Welcome to the Cruiser Lake blogspot!

We had a significant rain and wind storm last Thursday/Friday and I wanted to share with all of you pictures of the aftermath.  Don't worry, we were spared any serious damage.  It is much better than it could have been.  As we looked at the options for sharing the photos with you we decided it would be easiest to create a blogspot.  We expect that over the course of the winter we will have other things that we want to share with you, so we can continue to leverage this site to do that.

There is has been a lot of hunting activity this week.  Between the hunters, their dogs and the rain, I haven't yet walked the road towards Kennisis 7.  I plan to walk to the mail today so will post pictures from the Campbell's and the rest of the road.  I am wearing an acid green jacket but will not take the dogs until hunting season is over.  Cedric offered me an orange flag, but I declined to become my own parade.  I may carry the cow bell...

We are here all the time, so if there is something you would like us to check for you or something you would like to see posted here, please let us know.  Maybe we could post regular pictures of the lake/weather, or at least on Fridays during the season.  

I don't know how frequently we will post, but we will send out an email to let you know that there is something new to look at.

Water, water, everywhere! - The creek that runs through the main culvert to Picadilly Bay

We have had A LOT of rain over the past couple of weeks.  More wet days than dry ones.  Last Thursday and Friday the rain and wind that lashed the GTA was present here in West Guilford (WG) but  based on the radar views that day, I think we were closer to the northern edge and fortunately missed the worst of the wind.

That being said, the wind was strong and many trees came down in the region.  We heard a story about some large branches caught in the wires along Kennisis 7 (K7) that actually caught fire in the pouring rain while hanging there.  The hydro team couldn't deal with it until the fire department came.  Several areas were without power due to downed trees.  Our hydro was on and off all day, but with only brief periods of outage.  

There were trees across Rough Stone Trail at at couple of points between us and K7.  There was a lot of surface water running down the road, but the work that was done this summer survived very well with no real deterioration.  The creek was roaring with water and there was some evidence of water across the road at the main culvert, though it did not wash out.  These pictures were taken last Friday.

These two photos are of an overflow steam running from the creek through the woods and back into the creek.  The sound is incredible.  Michael took some video, but our upload bandwidth does not allow it to be posted here.  We could hear the water from the cottage.  

This is what is left of the dam.  It appears to be a few major logs that have been pushed into the creek mouth blocking some of the water.  The beaver pond has refilled almost to the full height it was when the beaver damn was present.

Rough Stone Trail - one week later

Here are some pictures of the road in its current state.  I took these pictures yesterday.  There are a few areas where we still have surface water on the road that should be a focus for more ditching (maybe by hand?)  We were able to redirect some of the water at the edge of our driveway just by moving the gravel and leaves.  It might be possible to have a significant impact by making some minor changes with a few shovels in areas where a big excavator really can't gain access.  Something to think about.

These photos are posted in order beginning at end and walking back toward our place.  I have annotated some to help with orientation. I plan to take pictures of the road from our place to K7 as I walk to get the mail today.  There are some really rough patches that will need some attention next year.

The last hill leading to Andre and Sonia's and Matt and Melanie's

Water at the top of the last hill - it is running down from the logging road.  The puddles are directly above the culvert, but the source is the road, not overflow of the culvert.

Water at the edge of the road at the top of the hill behind Jame's place.  Maybe an opportunity for some hand ditching.

I forgot to take a photo of the hill between Gren/Beth's and James.  Oops.  It is in fine shape and was not impacted by the rain - only the puddles at the top (above).

Just passed the beaver pond (on the right) heading toward Gren and Beth's

Water coursed down the rock and across the road into the beaver pond.  Not sure what we can do here given the position of the steep rock.

This photo is a zoomed version of the above.  It is a new waterfall coursing through the woods into the back side of this beaver farm.  The zoom is between the fork of the bare tree above.

Looking down the hill toward the bend where the gravel was dug out.

The bend where the gravel was dug out a few years ago just past the culvert.

At the culvert - you can see that the water has mostly drained.  There is a large stand of water in the ditch on the right hand side of this photo.  This seems to be the source of the water on the road.  It does not appear to be resulting from creek overflow directly.

Close up of the wet area on the right above.

Matt & Melanie's

A close call for Matt & Melanie's bunky!  No damage done but some clean up required.

some standing water on your path - no danger to anything, but thought you might want to know

Andre & Sonia's

It is a good thing the wind was blowing away from the cottage when this tree came down!  The break point is in the upper right corner of the next photo

Some standing water on your property.  Pretty close to the foundation.  

I think these chips are left over from HydroOne removing some trees that could interfere with the hydro line.  I couldn't tell where the tree was removed from - no obvious stump.  There were in the week before the storm - probably why we didn't lose power.

James'

James' waterfall is back in full flow.  It is a beautiful water feature and fortunately does not seem to be negatively impacting anything else on his property.  No trees down at James'.

Some other surface water - separate from and to the right of the waterfall (looking up).

Beth & Gren's

Another close call here, but no damage done.

another tree down - not sure if it was during this storm or another time.