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Jan 12
2010
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Spurred on by the comments of a colleague, "you've got to see the water clarity on Flat Creek where the beavers are. It's crystal clear." I couldn't keep myself away. I took the rare opportunity, with the leaves down and the marsh frozen enough to support the weight of an adult, to hike down Flat Creek, through the inundated/frozen marsh towards tidewater. Not far down from Governor Bridge Road, I came across the first of several beaver dams, clearly very actively maintained.
Further down the system, there is still submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) ( I think it may be one of the Sparganium species) alive. I even caught glimpse of a small, black fish. The water clarity in the system is incredible. Below, you can see straight through to the bottom of about 3 feet of water (the novelty of that sounds more depressing than it should).
A little further down, a well-buttressed dam holds back what must be several acre-feet of water and emergent wetland. Really something to behold.
Several hundred feet down from the road crossing, the marsh opened up as I approached tidewater. The white house in the photo below is actually on the other side of the South River.
