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My first time on the bridge was late last August. I was surprised how low the water was then. I could see the bottom easily. Is is always fairly low or had it been lowered then because they were retrieving the debris from the bridge collapse?
Posted 53 months ago.
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The lock was closed from August to October for the recovery effort.
Originally posted 53 months ago.
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e is for ericka [ELBfoto] edited this topic 53 months ago.
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It had been lowered. This photo was from when they were doing similar work above the upper lock (working on the horseshoe dam) back in 2003.
Posted 53 months ago.
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Ooh, neat. Hopefully we'll have decent weather that day.
Posted 53 months ago.
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I hope the weather will be nice, I signed up for the 930 session.
Posted 53 months ago.
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Ooh I don't have class in the morning so maybe I could make it, It sounds super interesting! (and it's military!)
Posted 53 months ago.
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Don't they know people work during those hours?! ; )
I'll see what I can do to escape.
Posted 53 months ago.
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All three tours are full, and there are waiting lists.
The conditions which would likely cause a delay are temperatures below zero or above freezing.
But if it's at all like other draining of the pools, there will be things to see during non-work hours. I find myself thinking that sunrise or sunset shots might be interesting through there.
I've been confirmed for the 9:30 tour, so I'm planning to be out there from a bit before it starts until I've had enough outside and figure I'm ready for lunch.
Posted 53 months ago.
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Hmm. I may wander over there after noon.
Posted 53 months ago.
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I think I would just show up as well. It's not like they would be like "Hey Stop Shooting pictures, your not in the tour."
Posted 53 months ago.
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They could block access on the road below the bridge, but I think I'd rather be on the St Anthony Main side anyhow.
Posted 53 months ago.
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I'm not sure of the exact route of the tour, but if I weren't on it, I'd make a stop out on Hennepin Island (the new park). Father Hennepin Bluffs park might be pretty good, too.
Posted 53 months ago.
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The Xcel Energy Water Power Park is only open Mar-Nov, but I was thinking below the bluffs. The bridges & such. Under the Stone Arch Bridge. And so forth.
Posted 53 months ago.
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There's an outside chance the Xcel park will be open. But below the bluffs in Father Hennepin Park is good. Especially if you get out onto the lower part of Hennepin Island (below the Hydro Lab) and walk along the shore to the downstream tip of the island.
Posted 53 months ago.
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Do they plan to go ahead with this despite the cold weather?
The expected high for tomorrow is 7 degees.
Originally posted 52 months ago.
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MNkiteman edited this topic 52 months ago.
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As far as I know it's still on (the decision by the Corps was to have been made on Friday). There was a news story on channel 9 Sunday night about how they'd already started lowering the river.
More information here.
Posted 52 months ago.
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Updated again - the river will still be down on Thursday too, and the NPS rangers will be around all day to answer questions.
Plus here's some additional detail behind the draw-down (thanks to FMR):
ABOUT THE DRAWDOWN
The Corps of Engineers is drawing down the pool between the Upper and Lower St. Anthony Falls dams to allow Barr Engineering to inspect the Bassett Creek Tunnel.
The tunnel is 4,800 feet long and conveys run-off from I-94 and I-394, as well as Bassett Creek. It empties into the intermediate pool of Upper and Lower St. Anthony Falls lock and dams. The tunnel is a 12-foot arch, the crown of which is under the normal pool elevation of 750 feet. During the drawdown, the pool will be 737 feet.
National Park Service historian and Friends of the Mississippi River Boardmember John Anfinson expects the foundation of the 1897 dam, originally dubbed "De la Barre's Folly," to be visible. It was constructed to power to the city's growing street car network and the adjoining steam-power plant, now used by the University of Minnesota. A costly proposition, Austrian immigrant William De la Barre, an engineer for the St. Anthony Falls power company, calculated it was possible to generate enough power from the rapids below the falls to justify the investment.
Park Ranger David Wiggins said one of the most exciting things people will see is the Stone Arch Bridge as it was intended. Normally, the arches are flooded by the Lower Dam so the piers appear shorter.
Posted 52 months ago.
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You beat me to it Dave, there is a small chance that the river will be down Friday also.
Posted 52 months ago.
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Wow - is it cold out there! I ended up just walking around to see what was going on. Saw some of the Army Corp people down on/near the riverbed, but all of the stairs, for us "normal" people, were blocked off due to winter.
It was pretty cool to see though.
Posted 52 months ago.
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Yeah. Still -6 when I left around 11.
Oh, and the stairs are closed to everyone on the east side of the river. Didn't stop a guy from going down them and walking around on the river-bottom.
The river was 13 feet below normal. There was a snowmobile in it, too.
Strongly recommend folks get out there if possible. There's lots of interesting stuff to look at if you can keep from freezing.
Photos to follow as soon as I get enough charge in one of my batteries to pull them from the camera. Glad I brought film as a backup. I might be on channel 11 at 5 or 6 (the reporter was tickled by the fact that I had a film camera as a backup).
Posted 52 months ago.
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Is there any other way to get down towards the river bottom at this time of year? I'm not overly familiar with the area, and was considering on heading down the stairs anyways, but with the police and the Army Corp wandering around, I didn't need a reason to get a ticket or worse.
Edit: I just posted some in my stream from this morning. I might head down tomorrow morning again, but it depends on how warm it is.
Originally posted 52 months ago.
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David A. Parker Photography edited this topic 52 months ago.
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There's the other side of the river, which is where the Bassett Creek Tunnel empties. You can walk right down into Mill Ruins Park.
But on the east side of the river, there's no official access once the stairs get closed for the winter. City park, no money to clean the ice off the wooden stairs, fear of lawsuit, thus, closed.
Originally posted 52 months ago.
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davepolaschek edited this topic 52 months ago.
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Great! Thanks for the info Dave. I'll check out the road down through Mill Ruins Park for sure.
Posted 52 months ago.
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I was down there this afternoon -- pics to come shortly. I talked to the Park Patrol -- although they are strictly enforcing parking -- they have no guidance to ticket or even stop people venturing down into the Gorge.
I was advised to stay away from the undercut banks and ice, but to "take good pictures" (which I hope I did).
www.flickr.com/photos/pwphoto/sets/72157603952406001/
*Edited with pic and link*
Originally posted 52 months ago.
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PDUB's edited this topic 52 months ago.
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So, What kind of snowmobile was it Dave? ;o)
Posted 52 months ago.
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An old one? Didn't get close enough to be able to tell for sure.
Apparently I was on the 5pm news on KARE, too.
Posted 52 months ago.
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I was busy today, but it's supposed to be a little warmer tomorrow & since B quit his job (this morning) we may go down.
Posted 52 months ago.
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Hey Dave I took a trip down to the river today and took, probably too many pictures. Here is a picture of the snow mobile.
Posted 52 months ago.
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Holy cow! Incredible! Brilliant shot!
Posted 52 months ago.
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Cool I figured someone would eventually turn up with a picture of the snowmobile, and sure enough! Thanks bobdoletaco!
Posted 52 months ago.
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Are they going to take stuff like that out of the river bed? I imagine there were many bikes as well.
Posted 52 months ago.
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Nope, no cleanup is planned that I know of (much of the stuff is partially buried in muck, so it'd be hard to get to, hard to get out, and might stir up nastiness that is better left in place).
Bobdoletaco has a bunch of pictures of junk in the river-bed.
FYI, the river starts to go back up at 4:30 on Friday.
Posted 52 months ago.
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it was nice down there at around 5 this evening. nice light still
Posted 52 months ago.
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Despite being sick I went down there with Laggard between 3 & 4 this afternoon.
Posted several shots to my surlygrrrl account, and for now just the one to this account:
Originally posted 52 months ago.
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e is for ericka [ELBfoto] edited this topic 52 months ago.
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Just got back from down there again. Pretty crazy, as I went down the stairs this time. I'll have to post photos later.
BTW, the snowmobile was a Ski-Doo. They pulled it out as I watched, along with a bike. They tried to get the shopping cart, but it pulled apart, being partially buried and frozen in the mud.
Edit: here is the Ski Doo.
Originally posted 52 months ago.
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David A. Parker Photography edited this topic 52 months ago.
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I stopped down there too, with some friends. You can find some weird stuff stuck in the river bed.
Posted 52 months ago.
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Does anyone know what happened to all that busted ice when they raised the water level? It must have floated down river somewhere.
Posted 52 months ago.
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