Gauge Description:

The visual gauge is painted on the gorge wall (also known as Cabin gorge) in the Lower Section; you have to stop along the Kancamagus to look at it. It is located about 1 mile below the Albany covered bridge. Look for cabins across the river as the river drops below the view from the road; park carefully along the narrow shoulder and look up against the cliff on river left.
3/4' .....minimum scratchy level
1.25......Low
1.75......Low to medium
2.25......Medium
2.75......High
3' .......very high
Estimated chance (%) of finding the river runnable.

In the summer of 2009 a new USGS gage was installed on the river right bank just downstream of the visual gage.  We are still in the process of correlating this new gage.

Month............% chance.................comment

January ............. 0%....frozen. 
February..............0%....frozen. 
March.................5%....Usually frozen.
April................65%....Best chance mid to late April 
May .................35%....Best chance in early May. 
June.................10%
July..................3% 
August................3%....Just a trickle 
September.............8%....Tropical storms and their remains 
October..............15%
November.............30%....Fall rains, dormant trees 
December.............20%....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 3% probability for August means on average you can only expect 1 day of water. One year there could be 2 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.