Rental and Trip Descriptions

Water Levels - The Red, Licking & Kentucky

Notes:

Hazel Green: On the Upper Red, the 200 cfs minimum is a reasonable minimum. 250 cfs is still low, while 400 cfs is a medium level. With this river being free flowing, with no man made restriction, the cfs charts are the best way to monitor this section of the river.

Clay City: On the Mid section of Red, the 200 cfs minimum is a reasonable minimum. Although the cfs suggested minimum is the same for the Upper and the Mid, this suggested minimum reference two separate gauges. The Hazel Green is upstream of the put-in for the Upper and the Clay City gauge is well below the take-out for the Mid Section. Due to the distance between the two gauges and the characteristics of the river, information from the Clay City gauge will not help when trying to determining the water level for the Upper.

Heidelberg: The Heidelberg gauge on the Kentucky is located at Lock 14 in Heidelberg. Since the Kentucky River contains a series of locks, the height chart may be a better indicator than the cfs chart. Water level for a canoe or kayak is seldom a logistical problem. With low water levels the esthetics may become your only concern.

Mason Fork: The Mason Fork gauge is in the very head waters of the Licking River and only helps determine the water level around the West Liberty area. With the dam at Cave Run, the back waters of the lake keeps several miles of the head waters of the Licking at a steady water level. The question becomes how far upstream, towards West Liberty, before the water level become too low to navigate. The Mason Fork gauge should help with this analysis. We are currently collecting data to find the appropriate marks.