Gauge Description:

There are two gages commonly used by paddlers. There is a painted boaters gauge on the downstream river right abutment of the Kancamaugus bridge near the Lincoln Woods put-in. A USGS gauge on the East Branch in Lincoln came online in 1994. Both gages have had changes in measurements over time. The USGS gage has been recalibrated several times due to changes in the riverbed cross-section. Further complicating correlations between the USGS gage and the visual paddlers gauge has been the work performed on the Kancamaugus bridge during the summer of 2001. The table below is the best guess as to paddling levels for both gages. This table will be updated as more information is collected.

    Lincoln USGS           Visual gauge           Boating level
    EB Gauge cfs           @ Kanc bridge          Interpretation

    350 cfs – 450 cfs      about  .6’  to  .9’    Scratchy low
    450 cfs – 1120 cfs     about  .9’ to 1.5’     Low to medium
    1120 cfs- 2500 cfs     about 1.5’ to 1.9’     Medium
    Over 2500 cfs          greater than 1.9’      High

Gage Details and River Level Observations

The painted paddlers gage on the Kancamaugus bridge has been there for decades and is a well-known paddling reference. However during the summer of 2001 work was performed on the bridge. Many rocks were disturbed and the channel leading up to the visual gage was partially reconstructed. Additionally some of the boulders washed down below the gauge and formed a small dam backing the water up to the painted gage. Recent reports (Spring 2004) suggest that the river may be scouring out the channel restoring the riverbed. The graph below shows the current best-guess regarding correlations between older (pre-2001) and current readings. The graph will be updated as more information is collected. Paddlers with either older (1994-2001) or current observations of gage correlations are requested to send them to the streamkeeper.

Paddler's Gage vs CFS: Original values vs current readings. Comparison chart showing change in Paddler's Gage due to bridge reconstruction.

Changes in USGS Gage Level vs CFS due to deterioration of crib dam.

The USGS gage is located at Mill Dam Rapid immediately above an old logging crib dam that has been deteriorating over time (changing the riverbed cross-section). In 2003 a large portion of the crib dam was removed. Additionally in 2001 the gage intake pipe was relocated approximately 50 feet upstream furthur changing the riverbed cross-section used for gage measurements. To compensate the USGS has recalibrated the gage-height-to-CFS rating chart approximately every four years. On the average during the past decade, the flow measurement for medium paddling level gage readings has increased by 50-100 CFS per-year in-between recalibrations. Paddlers should take this into account when reading the gage and computing current CFS flow rating. (I.E. A gage measurement of 7 feet last year will not be the same as 7 feet this year!!!) The graph below shows a comparison of the different rating tables for each recalibration.

Estimated chance (percent) of finding the river runnable.

    Month...........%Chance....Comment
    January ............ 0%....frozen.
    February.............0%....frozen
    March................5%....Usually frozen.
    April...............70%....Best chance mid to late April
    May ................50%....Best chance in early May.
    June................18%
    July.................5%
    August...............5%....Just a trickle
    September...........10%....Tropical storms and their remains
    October.............25%
    November............45%....Fall rains, dormant trees
    December............30%....River starts freezing early to mid month. 
 

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. The river rises and falls rapidly because of the small steep watershed. An occasional summer storm could bring the river up for a day.