How the entries are kept

A river changes faster than a coast. A bank that was safe in June can be a mud slope in October, and a lock that opened on the hour may keep its own time after the first frost. These notes try to keep up without pretending to more certainty than they have.

Sources

Our own passages

Most entries begin as a log line written on the day: the level we saw, the place we tied up, the weather.

Gauge readings

We record the reading and the date together. A level without a date is not a fact we keep.

Lock keepers and crews

People who work the river tell us what changed. We note who told us and when, and confirm it on the next passage.

Review windows

Entries are reviewed twice a year: once after the spring thaw, once after the autumn low. Between reviews, anything we have not confirmed stays marked checking rather than being quietly removed or quietly kept.

What we leave out

We do not publish depths as if they were surveyed, and we do not give advice for water we have not travelled. Where a note touches the coast, it is handed over to Lumen Routes so that the two desks never disagree without saying so.

Enquiries

Corrections and requests for river cards: rivers@harbor-lumen.com.