Yesterday the Friends of the Cheat office received a call from an eager festival-goer inquiring about the water level of the Cheat. While we would LOVE to know what kind of water we will have festival weekend a month out (holy smokes, CF is almost one month away!) it’s pretty impossible to say. We always schedule Cheat Fest for the first weekend in May in hopes of catching some great water for our visiting paddler friends and the Down River Race. Usually, things work out pretty darn well.

If you want to keep track of current water conditions, check out the USGS website which posts up to date water level data for many rivers throughout the country. We like to keep an eye on the Cheat and Big Sandy.

But, since you asked, I decided to look back at what the water level has been for the past year’s festival weekends, the results of my in depth analysis are below.  Conclusion: be ready for anything! One of my favorite things about the Cheat is how much the river changes at various water levels – and since the river is free flowing, we get to experience infinite versions of the Cheat at each of those different levels. Pretty cool!