Receding Water Levels

Quick update: Just got the drop in water levels at Castlerock – Friday night trips and beyond are 100% on!

While we’re likely to get a storm rolling through Friday evening, it’s very unlikely to drop enough water to change anything for us, certainly not overnight. That said, if you’re in a storm Friday, your tent is by far the thing you should worry about. High winds ahead of the storm front can shatter tent poles or outright blow your tent away if it’s not weighed down. If you have fiberglass poles (i.e. cheaper tents), I’d really recommend dropping the tent for those few minutes of wind and then pop it up before the rain.

Water levels are currently still high enough to cover most sandbars and overnight trips are on hold through Thursday. Day trips are still good to go and feedback about current conditions from those that weren’t planning to camp has been good. The rain storms of the past few days have pretty evenly covered the state and water levels have already peaked upstream.

Green is good!

What I’m really waiting to see is a bigger drop at Castlerock. Ideally it’d be running under 12,000. I do think it’s coming, and with any luck, it’ll happen by late Wednesday or very early Thursday. If it hasn’t dropped by Thursday morning, Friday night won’t be an option for camping.

The graph below is a good one to watch. Once it happens, it’ll take about a day and a half for that water level drop to reach our section and bring back enough sandbars to have everyone camp out. Why the focus on Castlerock? The dams between us and them are ‘run of river’ dams. They operate under a federal permit that absolutely requires what goes in must come out. Castlerock is the last place above us with the ability to release or withhold water at their discretion.