We took a trip out on the water yesterday. Beautiful hot sunny day -- but it was necessary to travel carefully to avoid debris floating in the water (often just below the surface, just waiting for the unwary)This is what happens when ice decides it is going to move. We've talked about this before in the Blog. You can have all the bubbler systems, ice-aways, and do-dads that you want. That may help keep ice from squeezing against the docks in winter time, but come spring, come the time it really matters, if the ice is on the move, it matters not what you've done. Ice, driven by wind along the shore, is pretty much your irrestistable force. The boathouse is not the immoveable object.
High water will lift the deck boards too, particularly if there is wind. We are told there are a lot of loose docks roaming about out there. Quite a collection of errant Muskoka chairs, too... not to mention the occasional canoe that was left on the dock for the winter.
The water level is dropping, but is still high, as you can see from these pictures. The flow down the Oxtongue has decreased, but it's still running well above its normal levels. Along the river banks you can see some of the impressive erosion that the high water has caused.
This is a natural process for a river -- which is constantly altering its channel over time.
Some of the eroded banks are quite impressive.
You would not have been able to take this picture a week ago -- the river was running so high, so fast, with so much debris that it would have been very foolhardy to venture in with a boat.
The water is still high enough that the Falls look a lot smaller than they are... but look at that beautiful churning white water! So very beautiful -- it is easy to forget the force contained within, and the damage water can do in all its forms.This Spring, everybody up here got a reminder notice. from Mother Nature.
Astonishing shots! Thank you for sharing.
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