French Creek Valley
French Creek Valley was formed some millions of years ago by the French Creek which takes its water and its erosion energy from a watershed of only 12 square miles and is fed intermittently from two no-name streams that come down from the hills through our land on either side of it.
The creek constantly pokes its nose under the blacktop road that it shares with the shallow valley floor. In fact it crosses the road seven times within two short miles. There are only a few homes in the whole valley because this little creek can wreak havoc with any structure located close to the valley floor. Our house is 'way up the hill, so we like it that way.
Creek Volcanoes: A couple of years ago the French Creek froze up slowly and in a special way down by the road in front of our house. There is a little waterfall about 50 feet north of the bridge and as the water bubbles and froths at the low end of this one-foot high drop, it keeps the ice from covering the creek fully. In 2002, the ice moved in from the sides leaving an ever-narrowing gap through which one could see the water. The water that was still running under the ice was still much warmer than the air since it comes from springs upstream as much as a quarter mile away. When the temperature went sub-zero, one could see steam (really water vapor) coming up from the narrow gap. As this water vapor cooled, it deposited wispy fronds of ice in a volcano-like area around each of several vents. This action formed the "Creek Volcanoes" that you can see in the three pictures below. We have never seen this phenomenon before or since.
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