an autumn walk along the river

Farris Lake is our drinking water supply. it's good quality water drawn at about 20 m depth. at the southern end of the lake there is a small hydroelectric dam and below that is Farris Elva. a new section of the main highway was recently constructed with this bridge over the lake carefully designed not to impact the water quality in the large lake

it's only 1.1 km from the dam to the mouth of the river where it empties in Larviksfjord. the drop to sea level is 23 m- though the river is very short it's history as an industrial area is very long. the earliest record of industrial activity is from the 1300s when there was a grain mill using the falling water to power it.

this October walk is follows the river as it flows through a glacial moraine. the water level in the river is regulated by the dam. when the lake is full the river is swift and white but more often than not the flow is low and calm. in the distance are some industrial buildings so it is not possible to walk the entire length of the river to the sea.

instead of the water running its natural course it is piped to the industrial turbines. the pipe is old with quite a few leaks

despite the pipe and the industry the walk along the river is very pleasant with the autumn foliage

and the reeds and the cat o nine tails

all the fireweed had gone to seed

and the norway maples were in full autumn color

as were most of the other plants

October is a good month for foraging mushrooms but to my knowledge these were not edible

lots to focus in on

but the surprise was the thistle going to seed

what started out looking raggedy

soon developed into something quite amazing

i've seem many thistles throughout the years but none like these. maybe i just never took the time to look close enough

astoundingly beautiful. we walked back toward the lake in silence knowing that we had witnessed something truly wonderful