CNC Confluence EarthCache
Hidden : 9/17/2009
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
2.5 out of 5

Size: Size: other (other)

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Geocache Description:


This EarthCache is located in the Chippewa Nature Center. The CNC has 1,348 acres of woodlands, wetlands, rivers and upland fields. There are more than 15 miles of marked trails open to walking, cross-country skiing or showshoeing. The trails are free to the public year round, dawn to dark. This EarthCache was developed with permission from the CNC.

The posted coordinates will take you to a rail overlooking the confluence of the Chippewa and Pine Rivers. This is along the River Trail. There is no need to leave the trail to complete this EarthCache.

Look closely at each river. The difference between the two is especially apparent here at the confluence. The Pine drains mostly farmland, and therefore carries a great deal of silt. Its bottom and water have a muddy appearance. The Chippewa drains more sandy areas and carries less suspended material, so its water is clearer. Where the rivers come together, you can see a line of demarcation, as though someone lowered a piece of Plexiglas vertically into the water to keep the two rivers from touching. Downstream the waters of both rivers finally mix enough to become indistinguishable.

Both the Chippewa and the Pine are major rivers in the Saginaw Bay Watershed. The Pine River begins 100 miles upstream of the CNC, at Pine Lake in Mecosta County. It drains 370 square miles before emptying into the Chippewa River. The Chippewa also begins in Mecosta County, at Chippewa Lake in the northern part of the county. It is larger than the Pine River and drains over 1,000 square miles before joining the Tittabawassee River at downtown Midland. The Tittabawassee River, then flows 24 miles to join the Saginaw River, as do the other rivers of this watershed: the Cass, Flint and Shiawassee. The combined influence of all of these rivers make the Saginaw Bay watershed the largest in Michigan, as well as one of the biggest in North America, draining over 8,700 square miles!

The courses of the Pine and Chippewa Rivers have been altered every season of every year since these rivers first formed. The channels have moved, become narrower, moved again, and widened, over and over. These changes over the last several thousand years all give evidence of the power of moving water to cut through soil, carry it downstream, and deposit it when the water’s movement slows enough for the silt or sand to settle to the bottom. Here at the confluence, you can see examples of both the erosion and the deposition occurring along the river.

To log this cache:

1 Take a picture of you and your GPSr with the confluence in the background. Post this picture with your online log.

2 Find one example of the erosion and one example of the deposition that you can see from this overlook. Email a description of both to me through my profile page. Don't just say "there's a sand bar", describe where it is in relation to the confluence and banks. There are several examples of both.

Special thanks to the Chippewa Nature Center for allowing this EarthCache.

** Congrats to JacobSinacola for FTF **

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