Ice Jam

For the last few months I have been walking in Browns Woods, West Des Moines IA. for my lunch break. Well about two weeks ago the top layer of snow melted off leaving a thick layer of ice on the trail. I decided not to try walking on that since the risks exceeded the benifits. So, I tryed going back to Great Western Trail, which leads into Des Moines Water Works Park. When I went down there though, I saw the access was closed. The sign said water over the road.

We had had a couple of really warm days which allowed the Raccoon River to partially melt causing a ice jam to occur. So for the last couple of weeks I haven't been able to walk on my lunch break (bummer!) Well yesterday they opened the trail access to the Great Western Trail back up and I went down to look, unfortunatly I forgot my camera. Well today I brought it.



This was my first image overlooking the Raccoon River. According to my best estimate, the river is between 75 - 100 yards wide.



These are the blocks of ice strewn along the road. I assume the City had to use heavy equipment to clear the road of these blocks of ice.

That is my shoe up against a block of ice to show how thick they are. My shoe measures 12.5 inches long.

More images just showing how much ice is really here.




Images using a nearby car to show the physical size of it all.

The following two images showing broken trees in the river.


I really liked the broken tree trunk pointing straight up.

And finally a shot taken from a bridge crossing the river.