With the loss of the DOE gauge, it is going to be more difficult to judge flows for Deer Creek. I hope that doesn't stop people from getting on the run. Thought I'd put up some data points to help people out. It would be great to get more if anyone has them. Here's to some Deer Creek runs this season!

1/8/11

Flow: perfect, filled-in but not too high

Deer creek at Oso gauge down (ECO). SF Stilly usgs 6.5 (+.3correction) dropping. NF Stilly 4900 dropping

1/22/11

Flow: Slightly lower than 1/8. Still a great flow.

DOE Deer Creek @ OSO ~1700->1400. NF Stilly @ Arlington 4200 dropping, NF Stilly @ Oso 3.9 dropping. SF Stilly 6.6.

4/1/11

Flow: Too high. Holes get a bit too big and it's not as fun.

DC @ OSO got reading of 2000 near end of run. NF Stilly @ Arlington: 6200->5600.

I emailed DOE about whether they had a good suggestion on estimating Deer Creek from other gauges.
I got a prompt reply back with a chart of data comparing the flows on Deer Creek to the DOE gauge on the NF of the Stilly @ OSO:
https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/wrx/wrx/flows/station.asp?sta=05B090&historical=true

The formula is:

Deer Creek(cfs) = .459 * NFStilly(cfs) - 44.193

correlation coefficient .917



Go to my photos to see a better shot of the graph.

Pretty cool stuff. Obviously this is not going to always work but it looks like the best way to estimate the flow.

Thanks for the correlation formula, Fiddleyak (and DOE)!

Since Deer Creek season has arrived, I added it as a virtual gauge to the River Level Text Service.

Just text "Level Deer" to 41411 (works on Verizon, AT&T, and maybe others).

You can also text "Deer Creek WA" or "Deer WA", but "Deer Creek" will get you a multiple choice list of all the Deer Creeks (CA has a good one too).

Looking forward to getting back in there! and staying on the right side of the gate...