aug 27, 2013 7:18 pm

I'm in for Saturday!

bambam · Post by **bambam** » Tue Aug 27, 2013 9:37 pm

All good fun!

Water level update:

The one thing I feel confident of is that we won't be complaining about low water this year.

That said, the calculated Fayette Station gauge just dropped below three feet. We are moving into the upper end of "ordinary levels". Forecasts for the watershed are calling mostly for scattered thunderstorms for the rest of the week so things could change, of course, but I'm not seeing predictions of massive rainfall.

..... Apparent blasphemy, I know, but just this once I wouldn't mind a few rain-free days.

Cheers,

Ken Dubel

JDzielak · Post by **JDzielak** » Wed Aug 28, 2013 6:07 am

In keeping with your loosely organized theme I'll be showing up Sunday morning to paddle for the day.

I'll be in the middle of a family camping trip a little ways up the road and I got a day pass for Sunday.

Not in keeping with your loosely organized theme what time do people start to organize themselves? I.e. what time should I plan to get to Rays to invite myself on a trip? I'm assuming the New will be the only thing running. I don't really care what the level ends up being.

bambam · Post by **bambam** » Wed Aug 28, 2013 8:07 am

You should be at Ray's campground by nine on Sunday and / or Monday.

Ken

Katherine · Post by **Katherine** » Wed Aug 28, 2013 1:48 pm

I'm thinking about going for Sat. and Sun. - am watching gauges. There's a flash flood watch for Fayette, WV until 11 pm Wed. Weather service forecasts 3" of rain, which may bring things up initially, depending on where it falls.

bambam · Post by **bambam** » Wed Aug 28, 2013 6:10 pm

Water level update: 2.9 feet at Fayette Station. Curiously the gauge well upstream at Hinton did a sudden drop of an inch or so which should translate into a level of about 2.6 (http://www.thebrabecs.com/cgi-bin/nrg.pl) at Fayette Station sometime tomorrow. This is the gauge just below Bluestone dam so it's apparent they choked back the dam. The gauges in Virginia do not seem to be reacting to the rain at the moment.

Radar suggests some significant thunderstorms racing across West Virginia today. Ordinary local rains generally don't have much affect on the level of the New in West Virginia except for a day or so if they really get dumped on. This system looks scattered and is moving pretty fast.

Cheers,

Ken

bambam · Post by **bambam** » Thu Aug 29, 2013 8:10 am

Thursday morning update.

Well, the storms have passed and the New watershed was largely unaffected with one glaring exception -- the Greenbrier. There is a sizable pulse of water headed to the New. "Sizable" as in almost 8,000 cfs as of this writing. The gauge is acting a little funny but seems to be true. Fellow gauge geeks, I'm looking at the Greenbrier at Buckeye, WV.

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/wv/nwis/uv/?s ... 0060,62614

It's maybe a hundred river miles (lots of meanders) upstream of the gauge on the New at Hinton. There are no dams between the Greenbrier and the New River gorge.

I really don't know how long it will take this pulse to reach Thurmond and I don't know what it will look like when it gets there. If anyone does then comments are more than invited. I do expect it to affect our weekend in some way.

On the other hand, the fruitbasket got a nice little bump up to runnable. We'll see if it lasts. Sections of Gauley above the lake come to mind for novice and intermediate runs and, ooh, ooh, ooh, wouldn't it be sweet if the Cranberry held for Saturday?

Oh, and the New at Fayette Station has dropped to about 2 - 1/2 feet. So far this has been a wild ride and we haven't even left yet!

Ken Dubel

rob_parker · Post by **rob_parker** » Fri Aug 30, 2013 9:46 am

I'm in a bind for a neoprene skirt (actually need two) for the New River this weekend. Would appreciate if anyone with an extra would bring it along. The skirt needs to fit a Dagger RPM or a Perception Phat. A Seals 1.7 works nicely.

Dagger RPM - 34" length, 19" width, 87" circumference

Perception Phat - 33", 19", 85"

Email (r.parker@vt.edu) or call (540-605-1064) if you can help.

Thanks,
Rob

John and Linda VanLuik · Fri Aug 30, 2013 1:04 pm

There is a chance for the Cherry on Sat. The Cranberry is still running today

unclefuzzy · Post by **unclefuzzy** » Fri Aug 30, 2013 3:32 pm

Nancy and I are interested in paddling the Cherry or Top Gauley (from the Cherry down to Panther Creek) tomorrow (Saturday). Exactly what we paddle will depend on the water level on the Gauley at Craigsville and on the painted paddlers gauge on the Cherry at Fenwick.

We just got home from paddling the top Gauley and there was plenty of water for it. It should be good to go for tomorrow if the Craigsville gauge stays at 11.0 feet or higher. The paddler's gauge at Fenwick was at about 4" when we stopped to look at it. The Cherry was probably still runnable below Rhododendron Park but looked pretty shallow above the park.

If anyone is interested in paddlign with us tomorrow (Saturday), please give us a call (304-872-1493) before 10:30 am. That will save us a trip to Ray's in the morning (since we live closer to the Cherry than to Ray's). We could meet whoever wants to paddle with us at the Go-Mart on Route 39 in Nettie at 11:15-11:30. To get to the Go-Mart from Ray's, take Route 19 north to Summersville and turn right onto Route 39 East. The Go-Mart is about 11 miles from Route 19.

Chuck & Nancy Brabec

unclefuzzy · Post by **unclefuzzy** » Fri Aug 30, 2013 3:43 pm

The bubble that was coming down the Greenbrier has reached the New at Hinton. The flow there is currently at 11,900 (3.68 feet) and has just started to drop. The bubble should reach Thurmond and NRG tonight or early tomorrow. At that flow, the gauge at Fayette Station should be around 6 feet.

Chuck Brabec

bambam · Post by **bambam** » Fri Aug 30, 2013 5:32 pm

Thanks for the information, Chuck. I don't know that I've seen a bubble slam into a gauge a day later and still be so steep -- like a wall of water running downstream. Looking back upstream at Buckeye I see it dropped from 8,000 to 2,000 in a little over 24 hours. Makes me wonder how quickly the NRG will drop.

Ken

unclefuzzy · Post by **unclefuzzy** » Fri Aug 30, 2013 5:52 pm

The gauges on the Greenbrier at Alderson and Hilldale as well as the one on the New at Hinton just started to drop. The bubble still hasn't gotten to Thurmond.

Looking at the New, I see that the COE is currently releasing 3742 cfs from Bluestone dam and the flow is 4600 at Glen Lyn and 5700 at Radford. I believe that the COE will increase the release from the dam to match what is comes into Bluestone Lake.

My guess is that the bubble from the Greenbrier will reach the gorge overnight and slowly drop after that. It could be in the 5-6 foot range tomorrow and 4-5 foot range on Sunday.

Doug Lipton · Post by **Doug Lipton** » Fri Aug 30, 2013 7:32 pm

I'll be arriving at Fayette Station early afternoon on Saturday. If anyone is interested in an afternoon run (maybe 1:30 or 2 pm) down the Gorge, please text me at 804-363-3921. Otherwise, if you see me trying to hitch a ride from the takeout....

Post by **GinnyN** » Sat Aug 31, 2013 6:16 am

Rob, I've got a skirt you can borrow. At the cabin behind the office

Coastals

O.C.T. New River Rendezvous over Labor Day

Cherry or Top Gauley on Saturday

The New is Hinton is now at 11,900 cfs

More about the gauges on the Greenbrier and New

NRG Saturday Afternoon