Blue,
|
|
Hwy 7 to Cheadle Falls near Wapanucka (9.5 miles)
| Usual Difficulty |
II-III (may vary with level) |
| Length |
9.5 Miles |
| Avg. Gradient |
30 fpm |
Gauge Information
| Name |
Range |
Difficulty |
Updated |
Level |
|
Blue River near Blue, OK
|
|
usgs-07332500 |
350 - 3000 cfs
|
II-III |
01h21m |
150
cfs
(rc= -0.1 ) |
|
|
River Description
The Blue is flat for 40 miles, collecting 200 sq. miles of watershed before dropping off a
granite plateau. In 5.5 miles below Hwy.7, there are over 50 ledges, six of which are 6' or
better.
www.paddleyak.com
Steven Anderson contributed:
StreamTeam Status: Not Verified
Last Updated: 2005-11-06 23:57:52
User Comments
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too bad except it was really scratchy but the last 2 miles to the camp ground and it sucked. We got
bush wacked and it took 2 hours longer to run the river. Its was too much of a hassle to enjoy, but
whatever. There needs to be more public access point on the river to run selected sections.
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clearly didn't hit it at the right flow. Catch this at the right flows and it is a great ride with
lots of drops with pools in between. The guage is way downstream so I watch the rainfall upstream
at Roff. It rises quickly and drops almost as fast. I drive down from OKC whenever I see at least
2.0 inches of rainfall. I run it about 5-8 times a year. There can be lots of timber in the stream
and scouting from the banks in nearly impossible. Know the river before you jump on it at high
levels unless you are skilled. Generally the best rides are on river left. Big Falls and Cheadle
Falls are downriver from the state park but can be well worth the paddle at higher water levels.
Big Falls is a series of small falls one after another. It is full of trees but there are some
great runs thru them. Cheadle is a 10 foot drop. Run it middle river. There is a nice wave train
that follows a S curve right to the drop. Get out of the river at the road right below because
there is nothing left but flat water after the Falls. A good indicator of the flow is to look
upstream from the Highway 7 bridge (where I usually put in) and see if the drops are completely
underwater. If you see timber and rocks sticking up then you may have some knuckle dragging---good
time to learn the stream but not the best paddling. The water has a very high sulpher content and
can smell quite bad during the first high water or two each spring.
running, there's other stuff running. Go run that. Also - one of the boaters swallowed some water
and had severe intestinal problems requiring a visit to the doctor. 1. GAUGE INNACURACY. If anyone
knows the streamkeeper, it would be great if they'd change the minimum flow of 350 cfs. The gauge
linked to this section is 5 to 10 miles down river **from the 9.5 mile Hwy 7 to Cheadle Rd
takeout**. Thus, the CFS ratings you're getting are maybe an hour or so old AND you might be
missing some tributaries. 2. KNUCKLE DRAG. We put on at about 1pm on 5/7/06 and knuckled it all the
way down. This is just past an almost 2000 cfs peak on the linked gauge. Maybe we floated two or
three drops and the pools in between. Here's the USGS data for that day using the linked gauge:
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/dv?cb_00060=on&format=gif_default&begin_date=2006-05-06&end_date=2006-05-08&site_no=07332500&referred_module=sw
3. CHANNELIZED. The biggest reason why you knuckle this run is the amount of islands and channels
in the river. At good flows (see below) you'd be looking at almost no eddy service above the drops
and thus high chances of splitting up the group. The islands are overgrown with trees and
shrubbery. EDUCATED GUESS SUGGESTED MIN ON THE LINKED GAUGE: 1700 CFS If you're local, you might be
able to paddle a very short section by walking up from the river right WMA camp ground that marks
the 3.5 mile from Hwy 7 section. Oklahoma has some hidden runs, we're gonna continue looking.