Live now · all 50 states

Know before you float. Every river, live.

Real-time USGS flow data turned into plain-language float ratings for kayaks, canoes, rafts and tubes — river by river, state by state. Stop guessing before you strap the boats on and drive an hour to a river that's too low to float or too dangerous to run.

2,198RIVERS TRACKED
3,689MAPPED GAUGES
9,358GAUGES INCLUDED
50STATES LIVE
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The rivers, live

Every river we track, on the map

Fifty states, 2,198 tracked rivers on a real map — every dot a live USGS gauge, colored by its current float status. Green means go. Tap any river to open its live dashboard with kayak, raft and tube ratings.

Good float Too low High & pushy Dangerous No recent data
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How it works

One live engine, built for anyone floating the water.

Pick a state, pick a river, and every dashboard runs the same way: we pull the live reading from that river's USGS gauge every few minutes, measure it against float bands estimated from decades of flow history, and turn it into a plain-language rating — too low, good float, high & pushy, or dangerous. Flip the craft toggle and the whole dashboard re-rates for tube, kayak/canoe, or raft. Bands are statistical estimates — verify against local outfitters and American Whitewater before you commit.

50STATES · 2,200 RIVERS LIVE
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What's actually here

Everything you'd check before you strap the boats on

Built from live federal gauge data plus real paddler intel — not a static "best floats" listicle.

📡

Live USGS flow data

Pulled directly from waterservices.usgs.gov, refreshed every 15 minutes — 3,694 gauges mapped behind our tracked rivers, and 9,358 USGS gauges included across all 50 states.

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Plain-language safety ratings

TOO LOW / GOOD FLOAT / HIGH & PUSHY / DANGEROUS — float bands estimated per gauge from USGS long-term flow percentiles, so you know whether it's a lazy float, a gravel drag, or a day to leave the boats on the truck.

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Per-craft ratings — tube, kayak, raft

The same river floats a kayak long before it floats a raft, and a tube's safe window is the narrowest of all. Every gauge carries separate bands for each craft.

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Safety, built in

PFD-first checklists, low-head dam and strainer warnings, cold-water rules, and seasonal float windows on every river page — because the rating is only half the answer.

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Statewide interactive map

Every gauge plotted, color-coded live by status, so you can scan a whole region at once instead of checking rivers one by one.

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Flow history & trend charts

Rising, falling, or holding steady — the number alone can lie mid-storm; the trend tells you what the river's about to do.

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Local weather module

Current conditions and the multi-day outlook at each gauge's exact location, pulled from the Open-Meteo weather service.

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Community intel — "Read the Water"

Gauges tell you the flow; people on the water tell you the truth. Real-time reports from paddlers and floaters who ran it an hour ago.

Reports

Two kinds of reports, working together

Automated flow reports keep the data honest. Paddler-submitted reports keep it real.

Mad River — Urbana, OH
Auto flow report · updated 15 min ago
SAFE
Au Sable — Mio, MI
Auto flow report · updated 15 min ago
CAUTION
"Dropped overnight, clean enough to run the canyon section"
Community report · Arkansas River, CO
INTEL
"Strainer river-wide below the Rt 9 bridge — portage river left"
Community report · White River, AR
HAZARD

How reports work

Every river page blends both sources so you're never relying on a number alone.

Auto flow reports — generated straight from the live USGS reading against that gauge's tuned safe/caution/limited thresholds.
Community intel — paddlers and floaters submit what they actually saw: water clarity, access issues, hazards and portages, whether the rating matched reality.
Trend flags — rising water on a "safe" reading gets flagged, because the number lies faster than the river changes.