Ice On The Falls

    I have been slowly ticking off all of those outside things that needed to be done before winter hits.  One of the things that was still on the list was to flush out our water line, and change the filter screen.  Three of us, who share the waterline, hiked up the slope to Sunbeam Creek Falls yesterday to do the deed.  

    While the temperatures have been pretty much hanging slightly above or below the freezing level, with a few cold nights thrown in, I was surprised when we rounded the rock outcropping to see that ice had already formed on and along the falls.  There were a few patches of ice on top of our culvert.  

    We pulled up the watergate to drain the culvert (seen in the middle of the photo) and the water poured out the bottom of the culvert, flushing out the pebbles and gravel that had been trapped there, and once the culvert drained, we changed the filter, put back the watergate, and watched the water slowly fill the culvert and run over the top.

    During the winter a huge dome of 8-10 inch ice builds over our culvert, but the water keeps flowing underneath.   Nevertheless, we all keep our fingers cross, because during couple of winters in the past, we have had times when our waterline froze and we had to scramble for a couple of months to get water for our house.

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