Hello again to all of you! I'm Ratty, The Everyday Adventurer, as if you didn't already know that. Sometimes there may be a few new people here that really don't know who I am. So, that's me. Over on the right you can see my picture, with my name. Everybody keeps telling me I look like Danger Mouse, but I'm not sure I really see it. I'm much more handsome than him.Okay, enough of that! Today I want to continue to tell you the story of what happened when the melting snow caused huge flooding along my hiking trails. Yesterday I showed you how the river had flooded over it's banks and onto the path. It changed my plans greatly, and I had to decide on another direction.
I saw very many things along the way, and I planned on telling you about them before I got to this. But then I decided that I'd temporarily jump ahead, and finish this story of the flood. That will stop this major event from being a continuing distraction for me. It really was cause for excitement for me.
I knew I couldn't find a way back to my favorite bridge. So after wandering around the park, and almost leaving three times, I remembered another place where I could see the river. This was a better place to get a closeup view of the river, but there was no bridge to stand on. It might be dangerous, but I didn't care.
I had to go all the way to the other side of the park to get to this section of the river, but it was worth it. It was flooded so much, it was almost unrecognizable. I knew I was going to see something special before I even got to it.The air around me was so wet that it was quickly soaking through my coat. There was that mist coming up from the ground all around me. And the sounds of the now raging river were loud to my ears, even far from sight. The flooding on even this part of the path made it so that I couldn't help but leave the official trail to get an early look at the river.
There really isn't an official path to this section of the river, but the closest thing to it was impassable. So I followed a small deer trail down to the river. I wish I would have gotten a few shots along the way, but it's those things that I always seem to forget. When I'm on a quest for something specific, I always forget everything else.
As you can see by these pictures of the river, it was flowing very fast. It must have swept away most of the debris, and some other things, that had been lying in it. Everywhere I looked, it was deep and rapid. I wasn't sure I wanted to get very close to it. This peaceful little river had now become a very dangerous place to be.
I wouldn't recommend doing what I did to get some of these pictures to anyone else. As you can see by the photo above, I was above the middle of this raging river. Like I indicated before, there is no bridge here. I won't reveal just how I was able to do this, but I'll say again no one else should try it. For all you know, I could have been hanging from a branch or something. Or maybe I just found a good place to stand.
Just to show you the changes that this river underwent, here is a photo of a place very close to this from almost two months ago. You can see the banks of the river rise up around it. The river sits down at the bottom of this little place, and the sides are kind of high all around it. There are even some dry areas right in the middle of it.All of these new photos show this river straining the limits of the sides around it. The dry spots are now deep underwater. There were deer tracks in the mud leading down to the river, back when I took the older photo. Now, there were no deer stupid enough to approach this river. There was only me.
It was kind of funny. There were deer tracks that came this way, but they always turned back the other way long before they got near the river. I actually followed deer tracks down here. When they turned to the side, I kept moving towards the river. That was how I found a clear way to get here. Getting back out was another matter.
I had some trouble getting back out of here, because the path had melted as I stood here watching the river. I was surprised to see that when I turned around, because I hadn't really been here that long. I knew the direction I had to go, but there are so many tangled trees and bushes back here that I couldn't find a clear way back out.
I took this last picture after backtracking my way back to the river. Not finding an easy way out, I figured I would get a few more shots for good measure. I wasn't even a bit nervous about the situation. I make it sound perilous, but I actually could almost see the main trail from here. How's that for a great adventure? Stop laughing!That's the story of the rising river. It was a fun experience for me. I've been waiting for these waters to rise like this ever since the first time I saw them. At a place I lived for a short time when I was a kid, there was a small creek like this that I used to play in back then. One time in early spring, I went down there and it was in this same condition. I've watched for something similar ever since then.
Well, that's it for today. I'll of course be back tomorrow with more thrilling adventures. Don't miss it. And leave me a nice comment, I'm starving for attention and approval, and only you can give it. Leave a link so I can visit your site if you have one. I'm sure I'll like it.
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