I arrived at Smith Creek at about 11:30 and hiked to the Cave and spring stopping along the way for pics.I could clearly hear water flowing before I got there. When I got to the spring, it was BLOWING up out of the ground. Gushing hardly describes the amount of water I saw coming out of that spring. I didn't realize there had been enough rain to make this happen.
So after about an hour I decided to drive up Cave Mountain Rd to the Hawksbill. On my way up I could look down into the valley at the last couple of miles of the Hailstone run. There were definitely well defined rapids down there. I was surprised at the amount of water flowing.
I let my curiosity get the best of me and changed my mind in mid-climb and turned around heading back down to Dixon Ford headwaters.
When I got there, I couldn't/wouldn't cross the river. Definitely too much muddy brown churning mess to try to cross. There were a couple of vehicles with racks, but noone around.
It was definitely runnable. By the time I had driven back around to the bridge in Boxley, there was substantially more water flowing under the bridge.
When I got home that night, I checked the gauges and there was definitely a rise, but nothing showing this amount of water. Anyone from here out there on the creek that day?
Any ideas on why this rise wasn't reflected in the gauges?
Sorry, not the trip you were hoping for huh?
