the Way of the Turtle

MORE FLOOD DAMAGE
7 Mile Run at Thacher Park
Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Set off this afternoon to go for a run at the Hyuck Preserve in Rensselaerville... Ann and I visited there briefly a few years ago, and I've wanted to check out more of the trails ever since. Plus I figured the waterfall should be flowing nicely for some photos. Unfortunately, both the roads I tried were closed due to flood damage, and it was late enough in the afternoon that I couldn't see driving all over the place trying to get there. So that will have to wait for another time...

Ended up at Thacher Park instead, and found more damage there than I expected. Initially it didn't look too bad - lots of leaves and small branches down on the trails, no big deal. The water was roaring over the waterfalls, so I looked forward to getting down on the Indian Ladder trail - but it was closed. As I continued along the escarpment I found out why - Outlet Creek had flooded enough to wash out both the bridge across the creek and the fence at the edge of the escarpment! I've crossed Outlet Creek many times between the bridge and the falls - in the summer the water flow is usually a trickle - but today anyone venturing into the creek would have been immediately swept over the falls. Wow.

Minelot Falls, usually the stronger of the two, was less intense than Outlet - the bridge was still intact - but still flowing impressively. I continued along the escarpment down to the Glen Doone picnic area and then over to Hop Field. Oddly enough the creek at Hop Field was high but not particularly rough - I actually crossed the stream in the water while taking photos of the waterfall there.

Heading over toward the park maintenance area and up the hill to the beaver pond revealed some damage to the trails but nothing too severe... though one section had been bulldozed recently, I suspect it washed out. Another surprise awaited at the beaver pond - now a swamp, because the dam was breached. That told me to expect a lot of damage along Paint Mine road and boy was I right - major sections were gullied and washed out by all the water that flowed down through there. Minelot creek was running full blast, with some gorgeous waterfalls. Down at the bottom, the creek had undercut one corner of the parking lot, and the bridge across the creek looked like it was a near thing - the supports had been partially washed out and it looked like the bridge had dropped a few inches.

All the damage at Thacher and the closed roads toward Rensselaerville have me re-thinking my plans to head south to the Bashakill and Minnewaska tomorrow. I really don't want to get down there only to find that roads are closed or even the park is closed (update: I checked, Minnewaska is currently closed.) So I guess I'll find something to do around here instead. Maybe the water in the Mohawk will be down enough that I can hit the bike path and not only get in a ride but get photos of some of the flood damage.

JMH