Gauge Description:

The Smith is generally a spring runoff river normally run in late March and early April. It occasionally comes up in late spring and early summer after heavy rains. There is a hand painted gauge river left on the upstream abutment at the Cass Mill road bridge just below Ray's Rapid. There has been bridge reconstruction recently so the old gauge was destroyed and a new paddlers gauge was painted on the new abutment. Currently boulders are piled up in front of the gauge making it difficult to read. The USGS gauge is currently the best resource for levels on this river. A gauge correlation between the new USGS gauge and the old hand painted gauge is shown below. Thanks to Tim Driscoll for this information.

 

Automatic           Painted
 Gauge:              Gauge: 
Bristol	    CFS    Cass Mill Rd       Interpretation
	 
|--------|--------|-----------------|---------------|
  4.0       388         -.1              Minimum
  4.1       423          0.0             Very Low
  4.15      441         .1
  4.2       460         .2           |---------------|
  4.25      480         .3
  4.3       500         .4                 Low
  4.35      520         .5
  4.4       540         .6
  4.45      561         .7           |---------------|
  4.5       581         .8
  4.6       623         .9
  4.7       666         1.0               Medium
  4.8       710         1.1
  4.9       755         1.2
  5.0       799         1.3          |---------------|
  5.1       844         1.4                High
  5.3       940         1.5
  5.5       1030        1.6
  5.6       1080        1.7          |---------------|
  5.8       1190        1.8               Very high
  5.9                   1.9
                        2.0
                        2.1
                        2.2
                        2.3
  6.0                   2.4
  6.02                  2.5

  Note: Some people do run the river all the way down to 3.75'