The gauge readings are still very useful despite the difference in location. I cant comment on the Dry River as its been years since I have been out there. Most river crossings in the whites are trivial in the summer except when there has been recent rain. If you look at the gauge info page they will give you a trend over several days with the option of increasing the number of days. Its pretty easy to corelate the peaks with recent rain events as snow pack does not factor in (in the spring it does so air and water temp has to be factored in). If you look at a peak you will find that it peaks quick and drops quick unless there is an extended multiday rain event. In the table is also long term average for the particular day. So if you pick a day or days to hike with low forecast for rain, the river is going to be running at the long term average unless a front comes through and there are heavy thundershowers. The spots that are picked for crossings are usually selected to be wide and shallow so unless there is an unusual short term precip event, think knee deep. Given that the FS just hacked in a couple of crossings on the Dry River after a major flooding event I could not speculate on how well the new crossings were selected. Note the former long term White Mountain Guide author Gene D was careful to point out that he rarely rock hopped as the potential injury and time spent dealing with a failed attempt made stopping to take the shoes off preferable. I use trail runners and if I get my feet wet they dry out quick.
That being said, I did the Wild River spider bridge two years ago in summer and the crossing was a dry foot rock hop , or a wet foot knee deep. I did the Moriah Brook last summer twice and I rock hopped while my friends wet footed it at best knee deep. I also did the Shelburne trail crossing and it was wet foot in one spot due to lack of suitable rocks. I also did the lower Rocky Branch last summer and the upper crossing was a rock hop. In the past the upper crossings heading towards Mt Isolation were minimal and a couple could be skipped by following an obvious herdpath on the east side of the river. On the lower Rocky Branch the biggest challenge is figuring where the trail is at the major washout/new course of the stream. The Rocky Branch predominantly follows the west side of the river prior to the wash out the stream took a sharp right around what I think was an ancient slide that diverted the stream. The trail went across the stream and then in about 200 yards crossed back. Post washout the stream had eroded a new channel substantially bypassing the old channel. So the trail still crosses the old stream but trail stays to the west side of the new channel. In some cases its in the new channel. Eventually its heads into the woods and goes down the old river bank and then crosses the old channel which still has water in it but is quite shallow. This is geological activity on the fast track, I would not be surprised if this area has changed since last summer but expect the new channel is better established (unless the steep banking it eroded through slides and blocks the new channel. The other lower crossing just south of the campground is strange, the bridge is still there in perfect shape but the ramps to the bridge had were gone leaving a significant drop to the river eroded out river bed that ate the ramps. Someone had rigged up something to deal with the drop but I remember thinking I probably could have waded across with less effort.
I am trying to line up someone this summer to to car spot and traverse from the Upper Rocky Branch lot west to the Mt Isolation trail with quick stop on Isolation and then hike the west side of the Mt isolation trail to the Dry River Trail and then out vis the Dry River trail partially as an excuse to see the washouts which appear to be impressive. I will do this when it has not rained for 24 hours and no rain is expected.
