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February 17, 2011

MULBERRY FORK PARKING ALERT

The attorney for Blount County has notified the Birmingham Canoe Club that any cars parked on Whitewater Drive, the paved county road leading to the BCC property at the takeout for the Mulberry Fork River, will be towed at the owner’s expense. The county will be posting signs in the near future. Please park in the parking area only!

WildWater movie

The new movie WildWater will be shown at the National Paddling Film Festival - see my last blog post for NPFF details.
The trailer for WildWater is excellent, enjoy:

February 16, 2011

National Paddling Film Festival

The National Paddling Film Festival, aka NPFF, will be Feb. 25-26 in Frankfort, Kentucky. This is a great event and will feature the new movies Raven Fork and WildWater. This event benefits American Whitewater, Team River Runner, First Descents, and other regional conservation-based non-profit groups.

Locust and Mulberry levels

I am reposting this to start the new (ish) year off with my data regarding the Locust and Mulberry Levels.


*Note - the Mulberry Gauge is being moved to a site upstream.  The correlations to the bridge gauge will all have to be re-done over the coming year(s).*  
Link to spreadsheet of new Mulberry correlations

I've had this in a printout on my wall for years. I don't think it is online anymore so I am going to type it in so I have it handy online. I don't know who originally compiled it. I've altered it to suit my own experiences.

Online gauge for the Mulberry:
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/al/nwis/uv/?site_no=02450000&PARAmeter_cd=00065,00060

Online gauge for the Locust Fork:
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/al/nwis/uv/?site_no=02455000

This information is NOT intended as a gauge for safe water levels. Be sure to check the readings at the put-in bridges. Use your judgment and DO NOT attempt to paddle if your skills do not match the river conditions. Gauges change, and rivers change.

CFS Conversion


THE

CFS Flow
LOCUST

Stage or Height
FORK

Comments
222-441
2’0” to 2’6”
Minimal flow for paddling
530.5-630
2’8” to 3’0”
Good Paddling begins at this level.
732
3’2”
Ideal technical paddling with a little push.
962.7
3’6”
House Rock rapid gets strong; ender hole is prime for tricks.
1230
4’0”
House Rock rapid needs scouting; Double Trouble rapid gets less technical; ender hole begins to wash out; surfing and wave wheel paradise.
1970
5’0”
Big Water river in trees;Powell Falls becomes grabby – scout river right.
2900
6’0”
A real flusher; Whirlpool above Ender Hole becomes very dangerous.





THE

CFS Flow
MULBERRY

Stage or Height painted on Bridge. Subtract 3.3 from the online USGS gauge to get the correct feet on the painted bridge gauge.
FORK


Comments
250-300
0”
Bump and scrape. Too low!
420
0” – 6”
Class I.
600-750
1’
Class II. At 651, bridge gauge said 1 ft with lots of little surf waves. -at bridge 1ft./700 cfs the surf spot between the islands at Glen Clark was in. *at 702 cfs 9-10-11 this spot was not in. But we found a great surf spot right below the bridge and a spin spot near the top of the turn to Glen Clark, new stuff.*
800
1’6”
Hawaii 50 begins to form and bow surfing possible.
1100
2’0”
Enjoyable run; great down river run.
3000
3’0”
Hawaii 5-0 is a surfer’s paradise; Lunchtime becomes retentive.
4000
4’0”
Pushy; rapids and eddies begin to wash out; floating debris may be present; 5.0 questionable but the hole behind is great.