February 2nd/3rd - An Icy Discovery

Welcome!  Paul and I headed up to the property on Saturday at about 11:30 a.m.  Paul had been worrying all week about the potential for flooding because of the warm weather during the past week, especially rain all day last Tuesday.  It was a pretty messy drive, lots of blowing snow over Hwy. 6 and even some whiteouts.  It looked like there was a layer of fresh snow in Durham, even though overall it didn't seem like there was a lot more snow than last week.

When we drove over the bridge on Concession #2 we noticed that the river was free of the solid ice from last weekend and very high and running very fast.  Hard to believe we were walking on that river just 7 days ago!

As soon as we pulled into the lot we noticed the huge broken ice slabs around the pond - I said (as a joke!) "what if the bridge is gone".  As we headed quickly over to the pond we were dumbfounded to see that there was no bridge!!!  I think we stood there dumbfounded with our mouths open. There was no sign of it.

The bridge

The space where the bridge used to be!

The pond was full of strange shaped snow covered items, thick broken slabs of ice, pieces of wood decking, parts of a composter, and what looks like a lot of big logs.
A large ice slab had been pushed up onto the shore in front of the deck right beside the front fire pit.

Debris in the pond

Part of the back stairs - just inches away from the deck

We then headed for the back of the cottage and found that part of the rear stairs leading to the back fire pit were gone.  The ground over by the compost pile seemed very empty and we realized that all the extra decking that was out there was gone.  A long piece was found propped up against the back of the tractor shed. Walking towards the back creek and bridge we came up against tree debris blocking the path.  After getting to the creek though some trees we found that the back bridge was gone as well.

Some of the extra decking by the tractor shed

At that point we decided to unload our things into the cottage and have something to eat before we journeyed out to look for the bridges.

After something to eat (and fortified with a take along butterscotch schnapps) we went in search of our bridge. Heading down Woodman`s Way to the landing this is what we saw...

Amazingly, upon closer inspection of what looked like a disaster, the main damage (pic. /2)
is a slab of ice that jammed under one of the railings.  The rest of the bridge ``seems`` to be minimal.  We just kept wondering how high would the water have to have risen to carry that big bridge past all the trees and leave it to rest there.  Needless to say the other little bridge has completely disappeared.

Paul took these pictures to give some indication of just how high the water was the weekend before.....

For those that remember that area of the river you will notice that the big clump of fallen trees (on the right side) that would catch all the other branches and stumps floating down the river is completely gone.  Makes us think that we may not be finding the other little bridge anytime soon!

The following pictures show the level of the ice and the extreme grinding that was happening as the water pushed it out of the way.  Notice the bark missing to about 3 feet up the trunk.

Saturday evening we bundled up the dogs (and ourselves!!) in minus 20 degrees and walked the dogs along the road - we didn`t see one car or light.  The stars were amazing in the night sky, actually better than any sights in the summer months.

Sunday we sadly (we are always sad to leave) bundled up our stuff and hit the road about 3:00 p.m. to head back to Burlington and our Superbowl party at Don & Tammy`s!

More info next time....!