Some exploration

A two minute walk from my RV is a walk path along a creek. It's really quite beautiful. I was going to take a walk today along the path as I typically do, but it was nice out. Sun was shining, and no rain.

I saw a path along the side, and decided to have a look. It brought me to one of the streams that feeds the creek. Quite a lovely spot, and lots of beauty. Even though I could see the RV park through the trees, it didn't feel like I was anywhere near the park.

The water is amazingly clear for being in the city. Back in Alberta, you were hard pressed to find a clear body of flowing water. usually the silt is kicked up so much that all the rivers and such just look brown.

I decided to follow the water back towards the RV park since I didn't know that it went so close. I came upon a clearing that looked like it may have been lived in by squatters at some point. good location though, right on the stream, but high enough to not be too concerned about water levels. Close to the road, but out of sight. The downside is that the train tracks are right on the other side of the stream and VERY loud. A train was rolling by as i took these pictures and I couldn't think.

This massive trunk is split into two parts, and it's been burned at some point by fire. Tough though, it's still standing, and there's plenty of life growing on it.

As I travelled along the stream further, I ended up directly behind the RV park, which had privacy hedges mostly keeping it separated. I was surprised to learn about this path, and just how close to home it was. As I turned another corner on the path, I came to what could be considered the mouth of this section of the stream. All I could think of, was that this was listed as a Salmon spawning stream. my guess was that there had to be something to allow the fish to not only come down, but perhaps move up this drain. It goes directly under the railway, so basically, it was created in order to keep the stream running.

And I was right! The mouth of the drain is designed to cause a spill back, allowing the fish time to adjust and be pushed into this area, which steps down the fall while the majority of the water then goes over the top.

There were two drains, and one barely had any water going through it. It was interesting to see, and you could see that erosion from water had carved the rock over time.

Inside the drain, heading along my path upstream. I thought it was neat, and you can see on the left side of the picture that time eventually destroys all man creates. The drain is starting to break apart, and the rebar is exposed and rusted.

Here's what's holding back the water. My guess is that it keeps the main drain flowing strongly, and only gets going when we have heavy rainfall. I don't know how much longer that wood will last, but it was really sturdy.

One the other side of that drainage pipe, was an old railway bridge. This thing is really cool, and I had no idea it was here. The rails have been removed, and the bridge fenced off on either side of the bridge. i have no idea how long it's been out of service, but the road on the one side doesn't have any rails in it, and there's a walk path on the other.

All in all, it was a great walk, and i got to discover some great spots. I certainly want to get back out to this bridge at some point. I can see some photography in the future using this relic.

As an extra, I am being interviewed tonight for my friends son's podcast. I'll send out the link when I get it after post-production. 

Have a great night!