SAM DEAN The Roanoke Times

John Mays, co-owner of Twin River Outfitters in Buchanan, monitors river levels online. The company allows trips on the James River only when levels are between 2 and 6 feet.

SAM DEAN The Roanoke Times

David Larsen, 18, with Boy Scout Troop No. 710, has spent three rain-soaked days paddling the muddied waters of the James River. He hopes to receive an accomplishment badge for the trip.

SAM DEAN The Roanoke Times

Boy Scouts from Kentucky head out on the James River, hoping to cover 50 miles in five days, picking up trash as they go.

Folks who make their living off the river keep a simple Goldilocks rule: You don't want the water too high and you don't want the water too low. You want the water just right.

John and Dan Mays are two such men. The brothers, who operate Twin River Outfitters in Buchanan, only send boaters and floaters down the James River when the water is between 2 and 6 feet.

The reading on Wednesday afternoon? Just under 5 feet and rising. That was a good foot above the typical June levels, the Mays brothers said. And a National Weather Service Web site forecast the James could hit almost 9 feet by breakfast time today.

"In our five years, this has been our wettest," John Mays said. The recent high waters, and the hazards of hidden debris and swifter currents that come with them, have kept business off the river for four weekends this spring. "If it just stops raining, we'll be fine," he said.

You don't need a weatherman to know it has rained and rained. From big drops right down to a spitting drizzle. A drip more than 4.5 inches fell in Roanoke so far this month, easily twice the average rainfall by this point in a typical June.

So area rivers are straining their banks and skimming their bridges. No flooding yet, but the region's waterways have swelled to historically higher levels.

And even within their banks, high rivers pose a greater threat. Two men drowned on area waterways in the past two weeks, both deaths stemming from unusually high water levels.

"A river is entirely different at different water levels," said Scott Martin, director of commerce and leisure services in Franklin County. "It is like riding a road on a bicycle one time and then riding it again in a car going 65 miles per hour."

The Blackwater River near Rocky Mount was more than 5 feet high on Wednesday afternoon, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey.

"We recommend that people don't get on the Blackwater when it is over 4 feet unless they are very experienced," Martin said.

Meanwhile, the Roanoke River was more than 3 feet above its normal level but comfortably lower than the 10-foot flood mark, according to the geological survey gauge at Roanoke. Under light rain, the coffee-colored river looked ready to test its banks.

But Peter Corrigan of the National Weather Service in Blacksburg was not anticipating river flooding in the Roanoke region. That may change if the coming weeks continue to be wetter than average, he said.

City Engineer Phil Schirmer said the Roanoke River is projected to crest at 4.7 feet. Water could fill in some of the so-called bench cut areas that were constructed under a flood control project that stretches from the city wastewater treatment plant in Southeast Roanoke upstream to the former Hannah Court Trailer Park.

"And that is what this project is to handle -- the smaller and more frequent storms as opposed to the next flood of 1985," Schirmer said.

During the last flood event in 2006, the bench cuts performed as expected, Schirmer said.

Of course, a surging river is not the same sort of waterway, and some boaters may go looking for the wilder ride of a swelling river.

"There's a lot of people that look for the water to rise, some with the idea that it could be a lot more exciting," said Lt. Karl Martin of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

Back at the James River, the water touched the branches of the trees on its shore. And Boy Scout Troop No. 710 out of Kentucky was wading in for a canoe trip.

An accomplishment badge was at stake, and the troop was hoping to cover 50 miles in five days, picking up trash as they went.

The boys shoved off in five canoes. In the stern of one sat David Larsen. The 18-year-old wore a large green poncho though the rain had passed. It was less a matter of comfort than superstition.

"As long as I wear this, it won't rain," he said.

Staff writers Amanda Codispoti and Kevin Myatt contributed to this report.

pete.dybdahl@roanoke.com 981-3376

courtney.cutright@roanoke.com 981-3345