Further downstream from yesterday's pictures, Wodehouse Creek flows through a large pond, through the hamlet of Wodehouse, and on toward the sinkholes. But surprisingly, this creek appears to be getting smaller as it flows downstream!
This photo looks north from Sideroad 7, and this is about the size of the entire creek at its normal flow, not 15-20' wide as a mile further upstream but only 6-8' wide. And the creek has been joined by a significant tributary along the way. I've watched this for several years now, and though I'm not a hydrologist, I'm quite convinced that the stream gets smaller as it goes downstream, except when its in flood.
This picture, and the rest, looks south from the same bridge. Straight into the sun, but I think it's a beautiful picture none-the-less. During the spring flood stage this is all a lake, backed up because all the water can't fit down the sinkhole, but here its a small stream carving its curves through the ice and snow.
A closer look at the beautiful curves and shadows in the afternoon sun (shot straight into the sun, but I successfully used the spot remover to eliminate the sun's flare).
The only possible explanation for this creek getting smaller is that there are other sinkholes, beyond the well known and visible sinkholes just downstream. They must be either in the creek itself or in the pond upstream, they allow it to lose some of it's flow. I don't know how I'd ever find such things, but maybe I'll go hunting during the summer when I could walk along the stream itself.
By the way, Wodehouse is pronounced 'Woodhouse', and is named after the Earl of Kimberley, a British politician who was among other things Secretary of State for the Colonies in the 1870's. His family name is Wodehouse; the nearby village of Kimberley is also named after him.
Terrific shots! I really like the last one with it's winter blue shadows!
ReplyDeleteOh, such lovely wintry scenes, this post and the last, along Wodehouse Creek. I enjoyed learning about that disappearing water, since I have observed a similar phenomenon near where I live. Upstream, the creek dances and bubbles along, splashing over tiny waterfalls and making lovely music. It's on its way to a pond a couple of hundred yards downstream. But before it gets to the pond, it just peters out, diminishing to a trickle before disappearing completely into its sandy bed. I can't find any discernible sinkholes, it just seems to be absorbed by the sand. The only time I have seen a full flow all the way to the pond is during spring flood when its waters are fed by snowmelt rushing down from surrounding mountains.
ReplyDeleteSo beautiful... Loved it
ReplyDeleteVery interesting! Narrow but deep, in a crack or fissure? The sinkholes are fascinating. BTW, the pictures a showed a couple weeks ago of the Hersey River... I'm sure it was wider farther upstream too, so it must be deeper downstream. No sink holes here.
ReplyDeleteVery picturesque wintry scenes. You should make some notecards out of them!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful winter landscape you live in! Seeing your pictures has made me itch to try cross country skiing again- I did it only once years ago when I was nineteen and in the best shape of my life and it was much harder than I had bargained for . . . but oh how beautiful the snowy landscape was . . . those gorgeous snowy curves take me right back there.
ReplyDeleteI think my goal for the day is to get my camera and take pictures outside...even if I only stay on my porch to do so.
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