Some people might take to the water to cool off on this hot Saturday with heat indexes near 100, but they would probably want something more calm than this swift moving river as it might be a rough and bumpy ride with the rock banks. Some areas might have a rough and bumpy night when the predicted storms roll in this evening.
Rough Ride on the Amnicon
The thunderstorms yesterday and this morning probably have many steams and rivers surging with more water again. And the rivers cutting through river will become louder as the water rushes by.
Rushing Water
Although the trees are still bare, but with signs of new leaves budding out, it is a nice spring day to enjoy a walk through the woods or near a river as the birds are singing a happy tune today. The hike could include walk across a covered bridge like the one found in Amnicon Falls State Park.
Horton Covered Bridge
Sitting by a river in late summer near the top of a waterfall is a more pleasurable way to see water falling than the possible snow and freezing rain coming this evening.
Top of Snake Pit Falls
This morning looked more like spring than winter with the water flowing all over the lawn and a major overflow from my pond due to all the rain. Eventually it switched over to snow and looked more like winter again but I’m glad we didn’t get several feet of snow.
Branch of the Amnicon River
The roaring of the wind and thunder rumble last night from the storm sounded like being near a loud waterfall. The humid day made my shirt wet but not a cool wet like from the waterfall mist and the heavy rainfall cut ‘rivers’ into the gravel driveway creating rushing water and mini waterfalls.
The Upper Falls on the Amnicon River flows over dark basalt formed by lava that flowed across the region about a billion years ago. The fine texture of this rock suggests that the lava was very fluid and cooled rapidly enough to prevent the formation of crystals. The river runs along the Douglas Fault formed about 500 million years ago. A few feet downstream the Amnicon River flows over Lake Superior sandstone at the Lower Falls.
Upper Falls on the Amnicon River
Listen to the waterfall’s roar in the video.
When the water levels are higher on the Amnicon River, then a small offshoot stream flows and creates the pretty Now and Then Falls in the Amnicon Falls State Park.
Now and Then Falls
It always amazing that a small stream like this off shoot of the Amnicon River can create such a large and beautiful waterfall a few feet downstream.
Before the Falls
It may not get as many visitors as the Upper and Lower Falls on the Amnicon River, but the Snake Pit Falls is an interesting and twisting waterfall. The river splits in two as it flows around an island along the Douglas Fault (site of earthquakes that occurred about a half billion years ago), with the Snake Pit Falls on the far side of the island. Several smaller drops occur upstream from Snake Pit Falls, before it drops about 12 feet and then twists at a 90 degree angle and drops another 10 feet through the narrow gorge. I didn’t hike to the bottom of the second drop so the view is from the 90 degree bend after the first drop.
The Twist of the Snake Pit Falls
A short video of the twisting Snake Pit Falls.
I haven’t ventured to Amnicon Falls State Park in the winter time to see the river frozen over and the landscape covered in white. It has been a warmer January so I wonder if there is some open water. I wouldn’t mind visiting the falls and Horton bridge again, as each season offers a different sight from the rushing water of springtime melting changing to the summer greenery that fades to a quieter falls in the autumn with orange and yellow backdrop until the barren trees are blanketed in white again, ready to repeat the cycle.
Water Under the Bridge
