Yesterday we had record rainfall
and the small streams in our area turned into raging rivers. The stream in this first picture is just a few hundred yards from our home. The #surface #runoff has made its way through the woods and now storms towards the #Susquehanna #River.
The once-meandering water
creates a scene that inundates the farmland downriver.
The next stream I walked to is about the same distance from our home as the first one pictured in this blog. The water here will meet up with the stream in the first picture.
As the rushing water travels under the road, it passes through a large steel culvert pipe. As it exits the pipe and drops into the stream, years of erosion have formed a small pool at this point.
For the first 10 years that we owned our property, we camped out in tents. With no running water on the land, this stream was where we would bathe, do our dishes, and cool off on hot Summer days.
This small stream routinely dries up in late spring and just a trickle of water finds its way downriver. Many small pools of water hang on, awaiting the Winter's precipitation. We have hiked this picturesque wooded area many times. Crawdads and small fish thrive in the ever-shrinking pools as the summer heat evaporates the liquid.
Again, the rushing water travels through a culvert pipe which carries it under the dirt road. A tree has been uprooted by the constant onslaught of water. Within a short distance, it continues to pour into our neighbor's pond, threatening to overflow its banks. This water will also make its way to the ever-swelling stream downriver.
For those not familiar with the terms downstream and Upstream,
the terms can be somewhat confusing. When referring to the water in rivers and streams, the difference is that upstream, also known as upriver, is against the water flow and toward the original source.
The word downstream mainly means
the direction that the water in a river is traveling..
Also, water tends to flow from north to south, so if you are hiking without a compass, which I strongly recommend you never do, most often you will be able to determine that you're traveling in a northward direction when heading upstream.
Its good to live on high ground
