Cubic Feet per Second (CFS)
Front Royal Gauge
River Conditions Summary
Friday June 19, 2026
All week guests have enjoyed beautiful clear water, comfortable temps, and all of our activities. We had guests tubing, kayaking, rafting and paddling by the hour, oh, and also the camping weather is just lovely. All trips start and end at our headquarters 1847 N. Royal Ave in Front Royal.
Current River Level and Condition:
1.2 feet on the Front Royal Gauge and about 76 degrees. Our river is currently pleasantly warm, clear and beautiful. We are at normal summer levels and we’re offering all normal activities with normal age ranges.
Tubing: We’re running our normal summer tubing trip which is 1.6 miles. If you navigate the rocks well and pick decent channels this float is taking our guests between 2.0-2.5 hours. For guests who want to stay on the river longer there’s plenty of places to stop, wade, swim, or enjoy the shade with food and cool beverages. The day is yours and you’re not timed, we just ask guests to plan to be back by 5PM so we can get ready for the next day.
Kayaking and Canoeing: Our guests have been enjoying our 3, 5 and 9 mile trips with canoes and both sit-on, and sit-in kayaks. Here’s the deets:
3 Mile: This trip is as short as 1.5 hours if you are on a schedule. Leisurely paddlers are taking 2-3 hours and extending their time on the water by exploring cabin run, finding some shade or pulling up on the gravel bars for a break and swim.
5 Mile: We’re excited to be running our 5 mile trip on the North Fork Shenandoah. This is the smaller sister to the South Fork and usually offers chrystal clear water and few to no other river users. It’s remote and beautiful.
9 Mile: For experienced or adventuresome paddlers our 9 mile trips is a great choice. The South Fork Shenandoah is shallow and clear, which is why we love it, but it also means paddlers who take this many miles on should be ready to read channels, navigate their boat into narrow chutes, and be ready for shallow water normal during the summers on the Shenandoah. This trip is taking 4-6 hours depending on experience and how hard you want to paddle.
Paddle By The Hour: We have perfect levels for our hourly rentals. Our flatwater reservoir is getting very clear and we can see 8-10 feet down. We’ve had guests launch and literally just lounge around in front of our building
Helpful Hint: 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