The Birth of a Rocky Mountain Creek.
Rocky Mountain Creek Part 1
The Birth.
Kathleen and I flew over the creeks’ headwaters one Autumn, and among the many observations I noted were the vertical creeklets running down the almost perpendicular cliffs of the canyons. These were the 1st order creeklets.
Creek classification.
- 1st order creek, usually straight down a steep canyon wall.
- 2nd order creek, created when two 1st order creeks merge.
- 3rd order creek, created when two 2nd order creeks merge.
- The order increases as more higher orders merge.
Our Rocky Mountain Creeks are kept permanently flowing by the melting of snowpack and the reservoir of groundwater. To visually observe the birth of a creek as running water, one must climb up to the alpine cliffs. Here, you will observe a mere trickle running down the rock face, flanked by lichens and mosses. In places, this thin flow of water will disappear into the scree at the foot of the cliff, only to re-emerge lower down like a spring
The object of a hike in the spring is to observe firsthand these hygropetric habitats, which are simply a constant flow of water down the rock face. In this case, its waters disappeared into the talus rubble at the base of the cliffs. Scrambling up a bit higher, I noted the lichens and a few mosses lining the flow; there were few other life forms to be seen
A second creeklet I examined was the meeting place of two such creeklets that merged into one. This larger flow was a second-order creek that was running over fine-grained talus with a mix of mud and moss. Here, I did find a few relatively large Cranefly larvae. One specimen I took home to identify, having placed it in a dish, I focused on quite a large object for the microscope. By panning along its length, I found myself looking at the nose of a Platypus! No, it was the gills of the Cranefly larvae
this article on Celebration of Rocky Mt creek was very informative–great explanation of how creek starts then grows
and great photos showing the details!!! well done you guys