Big Sur River height vs crossing hazard
Posted: Fri May 26, 2023 12:54 pm
Does anyone have some rule-of-thumb relationship between the Big Sur River height measurement and the difficulty of
crossing at Sykes??
Awhile back, motivated by this year's rains, I added a button sending clickers to a graph of Big Sur River height on my Big Sur Trailmap homepage. Many more people are clicking than I'd expected, so river crossings are a concern.
But that graph is not very helpful without some interpretation, some guide as to when crossings can be difficult. Based on a few reports from this year I would guess that Sykes crossings become especially difficult/hazardous when the flow exceeds 200 cfs (gage height ~5.4ft). But someone hopefully has been monitoring this for years and come up with something more solid.
crossing at Sykes??
Awhile back, motivated by this year's rains, I added a button sending clickers to a graph of Big Sur River height on my Big Sur Trailmap homepage. Many more people are clicking than I'd expected, so river crossings are a concern.
But that graph is not very helpful without some interpretation, some guide as to when crossings can be difficult. Based on a few reports from this year I would guess that Sykes crossings become especially difficult/hazardous when the flow exceeds 200 cfs (gage height ~5.4ft). But someone hopefully has been monitoring this for years and come up with something more solid.