With much of the Piedmont in extreme or exceptional drought, WFDD’s David Ford wanted to know how water tourism is faring. He wades into the issue and talks to a local business owner in this week’s edition of Carolina Curious.
It’s a pretty view from the Dan River Company in Stokes County: green foliage and grasses blowing in a gentle breeze, sun shimmering off the water. But founder David Hoskins, who drives paddlers upstream for kayaking and canoe trips, says looks can be deceiving.
"That's because we're getting these small rains that are like a 10th of an inch to a quarter of an inch," he says. "These rains are doing absolutely nothing for the baseline of the river. It rains, the river goes up maybe 100 cubic feet, and within eight hours it's back to where it was."
For one cubic foot, picture a basketball-sized box that holds about seven and a half gallons. A river’s flow rate is measured by the number of cubic feet that pass through a gauge every second. Hoskins says right now, at roughly 46 cubic feet per second, it’s about a quarter of where it normally is this time of year.
"It’s been devastating to the business," says Hoskins. "But we want to make sure our river experience is the same for all our customers, and I can't put people on the river at this point, because you will be getting out multiple times, and it's going to be a bumpy little ride."
He says his outdoor adventure company, which traditionally has rented boats, has had to pivot. They’re offering hiking shuttle service to the Mountains-to-Sea Trail and to nearby Hanging Rock State Park, which features waterfalls and a recreational lake.
The return trip down Indian Creek Trail brings adventurers back to the Dan River Company’s watering hole that Hoskins also owns and operates.
"We're relying on the Green Heron Ale House for revenue at this point, because we are not putting people on the water," he says. "I am selling boats. I don't need to sell the boats, but you know, revenue is revenue. But yeah, overall we're just kind of making it through."
Hoskins says he doesn’t see things getting back to normal anytime soon. The National Weather Service forecasters are predicting that above-normal temperatures will continue this summer, and El Niño is expected to bring drier-than-normal conditions in the fall.