After the Rain

I mentioned in this recent post that I would try to make it back to the bike path this weekend to check out the level of the river. For one reason or another, Sam and I didn't make it back there. I feel bad about it, because I know you've been waiting to hear an exciting update.

Well, good news! While we didn't make it back there this past weekend, we did manage to squeeze in a very brief visit last night. Going there last night actually worked out better because, along with a couple of days of rain at the end of last week, we had a bad storm go through here just the night before - so this made checking out the river even more worthwhile.

Anyway, here is what we found. Here's the photo of the river from the other day...

and here's a photo of the river from last night...

Here's another photo from the other day, this one looking in the opposite direction...

And another one from last night...

Big difference, right? So there you have it, more rain = higher rivers. Who would have thought? (You may want to write that down.)

Along with the water level, there's a couple of other things that I discovered.

First of all, as I mentioned previously, trying to go for a walk along this bike path on a late autumn afternoon or evening, is nearly impossible and this just confirms it.  Yesterday, for example, I rushed home from work, got Sam a quick dinner (leftovers, even!) then we rushed over to the bike path and hustled down to the iron bridge and took these pictures.

When we left home, the sun was setting, but still shining bright. In the time it took us to get there though, the sunlight was nearly gone. The daylight fades away too quickly to make it to a path which closes at dusk. (P.S. Notice that these pictures are also darker. That's another fun fact: Less sunlight = darker photographs.)

The other thing I noticed is that crossing the iron bridge over seemingly calm waters is much easier (which is not to say, "easy") than crossing one over violent, torrential waters. There's something about hearing the roar of the water rushing by, and seeing all the logs and debris washing helplessly downstream that causes me some discomfort. 

When I was on the bridge last night, I was more than happy that it was getting dark because it gave me an excuse to get off the bridge and head back home.