The Rouge River according to Wikipedia is a 127 mile river in the Metro Detroit area which ultimately flows into the Detroit River between the cities of River Rouge and Detroit. There is a portion of the river along the Main Branch which is considered a winding Upper Branch that flows right through Shiawassee Park in the city of Farmington. This area of Metro Detroit is known as the Rouge River Valley. Shiawassee Park actually occupies the northern segment of the rivers floodplain. The area where the river passes through the park sits lower than all of the surrounding land which is much higher in elevation. This is due to the Moraines in the area known as the Defiance Moraines.
You will see a picture below that was taken from a N.A.S.A Satellite of the Defiance Moraine.
The Farmington Library website states the following about the Moraine system:
"Twelve thousand years ago the last glacier crept across the face of the land, piling up debris, carving lakes, rivers, and streams, altering the geography and determining the use of the land for centuries to come. Its changes can easily be seen in the Farmington area. As the glacier pushed through, it left piles of rubble in its wake, called moraines. The Defiance Moraine, so named because it runs to Defiance, Ohio, can be clearly seen from Twelve Mile Road, its Outer Ridge rising to Halsted, the Inner Ridge east of Drake Road.
As the glacier advanced and retreated, it carved what is now the Lake Erie Basin. Several lakes developed in this area, but they were not destined to remain. The beach ridge of four of these lakes can be seen as gently sloping elevations in the southeast portion of the Farmington area".
Now, back to the Meandering of the Rouge River. A Meander is formed by the flowing of water eroding away at the outer banks of a river or stream causing the body of water to widen over time. The term Meander refers to the river or stream taking convoluted path forming a snake like pattern.
As a Meander gets bigger, it will eventually form what is known as a "Oxbow Lake". A Oxbow Lake is created when two growing Meanders intersect each other and cut off a loop of one of the original Meanders leaving it without a active flow of water. You can see the life history of a Meander in the photo below that was obtained from Wikipedia.
The Meanders that are located in Shiawassee Park where you are standing may not ever turn into what a typical meander would since the city has added a few features to the meander in a attempt to slow the erosion. You will see on each of the the meanders that they added a wall of rocks covered by wire fencing to keep the rocks from shifting. These features will slow the erosion, but not completely stop it.
The requirements to log this cache must be completed as follows. Please do not post your answers to your log. E-mail me with your answers to get credit for this cache.
1. Using your GPS, Start clear your trip log and walk to waymark ROUGE2 following the path of the river. This is where the terrain rating comes in. If you truly follow the path as I did, you will be doing a lot of bushwhacking through thorns, climbing over logs, and walking on narrow paths between trees and the river bank. Once you reach the next waymark, how many feet did your GPS tell you that you walked? This can be given in feet, or miles.
2. Now that you walked the path of the river, how many more feet (or miles) is the river in length between the two waymarks than it would have been if the river kept a direct route?
3. Why do you think the river took such a meandering path throughout this area?
Happy Caching... Remember to practice CITO while in the park.
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