Gauge Description:

Visual - this one takes a lot of water.

Four Ways to Gauge Long Swamp Creek:

1. The best way to gauge whether this one is running is to check and see if there was a major rain event in its watershed within the last 2-3 hours. Also, when you arrive, check the put-in and take a visual. If it looks small and you see rocks that you'd scrape over, it will be even scrapier downstream. If it looks like you'll float over without scraping, you'll still probably be on the low/scrapy side down on the slides and in the rapids. If it looks thumping (but not climbing out of the banks) at the put-in, you should have a good medium level. Again, these are put-in water level indicators.

2. There is a new gauge [Long Swamp Creek at Reavis Mountain Road: USGS Gauge] which was installed in 2006.

The gauge is a few miles downstream, and it is flatwater below the take-out, so this gauge is a historical record of the creek's flow. However, if the gauge is reading over 7 feet, you will likely have water. We need more correlations to figure out exactly how to use this gauge. Please post in the comments what level the Long Swamp USGS gauge was when you ran it. 

3. Look at the USGS rain gauge and stream gauge for Fausett Creek near Talking Rock, Ga. This creek is ~10 miles away and tends to receive the same rain patterns as Long Swamp. Look for 2+ inches on this gauge in the winter in a short period of time when the ground is already primed. Even more rain will be needed when it has been dry. At 300 cfs on this gauge, Long Swamp was "pumping" according to one paddler. Based on that and timing of recent runs, look for around 2.5 feet or a minimum of 200 cfs on this gauge. We need more correlations to figure out exactly how to use this gauge. Please post in the comments what level the Fausett Creek USGS gauge was when you ran Long Swamp. 

4. There is a pumping station dam at the Cove Road take-out. I would want to see water spilling over the top of the dam from bank to bank. In 2003, Rob Maxwell installed a gauge on the river left side of the dam at the Cove Road take-out. It is easily seen from river right. In September 2003, 10 inches was minimum and 1'6" was medium. However, soon after in 2004, the local authorities dug a channel around the left side of the old pumping station, and it now has thrown off the gauge. This new "streambed" is rapidly changing and is in soft ground where erosion certainly affects the correlation, so there has been no new correlation yet. The best place for a painted/stick gauge would likely be at the put-in, where the creek is well defined.