[Gregory]

The Sol duck has not crested yet.

[Ski]

In my previous entry I posted a graphic which showed a 90% increase in flow over a 30-hour period. After cresting at 3680 cfs at 2:30 pm PDT Wednesday, September 24, the river dropped down to 1360 cfs the evening of Thursday, September 25. Another system blew in from the southwest, and it crested at 12:30 PM PDT today, Friday September 26, at 9820 cfs, an 87% increase in flow in less than 15 hours.

usgs 12040500 092614 1230 PDT 9820 cfs

This is most likely the end of the season for hiking up there. If you'd been up the trail dilly-dallying around waiting for the rain to stop, you would now be stuck on the wrong side of the river, waiting for it to drop low enough to ford, which will take at least several days to a couple weeks if it stops raining. ONP does not perform SAR missions for people stuck on the gravel bar opposite the mouth of Sams because the river came up.

[Bloated Chipmunk]

Damn those deviled eggs look good! Looks like you had a nice relaxing solo trip, w/no shortage of dips in the Queets.

[Ski]

they weren't deviled eggs... just plain ol' hard boiled eggs. I packed a zip-lock with some seasoning salt for them which kind of made them appear that way. it was way too warm that day for packing deviled eggs!

[Gregory]

I find it interesting that the Queets bumped up to 10000 where as the mighty Hoh only squeeked out 3800.

[Ski]

The Queets watershed is a fairly good size area, and the USGS gaging station numbers include the flow of its largest tributaries, the Clearwater and Solleks Rivers immediately to the north. Doubtless the Quinault and Hoh watersheds are also good-sized, and the Bogachiel-Calawah as well (although probably to a lesser extent). But you can pick any river on the Olympic Peninsula and look at the flow numbers and I don't think you will find such wild fluctuations over such short timespans. If you examine the topography closely, it starts to make sense: the Queets opens onto the Pacific at just the right aspect to funnel those "pineapple express" systems from the southwest right up the valley. To paraphrase John Meyer, former fisheries biologist at ONP, from a phone conversation over 25 years ago, "The Queets is probably the most dynamic river on the Peninsula (in terms of streamflow fluctuation), if not the entire State." (some numbers cited here) Having watched those numbers continuously for over 15 years, I tend to agree with him on that point.

[Bloated Chipmunk]

[CHECKTHISOUT]

[Ski]

currently 1330 cfs @ 23:30 PDT 092814 - down from 9820 in 59 hours. if I remember correctly, when I looked at some numbers Friday morning NWS said 2.28 inches of rain in 24 hours at Owl Mountain - just to the north of Queets Ridge. and yes, it does get those silvery things moving up the ditch in a hurry.