Cubic Feet per Second (CFS)
Front Royal Gauge
River Conditions Summary
Thursday September 4, 2025
River levels are perfect for all activities and there’s currently no forecast for that to change.
Current River Level:
1.21 Feet on the Front Royal Gauge and falling slowly. River crystal clear and absolutely gorgeous.
Tubing: We’re running our summer 1.8 mile stretch of river, which is taking about 2.5 hours at this level. That said, guests are free to find places to hang out to extend their trip as long as they’re back by 5PM. We’ve reached ordinary summer lows now that it hasn’t rained much for the month of August.
We are providing riverside instructions for our guests to stay left for the first half of the trip then move to center for the second half. So, while the river is low and scratchy, our guests have yet to complain about having to walk or being interrupted by excessive shallow water. Guests should still mentally prepare for some instances where they’ll need to avoid shallow rocks or shoals and paddle their tubes to clearer passage or they will need to move off or rocks. We’re super lucky to still have steady flow and the ability to shorten our trip because if we were still running out normal 3 mile trip it would be taking guests 4-5 hours with a lot more running aground. The 1.8 mile trip leapfrogs all that.
As always, if space is available on our hourly tube shuttle bus, all guests are free to jump on for a second run if they’d like! Last trip goes out at 2PM. Naturally, guests with reservations will get first seats on the bus. Guests should not expect to have room on the bus on Saturdays, but generally the rest of the week there is availability on the 1 and 2PM shuttles for repeat trips.
Kayaking and Canoeing: We’re offering our 3 and 5 mile trips for most guests. The 9.5 mile trip is still available and quite an attractive float, however, this should only be taken on by guests who have experience navigating shallow, low and clear rivers, reading the water and avoiding shallow water obstacles.
Current Water Temperature:
62 Degrees Fahrenheit, which combined with afternoon warm temperatures is just about perfect tubing and paddling weather. Refreshing temps.
Current Water Condition:
River has dropped to normal summer levels, is clear, and is a crisp 62 degrees in the morning warming to about 65 in the afternoon
Helpful Hint: as is often the case for early summer, changing conditions are normal and we recommend checking back before you make a trip out to see us without a reservation. If possible, get those reservations in! Reservations help us prepare for you before you arrive, and also greatly speed up the check in process.
(NOTE: If the graphs above don’t show today’s levels, it means you have visited the site before. Hold down the ctrl button and click the page refresh icon, top left on your browser, to reset cache)
What different water levels mean for our river and your adventure:
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- Flatwater Paddle By The Hour is a great option – launching at our site offers deep water with almost no flow and is perfect for exploring during low water with none of the hassles of going upriver
- Tubing ages 5 and up
- Inner Tubing shortened to Private Access at 1.6 miles – but still expect nearly continuous shallow rocky water with lots of scraping and some walking – Average Trip Time 3.5 -4 hours.
- Upriver Kayaking and Canoeing trips will be shortened to 3 or 5 miles, and experience with reading shallow rivers and paddling through small slots of deeper water will help keep things fun
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- Tubing for ages 5 and up
- Inner Tubing shortened to Private Access at 1.6 miles – expect low scrapy conditions which will require your full attention at times in order to choose the deepest path down the river – Average Trip Time 2 – 3 hours
- Upriver Kayaking and Canoeing Trips will be shortened to 3 or 5 miles for most paddlers. 9 miles possible for very experienced river goers who can read shallow water and move their boats nimbly, and who catch the first trip of the day
- Flatwater Paddle By The Hour is a great option – launching at our site offers deep water with almost no flow and is perfect for exploring during low water with none of the hassles of going upriver
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- Tubing for ages 5 and up.
- Inner Tubing Trip from Luray Avenue is 3 miles – expect gentle flow with occasional navigation required to avoid obstacles or shallow bars and shelves – Average Trip Time 2 – 3 hours
- Upriver Kayaking and Canoeing Trips – 3-15 mile trips offered. However, we suggest guests who want the 9 and 15 mile option to arrive early and eat their Wheaties, especially at the 1.4 – 1.8 foot levels.
- Flatwater Paddle By The Hour is a great option – launching at our site offers deep water with slow to moderate flow and allows guests to decide how long they want to be out, as opposed to having to cover X number of miles on one of our upriver 3-15 mile trips
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- Children 12 and up may tube without being tethered to a parent or legal guardian
- Children 5 and up may participate but parents must keep children of this age group with them, preferably by twine tether, to help them navigate the faster river current.
- Inner Tubing Trip from Luray Avenue is 3 miles – expect gentle flow with occasional navigation required to avoid obstacles or shallow bars and shelves – Average Trip Time 2 hours
- Upriver Kayaking and Canoeing Trips – 3-15 mile trips offered. However, we suggest guests who want the 9 and 15 mile option to arrive early and eat their Wheaties, especially at the 1.4 – 1.8 foot levels.
- Flatwater Paddle By The Hour is a great option – launching at our site offers deep water with slow to moderate flow and allows guests to decide how long they want to be out, as opposed to having to cover X number of miles on one of our upriver 3-15 mile trips
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- All participants must know how to swim within this range of levels (2.5-3.5) and age restrictions are necessary because younger tubers with short arms simply can’t move their tube around efficiently when necessary.
- 2.5-3.0 feet on the gauge means tubing is for those who are age 12 and up and who are swimmers
- 3.0-3.5 feet on the gauge means tubing for those who are age 16 and up and who are strong swimmers. Trip time is reduced to about 1.5 hours unless you find a place to hang out, which you are welcome to do as long as you’re back by 5PM
- 3.5-4.5 Tubing may be offered on our flowing reservoir, decisions to be made the day before, and it will require us to move to tubing only status.
- Great Level for Upriver Kayak and Canoe Trips 3-15 miles. The river flows freely with moderate to fast flow. Good time to try a longer float if you have some experience and endurance
- Too High for Flatwater Paddle By The Hour option because our normally quiet flatwater area picks up quite a bit of current which makes paddling back to our takeout more of a challenge. We prefer not to mess with it at these levels.
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- Too high for inner-tubing our regular stretch of river from Luray Avenue to our headquarters, but a great level for our reservoir tubing if we’re able to move over to tubing only.
- Upriver Kayaking and Canoeing Trips for VERY experienced paddlers who are also strong swimmers in the event of capsize or difficulties
- We will be running rafts at this level on our 3- and 5-mile sections. For experienced paddlers and strong swimmer
- Guided Trips are still on
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- Reservoir tubing may be offered at levels below 4.5 feet, but this requires us to go “tubing only” which we normally will do on weekend days in the summer with high water. Please inquire.
- Guided River Trips are still on
- All Non-Guided River Trips Cancelled
- Riverside Camping may be possible with levels between 4.0 and 5.0 feet, but please call to check. These sites get inundated with water at 5.0 Feet on the Gauge
- Riverview Campsites are still lovely