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.
Hibernia Park 014
Hibernia Park 291
Hibernia Park 164
Hibernia Park 283
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Hibernia Park 255
Hibernia Park 315
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.
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
So I fired up Goggle Earth and Maps, and plotted my course into my GPS, and off I went…
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
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
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
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) – 207Hibernia 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
This actually happen twice!
On my trip down and then back up!
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
I then moved to in front of the tree to capture, these:
Hibernia Park (10/1/2010) – 086Hibernia Park (10/1/2010) – 163
My last capture before “Cottage #2”, was this tranquil little image:
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
and finally…
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!
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!
