Gauley River, WV

The Gauley River, West Virginia

The Gauley River is located in West Virginia and has three major portions that make up the river in its entirety.

In the map above, you can see the three locations that are highlighted by the yellow markers. The far right marker is the Upper Gauley, the middle marker is Summersville Lake, and the far left marker is the Lower Gauley. The Summersville Lake is a man-made lake that was built by the Corps of Engineers in 1960 and separates the two portions of the Gauley River. A main part of the lake is the Summersville Dam, which ends the Summersville Lake and begins the Lower Gauley.

Below are three climographs for the three locations.

Below are the soil surveys for the three locations.

Upper Gauley:

Summersville Lake:

Lower Gauley:

The soil surveys and climographs of the three locations are very similar. However due to the characteristics of the lake, the Lower Gauley is different due to creation of the dam. The soils differ slightly from the three locations, with the Lower Gauley & Summersville Lake being more stratified. In the Upper Gauley, the elevation falls more evenly which is much different from the Lower Gauley. This leaves the Lower Gauley with much more exposed rock and more erosion, leading to the "Gauley Season" for white-water paddlers.

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