Independence Day at Cottonwood Pond

Independence Day at Cottonwood Pond

July 4, 2016

From the southeast

From the west

It had been raining heavily, tremendously, on this July 4^th, as well as the night and day before. While others were wondering if they could set off their own fireworks between storm systems, or if their town's parade and fireworks would really take place, I was grabbing some time to visit Cottonwood Pond between the rains. I never mind being down there during rain – I just didn't want to be caught during a storm. At least it was a little cooler that day, relatively speaking.

The sky was full of large, threatening clouds all day, so the woods was darker than usual for a summer day. But, the freshness of rain and the glow of occasional sun peeking through made the green as deep and vibrant as emeralds.

The slope in front of Cottonwood Pond

The Creek, looking downstream

I expected to find the usual post-rain results: deeper water in both ponds, mud or water in associated areas, frogs here and there, fresh crawdad chimneys, more mosquitoes, etc.

But, what I found was a greater amount of all of those things.

Everything was soggy. The Creek was running steadily, singing around curves and sticks, and sparkling when touched by the occasional sunlight.

The Creek, with a very soggy log

Everything was full again.

The Seep:

The pond corner, where the Seep begins

A faint seam through the greenery, where the Seep travels

The trail of the Seep, seen from the Creek

The main pond corner (from which the Seep flows) and the Isthmus between the main and “little pond”:

Water near the Isthmus has reached the base of the Two-Trunk White Ash

“Little pond”:

The deepest part of "little pond"

Flooding around "little pond", along the Trunk

Temporary Creek #1 ...

 ... flowing into the Swampy Spot where the Monkey Flowers grow ...

 ... and the trail of water that sometimes runs (or oozes) from the Swampy Spot toward the main pond:

Toward the Inlet

The Inlet:

Water has gone to the other side of the Very Rotten Log

The Young White Ash, surrounded by pond water - the moss indicates moisture levels on the tree

And, of course, the main pond:

The water was completely brown, silt suspended throughout the whole width and depth, stirred up from the bottom and brought into the pond by water pushing in.

I could not see anything through it, as if I was trying to see through a cup of milky tea. I heard frogs jump into both the main and “little pond”, but they quickly disappeared into the murkiness. It was not likely I would see any frogs trying to blend into the mud, either, since water permeated almost every spot.

The Cove was completely filled.

Water came so far up the sides of Mud Piles #1 and #2 that only steep sides were exposed.

Tall Jewelweed plants had been pounded down by the rains, as if they were laying face down in the pond with exhaustion.

Other debris had been knocked into the pond.

The softened earth allowed crawdads to add mud to their chimneys, making them much larger.

There were also many new, tiny chimneys dotting the area. It would be interesting to set up a camera, then speed up the film to watch these many chimneys rising from the mud.

Though not visible through the deep, murky waters, I knew that there were spots changed by the re-sculpting done by water. The next time the water would settle and draw down, maybe I would see what happened.

I went back up the soggy slope, wondering if the next big bang I heard would be thunder or fireworks.