Online gauges consist of:
1) The Oconaluftee USGS of which the Raven Fork is a tributary.However since this gauge is a considerable distance downstream - and not actually on the Raven Fork itself, the Oconaluftee gauge may not always accurately reflect actual water levels in the Raven Fork.
2) For the visual bridge take-out gauge, most of the reported runs have been from a minumum of 7 inches, to close to two feet. Keep in mind the numbers on the gauge(10,20,etc), are not feet! They are inches. So when its at 10 its 10 inches, not 1.0 feet. This has caused confusion in the past when making visuals.
3)An new gauge has been reported: the Swain County Gauge (aka "Trout Farm SG")
This gauge (aka "Trout Farm SG") has been directly observed to correlate with the visual gauge on the take out bridge so that a 4.5" bridge reading = 0.9 on the above Trout Farm gauge. While more data points are needed (please post them below!) it is currently assumed that a 1.1' reading on the Trout Farm gauge = 7" (minimum level) on the takeout bridge gauge.
The trout farm gauge is overall highly suspect, and using rainfall graphics, precipitation gauges, radar info, and other beta will help tune you in better to what's going on. Use the trout farm gauge to see that the creek is responding, but going over when it is less than 1.3 and nothing else suggests runnable levels can often yield a skunking. The visual gauge has read 10 inches on one occasion when the trout farm gauge was 1.3, and on another occasion the visual gauge has read 3 inches when the trout farm gauge read 1.3. Often it jumps to rediculous numbers like 210.3 and 37.4 for no reason. Take it with a grain of salt.A good rule of thumb is if the West Prong ran good one day, Raven Fork will the next. With a watershed of 20 square miles and nice channelizing bedrock, this one goes often, and an inch of rain at Pin Oak Gap and or Newfound Gap is all it takes to get it going. In the winter those totals can get it going high.
Oconaluftee R nr Birdtown [ NC ] |
Current Conditions
Station Graphs |
| Level Legend: | Running | Below Minimum Recommended Flow | Above Maximum Recommended Flow | Unknown |
| State | River Name/Section | Class | Level | Rel. Level | Updated | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NC | Big Creek— 1. Walnut Bottom to NPS Campground | IV-V | 525 cfs | low | 12/1 7:45 | |
| NC | Big Creek— 2. NPS Campground to Confluence with Big Pigeon | III-IV | 525 cfs | low | 12/1 7:45 | |
| NC | Oconaluftee— 2. Smokemont Campground to Birdtown | II-III | 525 cfs | 12/1 7:45 | ||
| NC | Raven Fork— 1. Right Fork to Enloe Creek Trail | IV-V | 525 cfs | low | 12/1 7:45 | |
| NC | Raven Fork— 2. Enloe Creek Trail to Big Cove Road | V+ | 525 cfs | low | 12/1 7:45 | |
| NC | Raven Fork— 3. Job Corps Bridge to Confluence with Oconalufftee | II-III+(IV) | 525 cfs | low | 12/1 7:45 | |
| NC | Straight Fork— Round Bottom to Raven Fork | III-IV | 525 cfs | low | 12/1 7:45 |
| AW Gauge ID: | 1778 |
| USGS Station: | 03512000 |
| HUC: | 06010203 |
| Latitude: | 35.4614 |
| Longitude: | -83.3536 |
| Class: | 4 |
(RSS)
(KML)help
(mobile)