Hidden Springs post-Irene update

Wow…that was some storm!

Like most of Vermont, especially southern and central regions, at the Hidden Springs sugarbush we experienced mild winds, and incredible quantities of rain over much of Sunday.  Catherine and I went out with Fraser in the middle of it (early Sunday afternoon) to see what we could see.  I regret that we only got a few pictures (it was difficult to keep the camera dry and our old digital gets temperamental when it’s damp.)

We first visited the Hidden Springs pumphouse, just down hill from our house.  Fraser was anxious to check how a newly-installed third culvert was faring.  (The road to the pumphouse is pretty important, as during sugaring we run several (heavy) truckloads of sap over it daily.)

Suffice to say, it wasn’t faring all that well.

Fraser and I inspect the culvert

When we arrived, we found that the water had created a new channel along the new culvert, under the road.  As we watched, the road started to collapse.

While with Fraser, we also drove up Bemis Hill Road to see how it was faring (this is the road to the sugarhouse itself.)  There we found that the Westminster Roads crew — who had spent weeks only last June repairing the road after it was severely damaged in a freak downpour — was on the job…they were determined not to let it happen again!  Sorry we didn’t get pictures, but our thanks to the guys!

Catherine and I came back later (with a dry camera) to check up on the culvert; this is what we found:
 

Where the culvert was

Where the culvert was, there is now a 15′ wide channel; Fraser later told us he found the culvert about 50′ downstream. Some work to be done there.

But: Fraser also told us he’d toured the sugarbush, and found that (leaving aside some road erosion) there was very little damage: the trees are OK!

So, considering what others nearby have suffered (and our hearts go out to them) Hidden Springs Maple came through pretty much unscathed.

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