When I say the duration was longer, I mean that while it wasn't over flood stage (15') for more than one night, it went passed 12' on the 25th and didn't really come back down past that until the 29th. Also it depends on where most of the water is coming from. Gold Bar is far enough upriver that it leaves many other tributaries unaccounted for, so what I see on the GB gauge is just one indicator of the flow.

At around 12' the water starts reaching bank surfaces that don't normally see much flow, frequently this is softer and less compact ground deposited from prior floods, with brush and small trees growing in it. This is what much of the valley is made up of, loose sandy soil with shallow rooted vegetation, it's no match for several days of pounding from high water and heavy rain.

While many people look at CFS, I always look at feet, I know what a foot is on any river, and it's always a foot. With CFS, 10,000 doesn't mean the same thing from river to river, or as flows increase or decrease even on the same river.