the Way of the Turtle

FLOOD WATERS RECEDING...
1.1 Mile Walk at Lock 7 and Niskayuna Lions Park
Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Got some news today that left me in something of a funk - I'll write more about that at a future date - which meant I ended up skipping my planned bike ride, did a bit of shopping, and then headed over to the bike path both to see if I could get near it and to check out the state of the Mohawk River and the flood damage. Roads were all re-opened, and the Lions Park lot had a lot of cars in it - probably a result of equal parts curiosity and people being able to use the path again. Headed over to Lock 7 and spent a while walking around. The water levels were much lower than on Monday - not normal for this time of year, but nothing too dramatic. Lots of thick brown mud everywhere that was under water for any amount of time.

The boat launch and the locktender's building all sit at the top of a hill - I'd never really thought about it before, but the hill is actually a dam, and that's what started to leak Monday afternoon. The hillside is now covered with packed stone, and they piled earth across the boat launch to hold back water there. Doesn't look like the water actually overflowed the lock, which probably means there isn't as much damage as at some of the other locks that actually ended up submerged.

A number of water birds were evident - four egrets and a heron in the boat launch basin, as well as a cormorant. Spotted several gulls and a large group of ducks in the river below the lock. A reminder that, no matter what nature does to us - life goes on for the magnificent critters.

From there I headed back to the Lions Park. Took a few photos - looks like the water made it almost to the old train station but not quite. Thought about walking down the path a ways, but in the end decided to head home instead... just didn't have much enthusiasm for a long walk today.

JMH