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Blogging Chester County Coatesville Photo Journal Rivers Streams Water Weather

A look back – Hibernia Park

It should be not secret at this point, to anyone living on the East Coast of the United States, that if it is not raining, just wait.

I will…

At the moment, Hurricane Joaquin is headed toward the East Coast…

Which means flooding… Somewhere…

It just so happens, that 5 years ago today, Tropical Storm Nicole, had just passed over the Chester County area, drenching the area, over night, with several inches of rain.

Silly me, I grabbed, my camera, and went out…

Out to Hibernia Park in Coatesville walking along the West Branch of the Brandywine Creek.

As you can see, there was a great deal of water, especially when you compare these two images, taken 7 months apart, during a Photography Meetup.

Hibernia Park Oct 10 vs Apr 11 - Two images taken 7 months apart in Hibernia County Park, Coatesville, Chester County PA.
Hibernia Park Oct 10 vs Apr 11 – Two images taken 7 months apart in Hibernia County Park, Coatesville, Chester County PA.

Do you remember Tropical Storm Nicole?

Are you ready for any type of storm?

What tips do you have to get through the next couple of days here in Chester County?

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Categories
Chester County Nature Photo Journal Photography Photostream Rivers

Aftermath of Tropical Storm Nicole at Hibernia Park

Wow it has RAINED!

Just when you thought it was ending, another wave of rain would hit!

It was doing this well into the late night and early morning for Friday, October 1st.

This article from CBS news, “Storm Drenches East Coast, Kills 6 People“, sums up the storm.

When we finally got up to start the new day, we were greeted with a phone message announcing that the Downingtown area Schools were to have a (2) hour Opening Delay, and the local television news reports were showing segments on Road Closures and Flooding Damage in the surrounding areas.

Needless to say, traffic was BAD!

By 11am, I had Madison on the bus and off to school, and Logan dropped off at Day Care.

I was on my own!

Now to my Daily “Online Check-In” to catch-up…

On the “Chester County, PA” Flickr group, I noticed Brian Cox’s photo that he had taken at Hibernia Park, which gave me the idea.

Fungi DOF by Brian Cox
Fungi DOF by Brian Cox

So I fired up Goggle Earth and Maps, and plotted my course into my GPS, and off I went…

I had NOT been to Hibernia Park since the “Animal Planet Expo” event back on August 18th, 2007!

I got there and tried to find a Trail Map, but was thwarted because there did not seem to be folks in the Offices, even though there were cars around. (When I got home, I was able to find a PDF Trail map)

Oh well… on with my adventure!

After watching some other cars drive by, I drove down a dirt road toward the “Old Dam” area, parked, and gathered my gear…

Shooting Vest, Lens, extra Memory cards, Tripod, etc…

I was off!

What struck me the moment I turned off the car, was the loud sound of water rushing!

Just by the loud sound, you could tell there had been some rain lately!

I looked around the “Old Dam” ruins, and saw some water, but nothing really worth photographing, and started down the “Forge Trail”, toward that sound.

As I got to the first opening on the trail, this is what I saw:

Hibernia Park (10/1/2010) - 038
Hibernia Park (10/1/2010) – 038

Notice the the line of leaves on the right side of the image, to get an idea of how far up on land, the flood line is!

Walking a little further down the trail, and turning around, I got this the view, looking back up the creek:

Hibernia Park (10/1/2010) - 060
Hibernia Park (10/1/2010) – 060

Again, notice how far up the leaves are on the left side!

And from this picture, you can CLEARLY see how high the water is from all the rain!

Hibernia Park (10/1/2010) - 059
Hibernia Park (10/1/2010) – 059

I raised the ISO to 1600, and was able to capture these images, trying to illustrate the movement of the water as it barreled down the creek.

Hibernia Park (10/1/2010) - 207
Hibernia Park (10/1/2010) – 207
Hibernia Park (10/1/2010) - 146
Hibernia Park (10/1/2010) – 146

You have to LOVE the ability to change ISO in mid “film”!

One funny moment during this shoot.

I was setting up my tripod to take a picture, and felt something hit my foot.

When I looked down, I saw several scared fresh water cray fish jumping around, and then they were off into the creek!

“Someone” was not happy I was there!

Hibernia Park (10/1/2010) - 041
Hibernia Park (10/1/2010) – 041

This actually happen twice!

On my trip down and then back up!

Hibernia Park (10/1/2010) - 283
Hibernia Park (10/1/2010) – 283

I continued my walk down creek, past the little pond in the “Lower Damn” area, following Lions Head Drive.

About midway between “Cottage #3” and “Cottage #2”, there is a little hill, that has a barbecue stand and a picnic table, and from the top of the hill, I was able to get this view point, and take this image:

Hibernia Park (10/1/2010) - 067
Hibernia Park (10/1/2010) – 067

I then moved to in front of the tree to capture, these:

Hibernia Park (10/1/2010) - 086
Hibernia Park (10/1/2010) – 086
Hibernia Park (10/1/2010) - 163
Hibernia Park (10/1/2010) – 163

My last capture before “Cottage #2”, was this tranquil little image:

Hibernia Park (10/1/2010) - 225
Hibernia Park (10/1/2010) – 225

Looking at my watch, I started back to the “Old Dam” parking lot, and was able to take a few moments to capture these images:

Hibernia Park (10/1/2010) - 291
Hibernia Park (10/1/2010) – 291

and finally…

Hibernia Park (10/1/2010) - 315
Hibernia Park (10/1/2010) – 315

As you can see, there was allot of “action” on the river!

When I got to the Parking lot, there was another gentleman just getting ready to begin his adventure in photographing the creek!

Update – 5 Oct 10 – Turns out, the gentleman I met in the Parking lot was Anthony Leach, a fellow Flickr.com member, and he shared with me, his images from Hibernia Park via Photostream! Check them out!

I got home with about 15 minutes to spare before Madison got off the bus.

Yeah!

As she did her home work, I was able to begin processing the 318 images that I took.

Again, you have to LOVE the Digital Age!

Update – 4 Oct 10 – Since originally taking these images, I have managed to publish two (2) different galleries of digital pictures related to this adventure, and I invite you to take a take a look!

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me!

Thanks for taking the time to read my Blog entry!

Come back soon to see what other adventures I have under taking!

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