We met my sister and brother in law at the Pinnacle Overlook in Holtwood. It's a nice place to get a great view of the Susquehanna River, between the Safe Harbor Dam and the Holtwood Dam...just about thirty minutes from our house.
The mighty Susquehanna was quite muddy yesterday! I guess there has been a lot of rain and melting snow lately. But it's still beautiful...
Binoculars come in handy...
We also did a short, easy hike...
After we had seen what we wanted to see at the Pinnacle, we headed across the Norman Wood Bridge to Lock 12. We drove north along the river until we reached a parking area close to the west side of the Holtwood Dam. I had been there before, but never when all of the gates were open the whole way across the dam to let water over. What a powerful force water is! Here's a short video to give you the full sound effects of the rushing water...
If you click on the links at the top of the post, you can read about the Hydro-electric plant that you see here across the dam...
We walked a little farther north, and got a different view from the lake above the dam. From where I was standing to take this picture, I could feel the spray from the water!
My Dad used to run with the local fire company, and they were often called to assist with river rescues. People would wade out to the rocks below the dam and get stranded when the water levels would suddenly rise. There are warning sirens before water is let over and levels rise, but some folks don't listen! There have also been times when boaters have been in this lake above the dam and either lost power and went over the edge, or weren't paying attention to how close they were to the dam and didn't get stopped. Some lucky ones have survived, but others have not been so fortunate. The fall is about fifty feet, and there are a lot of rocks in the water below...
Before we left, we spotted this in a tree in the woods behind us...
It appears to be a bald eagle's nest! We didn't see any eagles flying around...only buzzards...but they are known to be in this area...
It was a nice afternoon be to outside, and hopefully there will be many more days like this to come!
I'm scared of big bodies of water, I can't even look at the spillway at the county lake anymore! Just watching the video was scary! I would have loved to see the eagle. I can't believe you have buzzards, all of our vultures have gone away for winter, but I am looking for them daily now. It was 75 here today, NOT RIGHT :-)
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you had a lovely day for a stroll. I'm afraid the wind would have been a detriment to a walk around here yesterday. We had to load a cow to take her to the butcher. It was a windy trip with the cattle trailer.
ReplyDeleteLovely photos . Looks like all had a nice hike and day . It was lovely here to over the weekend ! Powerful waters indeed . Thanks for sharing , have a good day !
ReplyDeletequite the spillway!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun way to spend Sunday afternoon, Alicia! Sometimes it's fun to play "tourist" in your home town area.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your outing, especially all that water at the spillway! Sounds like the perfect way to spent a Sunday.
ReplyDeleteNice that you got out on such a beautiful day. Great pictures of your outing.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you mentioned that the drop was 50 feet as looking from the picture, it looks like a low fall. It's hard to see perspective in photos sometimes. What a nice hike.
ReplyDeleteHappy March.
Hugs, JKB