Ashuelot, |
|
| Usual Difficulty | III-IV (may vary with level) |
|---|---|
| Length | 5.3 Miles |
| Avg. Gradient | 64 fpm |
| Max Gradient | 90 fpm |
| Name | Range | Difficulty | Updated | Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASHUELOT RIVER NEAR GILSUM, NH | ||||
| usgs-01157000 | 430 - 1700 cfs | III-IV | 01h02m | 248 cfs (rc= -0.1 ) |
Put in elevation........1069'
Take out elevation......731'
Total drop..............338'
Average drop/mile.......64'.......Including Surprise and Gilsum gorge
Distance................5.3 miles
1st mile drop...........52'......Includes Surprise rapid
2nd mile drop...........30'
3rd mile drop...........75'
4th mile drop...........69'
5th mile drop...........85'......Includes upper Gulsum gorge
5.3 mile drop...........27'......(90' average) includes lower Gilsum gorge
River width average.....25'
River geology...........Small to medium schist boulders, some ledges
River water quality.....Good, clarity average
Scenery.................Nice river valley usually within view of
route 10, a few homes on the banks.
Wildlife................Occasional deer, hawks
This section of the Ashuelot lies above the Surry mountain flood control dam and therefore is a natural flow river.
The USGS gauge is located below this flood control dam 6 miles downstream from the take out, therefore it should only be used as reference since the Army Corps of Engineers could be discharging more or holding back water for flood control. To get a more accurate reading on the flow go to Army Corps of Engineers Ashuelot tabular data and look at the last reading under the "inflow cfs" heading. It is estimated you will need at least 430 cfs for a scratchy run. The usual gage for this section is on an outside staff of an abandoned USGS gage building just upstream on river right of the stone arch bridge entrance to Gilsum gorge. People with good eyesight or a pair of binoculars can read the level from the river left bank.
Gilsum gorge Surry Lake visual gauge Inflow cfs Interpretation ~4.4 ~430 Minimum <4.8 ~480 Scratchy <5.1 ~560 Low <5.4 ~700 Low to medium <5.9 ~900 Medium <6.4 ~1200 Medium high >6.4 ~1500 High Thanks to Will Kranz for the information used to develop this table.
Note: As a result of the two hundred-year-flood events in the fall of 2006 and spring of 2007 the riverbed near the gage has changed.The table above appears to no longer be valid. New observations will be posted as they are accumulated.
Date/Time Gilsum Gorge Surray Lake Interpretation
visual gage Inflow cfs
6-Apr-08 4PM ~4.7 785 (FS 10cfs/hr) Medium
(FR=Falling Rapidly, FS=Falling Slowly, S=Steady, RS=Rising Slowly,
RR=Rising Rapidly)
Estimated chance (%) of finding the river runnable.
Month............% chance.................comment January ............ 0%....frozen. February.............0%....frozen March................20%....Usually frozen. April...............70%....Best chance May ................25%....Best chance in early May with rain. June.................8% July.................5% August...............5%....Just a trickle September...........10%....Tropical storms and their remains October........�....20% November............35%....Fall rains, dormant trees December............30%....River starts freezing about Christmas.
Be aware this is averaged out over several years. The % chance refers to the probability of finding the river running on any given day. For instance a 5% probability for August means on average you can only expect 1-1/2 days of water. One year there could be 3 days in August with water, other years none. Spring levels are usually higher than fall levels.
| Name | Range | Difficulty | Updated | Level | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASHUELOT RIVER NEAR GILSUM, NH | ||||||||||||
| usgs-01157000 | 430 - 1700 cfs | III-IV | 01h02m | 248 cfs (rc= -0.1 ) | ||||||||
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| When | River/Gauge | Subject | Level | Reporter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4y227d10h31m | Ashuelot [NH] |
Gilsum Gorge
|
5.6' visual | Bob Dunn |
| 5y65d10h31m | Ashuelot [NH] |
Surprise Rapid
|
6.5 | Mark Lacroix |
No rapids entered. If you know names, and locations of the rapids please contact and advise the StreamTeam member for this run. River Alert
State News
River Links
NWRI - Ashuelot 1. Marlow to Gilsum Gorge (mobile)
User Comments
right above the last bridge before the take-out. It had not been there in Aril 2009. It can be
easily seen from the road & the river. Scouting, it looked easily passable on river left. We
made it through, but it was a lot tighter than it had seemed. At higher levels the water would've
been pushy enough to make it very dicey. The right bank is high at that spot so it may not widen
the channel. Edit
later at 5.6'. The strainer is either gone or is only visible at low levels. This is becoming one
of my favorite rivers.