WMNF High Water/Soft Road Advisory May 13-19 '06

[Waumbek]

From WMNF:

Hiker / Visitor Alerts and Current Conditions
Caution: Forest Service Safety Officer Chris Joosen says: "Heavy rain is on the way! Although the Forest shouldn't have the problems that the southern half of New Hampshire will receive, we will get our share. We should be ready for upwards of 4-5 inches over the next 5-6 days. Water crossing will change through this period, as will the potential impact to Forest Roads." Be sure to consider high water and soft road surfaces in your trip planning.

(This advisory expires on May 19th, 2006. I'll remove it then.)

 

[Mattl]

Every new model run has even more rain for the Whites. Get ready for some flooding the next couple days. 3-4 inches of rain for that area. I think roads like sawyer river road may be in trouble, along with sandwich notch road.-Mattl

Update! I think we are in a crisis, the river level is already 8.07 for the east branch of the pemi, thats bad. Considering the worst is just now occuring.

 

[TDawg]

OH NO, THE SKY IS FALLING!!

 

[--M.]

The Wild River is currently at about seven feet at Gilead.

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/me/nwis/uv?01054200

What's the high for that location?

See also http://nh.water.usgs.gov/ for the NH rivers.

Anyway, keeping an idea of streamflows over the next couple of weeks will be required reading for all hikers.

Happy Hunting!

 

[HikerAmiga]

8 feet aint so bad for the east branch. i wanna see it when you park at loon and a rooster tail forms over that biggest rock below the bridge. hikerfast here, Nilsa would have much better punctuation.

 

[Gator]

Sawyer River was flowing pretty good today.

Road was in fine condition.

 

[arghman]

Don't even think about hiking in southern NH. There are raging brooks now where there are normally just little drainage swales, a sand & gravel facility near my house has turned into a river, and there are a lot of flooded roads.

 

[Mattl]

The Pemigewasset, sandwich, and Kinsman have had over 4 -5 inches with some 6 inches amounts so the whites have raging streams and rivers as well. I think there will be some major road washouts as some more heavy rain is on the way. -Mattl

 

[Orsonab]

Roads to and from the Whites are nasty enough - saw two cars that had spun 180 degrees on I-93 yesterday - people still barreling along at 75mph with no headlights on in torrential rain ....

 

[Amicus]

When is Day 40?

We just had our wettest ride down Rte 16 and 95 from Mt. Wash. Valley to Metro Boston in 17 years of weekly commutes. The Pine River crossed the road (but shallow and passable by all but the lowest riders) in Milton by that dam, and all alongside the highway new ponds had been invented. A stretch of Rte. 1 in Saugus was worse, but not too bad I guess as no car had conked out.

Earlier in the day, the kayaking was great!

 

[MichaelJ]

The Wild peaked at less than 4000cfs; the worst I've seen it in person was 5000. It's still surely uncrossable (with Spider Bridge out), but not as much as I saw it in just one night of rain a few years ago.