High Water Warning

Many of us have made this mistake. We've launched on rivers that were way too high without realizing it until after we peeled out into the torrent. The risk here is flush drowning, getting beat down, tired out and unable to swim out of the river. When the water is too high it doesn't stop, it gets pushy and rude. You've got to have a bomber roll and be fit enough to withstand it.

The problem is, launching on too much juice an easy mistake to make. Flood waters don't always look scary. Sometimes they look kind of flat and boring. People drown in low head dams in part because they don't look that bad. Same with a flooded river; it can look kind of tame. You don't know how fast it's going until you shove off. You don't know how hard it is to get stopped until you really really want to.

Most of us learn the hard way to launch only after we are sure flows have peaked and fallen into our preferred range. We also learn that if you're not having fun, you can stop the ride. You can catch an eddy, stash the boat, come back another day. There is no dishonor in caution.

Screenshot below: TG's email inbox overloaded with USGS wateralerts because everything was high on 1/27/24.