Understanding River Levels

[darbwa]

I am planning a 3-day trip for the end of this month (6/30 - 7/2) and I am trying to decide where we should start our trip. I would like to start as far up river as I can without having to drag the canoe repeatedly. So, I am trying to get a better understanding for where on the river that point is depending on the info I get from the USGS stations. How far upstream could you safely start under current conditions (3.93 at Pruitt and 4.47 at St. Joe)?

Last year we put in at Margaret White (downriver from Woolum) and took out at Grinders. The first mile had a few spots where we bottomed out but we were fine after that. The gage height at the USGS station near St. Joe was reading 3.65 then.

[eric1978]

http://ozarkanglers.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8669&view=findpost&p=52210&hl=usgs&fromsearch=1

[darbwa]

There is a lot of good info in that piece. Thanks for passing it along.

Unfortunately, it doesn't really help me out. I am trying to find out what portion of the river is navigable by looking at USGS stations that are quite far apart. Al addresses this problem in the last part of the article that you copied, but the I guess the knowledge I am looking for comes from experience that I don't have on the Buffalo. I am trying to tap into the wisdom of others on this forum and their experience on the Buffalo.

I guess I could ask my question more simply - what river level would you look for at the Pruitt station to put in at Carver? At Mt. Hersey?

[eric1978]

I'd PM bobber...he would know.

[bobber]

i think it should be about 3.85 and you will have to push through some shallows in that section. anything lower and you have to get out 3 times below carver..if you watch for green color as the channel shifts from side to side, and stay away from the brown shallow areas you should be alright!!....

[Al Agnew]

The USGS gauge at Boxley will give you a decent idea of the upper river down to about Pruitt. You are gradually adding small tributaries throughout that stretch, but nothing very big until you get to the Little Buffalo. The gauge "near St. Joe" gives you a fairly decent idea of the stretch from Margaret White to Gilbert, since there aren't too many tributaries coming in along that stretch. The gauge "near Harriet" is a pretty decent measure of the river from Gilbert to the White River.

The biggest problem you have, however, is in that stretch from about Pruitt down to Margaret White. In that stretch, you have several good-sized tributaries, and you have the losing stretch above Margaret White Spring. And no gauge throughout the whole section. Any one or all of those tribs could be adding a lot of water if there have been thunderstorms in the area recently. And a portion of the river sinks underground a few miles upstream from Margaret White Spring, so in really low water that stretch can be a REAL drag, even though upstream it might have enough water to scrape by.

As a very general rule, as I said in the piece that Eric pulled up, it takes at least 75 cfs of flow for a river the size of the middle Buffalo to be floatable without a lot of scraping and some walking. If you've got less than that at the St. Joe gauge, you might not want to try floating above Gilbert.

[bobber]

the hardest part of understanding the buffalo is that is so rain dependent . so without any rain, levels drop.and on the other hand, with just a little rain it can sky rocket .and with reports of the AIR SPACE under the ponca bridge(that is controlled by a outfitter that has given false reports just to gain renters) as one. the park service new site as two, that doesn't up date fast enough. the USGS SITE the only one to use.. as three american whitewater as four (another on that doesn't up date)...http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ar/nwis/uv/?site_no=07055646&PARAmeter_cd=00065,00060 >>this link shows the spike in water levels. look how fast that jumped up! as you click over all the buffalo's links you can see the water move down stream and that makes it a balancing act of good judgement to go or not to go? http://www.ozarkpages.com/cgi-bin/stages.pl?ST=level is another good site mainly for white water. but it updates fast in real time. plus it gives some info on the rivers as for rapids and hazards.... right now i'm on pins and needles with my rescue gear loaded. we have 3 large boy scout groups doing there 50 mile badge float, all are from out of state. and flash flooding reports have me worried .. since we just lost 20 some folks down on the caddo river this weekend . due to a flash flooding.. i may sound like a worry wort when i report on levels and sections of this river . i just want everyone to be safe!

[GloryDaze]

Bobber- do you really think they mislead on the water level at the bridge?? I've floated the river several times based off their readings and it has been pretty accurate, although I do realize that is a very small sample. But even if they are misleading, wouldn't that spike business for other outfitters, or do they have the bridge pretty much cornered??

[bobber]

a good example was last weekend "they boast that we have good water"at the ponca bridge. but a 7 pm on my way home i stopped to see? (wet gravel) and clear water. coming back in the morning at 6 am. it was just above the rocks, a little dirty but, still unable to float. over night it came up about 2 ft but that was around 3 to 4 am. and was gone in minutes.late in the afternoon pruitt came up as that water passed through. so about a 100 renters got on at steel creek, and ended up dragging out at kyles.very un-happy. if you watch the air space reports you see they hold the 20 inch to 28 inch, low but float able an extra week or so when in reality it's too low. everyone wants to float ponca to kyles that's the run burned in memory of the minds of millions of floaters . so ok this might not mean anything to you but 100 canoes @ 85 bucks for an extra 14 days .... oh i see said the blind man.

[GloryDaze]

I remember paying 85 for the canoe rental- but do other outfitters have access to that bridge to put people in?? If so, are they cheaper than 85, if they are I would use them for sure. But it sounds like if you don't use them you can't use another rental company and float Ponca to Pruitt- is that correct?