Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

I've been paddling the Mulberry for well over a decade. Even made a map of it in that time. I've used Brad's gauge from the beginning, and still will. I don't know what happened since the last flood, but it is off by a good bit. I have always deducted .2 of a foot ever since they put that rip rap in just below the gauge (so today should have been more like 2.8 even though the gauge was reading 3'). Today it read 3' and had been in the 3s all week and dropping ~.1' every day. Today we paddled High Bank to Whoop and at 3' on Brad's gauge that section should be prime. It wasn't, it was real low and felt more like a 2.3-2.5 level, and I am leaning more towards 2.3. I was banging down rocks at Jump Start (though there was a clean line I was just trying to catch eddys) and there wasn't any kind of upper wave at Whoop.

The river may adjust itself and Brad's gauge may reflect current conditions, but as of today it is a good .5-.7' lower then what his gauge reads.

kru

Thanks for the heads-up.
We paddled the Grotto to Lancaster run
on the Frog today and experienced the same
thing. The gauge showed 2.7 but we scraped
down, almost had to get out of the boat several
times. I would say it was 2.0 at best.

Tommy

I've heard the same thing from a few of my friends who hit the Ribbit/Lancaster to Rudy run (recently) when the gauge read 3.5'. They said they were almost scraping down, and 3.5' should be a fairly decent level.

I guess river change course,

kru

considering that the usgs gauge is at approx. 2.0, i would say you are in the ballpark. there used to be a reliable .2-.3 difference between the two on a falling river.

i have thought the usgs has been reading a little "low" for a while though, maybe a few tenths.

There's no way Richland is still 4 ft. Either.-M-

Could very well be gravel/sedimentation raising the bottom of the stream bed which can impact the reading.

Roger wrote:Could very well be gravel/sedimentation raising the bottom of the stream bed which can impact the reading.

maybe, but TB's technology probably failed

From the TB Gauge/Website - "A panther has been spotted in the valley."
Another reason to Beware!

This kind of thing interests me so I reached out to USGS to see what was going on. I received this from them today.

Re: Site Number: 07252000,Mulberry River gages
We had a hydrographer visit the Mulberry River gage today and verify that the gage is reading on. The "painting" seen on the hydrograph is being caused by a new gravel deposit in the area of the gage orifice. The gravel was cleared out as best as possible but may wash back in. When the water is lower we will clean it out better for a more permanent fix. We also made a discharge measurement and found the discharge to be within 2% of the rating. It is possible that the recent high flows have caused changes to the stream that may result in different stage relationships in areas away from the gage.

Thank you for using the USGS stream gages.

Hope this helps with some of the issues.
Wayne

So... Theres a panther painting 2% of the guage with gravel causing all the problems. Got it. I'll pass it on .