# St Vrain Flows NSV / SSV



## deepsouthpaddler (Apr 14, 2004)

Talked to the water guys today. They bumped up buttonrock releases into NSV from 100 to 175 cfs on sunday. They plan to drop it back to 150 cfs today.

SSV was reported to be 4" on the stick gauge in town yesterday, which is a good to go minimum for me. 

Left Hand Ditch Co has their headgate open, so they are sucking out as much as they can from SSV near Ward even though the online gague is not operating yet. The left hand diversion has been open during the entire recent flow period.

Thought I would post this up, as I use it to try and figure out what SSV is doing. 

P.S. Full contact mank has been soooo good lately. Love it!


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## RiverWrangler (Oct 14, 2003)

"Full contact mank" and "soooo good," should never be spoken together again...


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## stubby (Oct 13, 2003)

Ian, go throw a sheet of plywood over the Left Hand diversion...especially if their gauge isn't up they won't notice it for a little bit longer.


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## deepsouthpaddler (Apr 14, 2004)

"Full contact mank" and "so good" were typed not spoken, so I guess I'm all good, but otherwise don't piss on my mank-wheaties!


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## RiverWrangler (Oct 14, 2003)

If you gotta bowl a mank wheaties I'll be there to piss on em! Really the issue was not so, but soooo good. My boooof is the only thing with four o's around here. 

Signed,
high water snob aficionado paddling the Poudre Narrows at 1.nada all last week


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## erdvm1 (Oct 17, 2003)

You're missing out Evan. Embrace the mank. It's a good way to ensure a boat warranty


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## bwest (Mar 13, 2008)

any update on the flow in SSV today? also, can you guys refresh our memory about the nsv/ssv flows in each ck and how to measure them?


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## canton (Oct 12, 2007)

*SSV gauge*

Just over 4" at 130 today


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## KSC (Oct 22, 2003)

Re: Gauges - I posted an answer on this thread:
http://www.mountainbuzz.com/forums/f11/north-saint-vrain-buttonrock-down-beta-47692.html

I thought it would be higher today. Anyone know what time of day SSV peaks?


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## erdvm1 (Oct 17, 2003)

if i remember correctly its a morning peak 7 or 8 am


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## deepsouthpaddler (Apr 14, 2004)

I'd use the behavior of the NSV above buttonrock gauge as a good analog for SSV diurnal behavior. Low point is around noon, ramping up to a midnight-ish peak.


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## erdvm1 (Oct 17, 2003)

I think we figured this out once. The distance from the snowpack plays a role.
Like I said I'm pretty sure it's a morning peak but I know someone that knows for sure.


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## erdvm1 (Oct 17, 2003)

I talk to Scott 

He said its an early morning peak and this if you want to hit it at its highest (with daylight ) 7 to 8 am. Highest at 2ish am
He said about 2 to 3 pm is the nadir for the day.


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## KSC (Oct 22, 2003)

Awesome, thanks. This is about the only information from Scott that I'm willing to trust. Well, that and how to bargain for the cheapest price on a beaded necklace.

Btw, I dumped all this information into the river/run descriptions on Riverbrain.com


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## canton (Oct 12, 2007)

Gauge was at 5" at 830 this morning.


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## JCKeck1 (Oct 28, 2003)

What is this mank you all speak of? It's triggering distant memories, but I just can't put my paddle on it.

Joe


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## deepsouthpaddler (Apr 14, 2004)

Thanks for the gauge update Canton. Heading up tonight after work.

Joe, you know you still love the mank.


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## Brook (Nov 22, 2003)

how about the play park any ideas what the real flow there is?


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## canton (Oct 12, 2007)

SSV gauge just about 5.5" at 830 this morning. Brook, A-Hole's flowing at 332 right now.
Adam


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## deepsouthpaddler (Apr 14, 2004)

SSV was a nick over 4" last night at 6PM. Fun after work level... close to min, but min is still good on SSV.


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## bwest (Mar 13, 2008)

thanks for the updates yall, much appreciated. I cant wait to come up there. anyone up for a Sunday lap?


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## Jefe (Jul 27, 2007)

Where in town is the visual gauge for SSV?


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## stubby (Oct 13, 2003)

Visual gauge is at prospect and 4th, under the walking bridge on the south side of the river.


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## KSC (Oct 22, 2003)

Jefe said:


> Where in town is the visual gauge for SSV?


As usual, I've already entered this information into River Brain. Is there a way I can automate my replies with this message?
Saint Vrain, South Fork - SSV - Confluence to Picnic Grounds - River Brain


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## stubby (Oct 13, 2003)

Kevin, 
Just started using Riverbrain. Definitely like the set up, not to mention your tribute to banks on Gore.


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## deepsouthpaddler (Apr 14, 2004)

I might be up for SSV sunday. Depends on what else comes in though. If something else good is in that I can't do afterwork, I'd go for that.


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## Jefe (Jul 27, 2007)

Your link to river brain from here shows more info on SSV than I was getting when I just went to your site and did a search for SSV

http://www.riverbrain.com/river/river/84?shed=Saint+Vrain,+South+Fork


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## KSC (Oct 22, 2003)

Jefe said:


> Your link to river brain from here shows more info on SSV than I was getting when I just went to your site and did a search for SSV
> 
> Saint Vrain, South Fork - River Brain



It's not my site. I'm just doing my best to dominate it. The actual site owner appears to be much more intelligent and responsible than myself. In general, most of the information is embedded in the run descriptions, but it's probably not a bad idea to copy the gauge information to the overall river description in this case as well. I'll go ahead and do that.


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## stubby (Oct 13, 2003)

5.5" at 4:45 pm. And I think it was trending up. There was a little bit of wood moving around in the run so keep a heads up.


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## erdvm1 (Oct 17, 2003)

Can you describe where the wood was and what level of concern?
The entrance rapid on the afterwork run has wood in the right channel above the drop that makes only the left entrance and option.
Anything else?


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## stubby (Oct 13, 2003)

Nothing had moved and stuck. There were just multiple pieces of wood floating during the run. Nothing super big, but branches about 10' long and 6" in diameter floating through above triple drop.


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## erdvm1 (Oct 17, 2003)

High and low lap on the gauge


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## bwest (Mar 13, 2008)

Thanks for the updates Matt, much appreciated. Are you free tomorrow?


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## erdvm1 (Oct 17, 2003)

Ben, great to hear from you.

I'm gonna go up at 10am and try to pull some wire out from below chicken wing. Then the plan is black rock at 1pm


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## deepsouthpaddler (Apr 14, 2004)

SSV was 5.5" today at 11am. Looks like cool and cloudy weather is dropping flows.


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## erdvm1 (Oct 17, 2003)




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## bwest (Mar 13, 2008)

Can we get an update? How was the race?


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## erdvm1 (Oct 17, 2003)

Ben, wish you could have been there

The race was seamless
Flows were low but fun
The LOG was huge
Friday band was of the charts


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## erdvm1 (Oct 17, 2003)




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## stubby (Oct 13, 2003)

Looks like a good bump in flows on the gauge calculation last night. Any visuals?


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## KSC (Oct 22, 2003)

You don't trust the gauges? Trust the gauges.


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## stubby (Oct 13, 2003)

I trust it, I'm just curious what it correlates to. Sounds like 130 was apx 4.5", so what's 160? 6.5"?


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## deepsouthpaddler (Apr 14, 2004)

SSV was 6" on the stick @ 5:30PM, and 7-8" after we got off. Awesome flow last night. Hell yeah! The mank is getting covered, but the holes and push aren't stompy yet. I'd call it the perfect med/low. 

More info of the flow calc...

We rejoiced when NSV below buttonrock gauge came back online. The SSV gauge math using that is SSV = ST Vrain @ Lyons - NSV below buttonrock. That equation holds (to a degree) when buttonrock is not full.

I spoke with the longmonth water guys, and this is what I got... When buttonrock is fun, some ungauged flow goes over the spillway and returns into the creek below the NSV below buttonrock gauge, so the gauge math using NSV below buttonrock is off. They try to keep the spill to less than 50 cfs, but you never know what they are spilling. So when buttonrock is full (just recently filled, I think last friday), the math would be SSV = st vrain @ lyons - nsv above buttonrock. Also, longmont takes out ~25 cfs out of longmont reservoir, which is below the nsv below buttonrock gauge, so NSV below buttonrock gauge will read 25 cfs higher than what is in the creek heading down to lyons.

So to be as correct as you can...

SSV when buttonrock is not spilling = st vrain @ lyons - nsv below buttonrock - 25cfs.

SSV when buttonrock is spilling = st vrain @ lyons - nsv above buttonrock - 25cfs.

Also, the middle saint vrain at peaceful valley is a good barometer gauge for SSV. They take all the water out of SSV @ ward for the left hand diversion, so the MSV gives a good low end approximation of what SSV is doing.

So there you have it... kinda complicated, but for gauge geeks who are constantly trying to figure out what SSV is doing, this should help.


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## bolsito (Aug 26, 2007)

Ian,

I think you mean +25 in all of those calculations - if they're taking water from NSV, that should make SSV higher than it would otherwise appear.


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## deepsouthpaddler (Apr 14, 2004)

You are right Scott. Add 25 to the calcs not subtract. Brain fart on my part.


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