Blue Heron Whitewater

It's been raining a lot here in the Asheville, Brevard, Hendersonville area and the river is up. One of the many great things about the French Broad River is the fact that it is a free flowing river. The way rivers are supposed to be. The French Broad isn't controlled by a dam. It's an all natural river. When it rains the river level goes up. The water moves faster and the waves get bigger. When the level goes down, the water moves slower and the rapids become more technical, requiring more maneuvering of the raft between rocks. All levels on the French Broad River are good and fun; they just have a different flavor. That's one reason we love to guide on this river. The different river flows require us, as guides, to understand the dynamics of the river at different levels. It's a great challenge and a great way to connect to the life of the river.
The flow of the river is measured in cfs (cubic feet per second). A cubic foot is about the size of a square basketball, and the number of square basketballs that pass an invisible plane across the river every second is cfs. Before the recent rain, the river was running about 1000 cfs, which is fairly normal for this time of year. After the rain the river peaked at about 15,000 cfs, which produced some Grand Canyon sized waves at several rapids. Interestingly, that much water made what is usually the biggest rapid on the river, Frank Bell's Rapid, easier.
The great thing about this recent rain is that it has been a slow and steady rain. The ground is saturated and all the streams upstream are running. We should have high to highish water for a good while.
So if you want to try some big water NC rafting near Asheville, NC give us a call at 888-426-7238 (h2o-raft), or check out our website at www.BlueHeronWhitewater.com. We are also posting daily water levels on our twitter page.