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

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.

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