The tide is high

I rode outside today! The bad wing got taped up, boxer style, and I got on the cross bike for a tour of downtown and the over-flowing river. No plan today, other than getting some fresh air, trying out the injured wrist and checking out the flooding. And flooding there be...

The dam out at the end of the the canal had just a little bit of overflow! The walkway shown is the end of the fish run. No fishies getting upstream today!

This is part of the trail that goes under the River Drive bridge. I ran into a guy from the USGS down there who was taking flow measurements. In the middle of the river, under the bridge, the flow was 36,000 cu. ft per SECOND!!! You can see the top of a guide sign in the picture. It's @ 4 feet tall and normally about 4-6 above the level of the river, on the side of the trail.

This in on the Cayce side. Believe it or not, this is a high spot on the river trail! The water was right at 3 feet deep on the walkway pictured. By the looks of the water line on the trail where I was standing, the water level had dropped about a foot or so.

This walkway goes over one of the truly low/swampy spots of the trail. I've ridden this part dozens of times and NEVER seen more than a foot of water here. This portion is elevated and approximately 8-10 feet of the dry ground in the spot shown in the picture!

I made an effort to wind around to the far side of the trail to grab some shots of the old locks and the other portion of elevated trail, but the gate was closed and locked. Climbing an 8 foot fence in cycling clothes, while shouldering a cyclocross bike, next to a roaring river didn't seem like a horribly intelligent thing to do, so I headed home. I got a nice 90 minute spin and saw the river higher than I'd seen it in my 20 years in Columbia. I'd be interested in seeing the Swamp, but seeing as I have an aversion to large snakes and alligators, I'll just assume the water is high!

I think I see blue sky and sunshine...weird!