Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Walking the Karst

Walked in through the Wodehouse Karst again the other day, just a few days after our traiol clearing workparty.  This time, it was with a friend who had never been in there to see either the sinkholes or the spring down below the cliff - he was fascinated!

We stopped a minute at the depression in the ground that is the basement of the old cabin, still a bit of a stone wall visible, but mostly a jumble of rocks.

And then we came to the stream valley that contains the sinkholes.  We had lots of rain last Thursday and Friday, and there seemed to be more water flowing that a week ago.

When we got to the sinkholes, this was really clear.  Water was pouring down between these boulders, dropped straight down into the crevices beneath.

And the water extended 15 feet beyond the sinkhole I photographed last week, into this cul-de-sac in the clay, vanishing into the limestone below.  I estimated that the flow into each of these sinkholes was about 1 cu.ft/second, quite a bit after the rain we'd had.

We crashed our way through the brush to see the final sinkhole, but the water was pooling over top of it, so you couldn't see any actual sinkhole.  I've never seen the stream without at least a small pool of water here.

Then we took the trail to the back of the old farm, now all grown up in trees.  Never-the-less, there was evidence of early farming, both the stone pile in the foreground and the fallen split rail fence along the trees.

I enjoy finding these bit of evidence of a different landscape in the past, once field and now forest.

To see the spring, we had to climb down this crevice.  It's not as difficult as it looks, and someone has tied a rope to help.

But it's still a very sudden and steep descent between the limestone.

When we got to the trail below, we first walked south to see the smaller spring emerging into this stream.

Then we came back north to the main springs.  The sun was reflecting off all the water, and I had to stand behind this tree to avoid sun flares.  There are actually three places where water emerges from the ground here, on in the lower right, one in the centre  right, and one in the distance.  They all merge quite quickly to form Bill's Creek.

I haven't often see this much water in the creek, presumably from those two rainy days we had.  But we both said that there looks to be much more water emerging here than was disappearing down those sinkholes!  There must be other sinkholes upstream that are contributing to the underground flow.

The water was absolutely pouring out of those springs, and foaming its way down the ravine of Bill's Creek.  What a great walk on a perfect November day that actually felt like September!

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22 comments:

  1. Beautiful shots... and very much feeling like late fall.

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  2. Karst topography is always fascinating, makes you wonder what it looks like underground. How many caverns and how many of the sinkholes and springs are actually connected.

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  3. Fascinating! Thanks for bringing me here. :-)

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  4. The first picture reminds me of an old homestead we saw in the bush. Several quadders have cleaned up the area and pulled out relics for others to see. - Margy

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  5. Been awhile but I do remember a few nice November forest walks like that years ago. Looked like one of those great days just to be outside rustling one's feet through the carpet of Autumn leaves...........

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  6. Always fun to walk with in the posts!

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  7. a sink hole is that like quicksand/

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    1. No, the type of sinkholes we have here are small cracks in the limestone bedrock that lead to underground streams. Most of them are too small to crawl into, but I've heard that some open out into small caves. Picture a cubic foot of water sinking into the ground; that's about how big they are.

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  8. Hello, what a great walk. The sinkholes and springs are interesting. Great photos. Happy Thursday, enjoy your weekend ahead!

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  9. Great narrative. It really makes you wonder about the number of people who have little or no idea of the wonderful landscape around us; indeed how little they are connected to the natural world at all.

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  10. Wonderful photos ! In the woods here near the swamp area we have the remains of an old water mill by the river I love it . We also have an old iron bridge still in use down the road to from way back in the1600s . I like going on forest adventures like this so much to see and explore ! Thanks for sharing , Have a good day !

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  11. I never want to live anywhere near where there are sink holes. Interesting post.

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  12. Wonderful pictures of a haunted landscape.
    I love these nature photos.
    Great different images !
    This is my post
    Greetings from Germany

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  13. Nice place to walk during our extended mild weather!

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  14. this must have been fun for your friend, lot's of great things to see. i like that limestone and the creek. it's always nice to see any kind of water while walking!!!!

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  15. I enjoyed seeing where you walked in a very interesting area with a well spotted fence in there too!

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  16. The formations of that entire area are so fascinating to see. I don't think I have ever seen sinkholes like this except on your blog. Log cabin remains are the kind of things I like to explore.

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  17. I just read through the comments and my question was answered about the sink holes. I was thinking it might be scary to visit for fear of them caving in on you. - Very interesting and beautiful place. I liked the photo of the trees with the remnant of a rustic fence and the limestone wall shots.

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  18. beautiful place to explore like kids! :) thanks for the sweet old fence, too.

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  19. These are fascinating! Thank you for sharing them!

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