Fires Creek

I re-read Allen's trip reports after my first run of Fires Ck (March 6th 2011) and couldn't describe it better:

http://www.allenpogue.com/NorthCarolina.html

It's gorgeous. All the wood around blind corners makes it scary. Otherwise it's a blast. USGS Nantahala had peaked at 1,400cfs a few hours earlier. Fires was dropping gradually, so it may have peaked about the same time. Wonderful, near-bankfull level.

I agree with the 400 cfs number as the minimum, but I would look for 500+ before running it again. It was 'bang/scrape' at 430 cfs, but a raft (Stinger) was able to complete the bottom half of the run with little more difficulty than the hard boaters on the river.

I think 500, or maybe 550 cfs is a better minimum. Another option is to look at the bridge where the turnoff is for fires creek rd. Look for the Center cement bridge piling to be about a foot underwater, or for all the bolts holding the beams to the cement piling to be underwater.