The level of water that is safe to paddle varies from river to river, section to section, and even year to year as floods change the course of the stream and create or remove obstacles. For example, my favorite local creek (the New Haven River) is only good to run between 300cfs and 1400cfs. Any less and you can’t squeeze through the rocks, any more and some of the holes become big and scary. Another creek down the road is good from 500cfs to 3000cfs and the St. Lawrence river never drops below several hundred thousand cfs. Basically, its all relative to the particular part of the river and one’s skill level. The Princeton Outdoor Action club has a good page on river safety and planning that talks about river levels and ratings.

The American Whitewater Association provides the same information on levels as my widget (all sourced from the USGS), but with added commentary by paddler’s. Their Ohio page for instance, lists two sections of the Great Miami and has some recommendations on minimum and maximum suggested water-levels. In general, if you aren’t sure about the river level, ask local paddlers or at a local paddle shop. Once you have an idea of what to expect of the river at each level, you can use my widget to help you monitor the river and see when its in your preferred range of levels.

Have a fun and safe time on the river.

- Adam

I found your widget for finding river levels for my Mac. I do a bit of kayaking on the Great Miami River around Hamilton, Ohio and wanted to find out how best to use this data. What is considered a safe range in cf/s to kayak/boat? I assume time of the year is important also with cold weather, etc.

thanks for any information on using this helpful widget.

Rick