The gauge for Bear Creek is located right at the put-in at the bridge on County Road 900 E. The drainage area at the gauge is 349 square miles, so it doesn't take much rain to the north and east to bring the water up. Between 0.2" and 0.5" of rainfall north of Marcelline, Illinois is usually sufficient to make this a class II run (between 800-1200 CFS).
Water levels drop rapidly once the tributaries stop getting runoff, so check the gauge frequently. The creek can rise to maximum runable levels in as little as 12 hours and drop just as quickly.
Bear creek is a floatable class I even at low levels (lower than 50 cfs), though the riffles will have you out of your boat more than in it.
The rapids start shaping up around 500 cfs, with ideal levels between 800-1200. Higher water (in excess of 2500 cfs) is boatable, but there is usually so much debris that it becomes very hazardous and the water quality is poor.
| Gauge/flow analysis based on data from a gauge at or near the put-in location 1944-03-01 to 2008-08-18 | |
| Drainage area at gauge | 349 sq.mi. |
| Minimum mean daily flow during stated period | 0 cfs |
| 90% of time flow exceeds | 1.1 cfs |
| 10% of time flow exceeds | 414 cfs |
| Maximum mean daily flow during stated period | 21,300 cfs (2002.05.12) |
| Average days per year over recommended 'low' threshold ( 100 cfs) | 92 |
| Average days per year over recommended 'high' threshold ( 4,000 cfs) | 4 |
BEAR CREEK NEAR MARCELLINE, IL [ IL ] |
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IL | Bear Creek— CR900E to Hwy 96 in Marcelline (4.5 miles) | I-II | 3 cfs | low | 12/2 4:15 |
| AW Gauge ID: | 2386 |
| USGS Station: | 05495500 |
| HUC: | 07110001 |
| Latitude: | 40.1428 |
| Longitude: | -91.3372 |
| Class: | 2 |
