Mallard Cove Park Is Underwater With Some Mysterious Bubbles Burbling

A few days ago I blogged A New Cove Has Been Added To Mallard Cove Park.

Today I returned to Mallard Cove Park to find a river now runs through it.

A noticeable current was flowing along, moving debris with the flow, no litter, just river flotsam, like twigs and such.

The noticeable current surprised me, what with the current location being a bit distant from where the Trinity River flows by the north end of the park.

When I got to the edge of the flood I saw something a bit disturbing.

Bubbles burbling to the surface.

Natural gas pipelines run under this park, with multiple signs pointing out that fact. A fellow flood watcher walked up and I pointed her towards the burbles with her initial reaction being the same as mine.

A gas leak.

Eventually a less excitable type walked up and opined that the burbles were likely coming from a deep air pocket of the sort snakes live in.

I'm sticking with gas leak.

The leak was to the right of the view you see here, looking at a forlorn park bench currently mostly submerged.

I took some video of the flood and the burbling leak. You can watch that below.

Below are a pair of flood watchers who are near the aforementioned burbling.

Leaving Mallard Cove Park I continued east on Randol Mill Road, past the flooded Mary Kelleher farm, to find the road flooded and closed just past the River Bottom Bar. I turned around and headed back to Cooks Lane to head to high country and ALDI, where I got myself some Texas sweet onions, among other things.

Below is the aforementioned video....

Trinity River Turns Into Dallas Lake After The Amazing Race Ends There

I saw that which you see here a few minutes ago on Facebook. I think that is Reunion Tower on the south end of this view looking east at the Dallas skyline.

That would make this the iconic view of Dallas seen during the opening credits of Dallas, with a lot of water added.

I am not sure about it, but I think the Dallas version of the Trinity River Vision envisions recreational lakes being in this flood plain. Along with a tollway. I may be wrong about this.

I can't imagine how that would work when a flood event, like you see here, comes to town.

My mom called last night to find out if I'd been flooded. Apparently the flooding in Texas is big national news, as well it should be, what with it being of biblical proportions. Almost.

Yesterday I got around to watching the season finale of The Amazing Race, with Dallas being the Final Destination City. This was the second time Dallas was the Final Destination City.

When the racers left Peru their clue told them to head to their Final Destination City and find their way to AT & T Stadium.

There have only been a few times whilst watching The Amazing Race where I am familiar with the territory being covered. With those times being race legs, or final destinations, or starting points in Seattle, Los Angeles, Utah and D/FW.

At Cowboy Stadium the racers ran into a Roadblock. Each of the boys opted to play, since it was football related. They had to get in uniform, then a cable hoisted them to the stadium's roof where they were handed a playbook, then dropped back to the field, where the playbook told them they had to catch a touchdown pass and score a field goal.

Two of the boys were football savvy. The other two weren't. It was amusing.

The next clue had them going to P2 Ranch in Alvarado. I'd never heard of this place. Nor had the taxi drivers. I later learned the ranch was down by Burleson. That is a bit of a distance from the stadium, with the route taken appearing to be all country, no freeway. This seemed odd.

At P2 Ranch the racers had to get in cowboy gear and be drovers on a cattle drive herding longhorns to a pen. This was across a lot of land, through water, horses got skittish, one racer fell off her horse. It all seemed risky to me.

Phil eliminated the fourth team to arrive at the ranch. The other three teams were told to go to the aforementioned Reunion Tower to find their next clue.

I have no idea by what route the teams made their way back to Dallas. This was not shown. But one team, known as the Bickersons, due to their constant bickering, made it to Reunion Tower well ahead of the other two teams.

Reunion Tower was another Roadblock. with the girls having to do this one. They had to rappel down the tower looking for their next clue, a route marker. Hayley Bickerson found what turned out to not be the route marker, thus costing them their lead and likely the win.

The other two saw the correct route marker and quickly made it to the location. A mud pit near the railroad tracks by Reunion Tower. They had to drive a Monster Truck to get through mud to get to their final challenge.

That final challenge was a bit tiresome, but when the clue was finally released it told them to find their Final Destination at Continental Avenue Bridge. One taxi driver did not know where that bridge was, the other did, telling the taxi driver who did not know that it's by the new bridge.

So, this iteration of The Amazing Race ended on a bridge that runs parallel to one of the Dallas Trinity River Vision actual signature bridges, the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge.

All in all, The Amazing Race made Dallas and Texas look real good.

No mention was made, during the final episode, of that town to the west which makes other towns, far and wide, green with envy....

Another Trinity River Litter Flood In Fort Worth

That is the Trinity River you are looking at. Those are not white birds floating on the Trinity River that you see in the picture. That is litter you are looking at.

Rain fell in copious amounts last night, finally ceasing sometime past one this afternoon. I grew tired of being cooped up inside, like a stereotypical winter day in the Pacific Northwest, so, around noon, I drove the short distance to Quanah Parker Park to take a walk under an umbrella.

Quanah Parker Park is on the southern banks of the Trinity River.

The Trinity River flooded a few weeks ago, courtesy of Hurricane Hermine, with the highest water I've seen since I've been in Texas. That flood left an astonishing amount of litter on the Trinity's banks in its wake.

One would have thought that North Texas had been power washed clean of litter from the Hermine Flood.

One would have thought wrong.

The Trinity River is back in flood mode, likely not as severe as the previous flood. But, I was appalled and astonished at the amount of litter and debris floating down the river today.

Where does all this junk come from and how did the litter supply get replenished so quickly?

I made a video of the Trinity River Litter Flood. You can watch that below. Make note of what you see floating by at the 1:27 mark. It appears J.D. Granger lost something...

Fort Worth's Trinity Falls Disappears Under Trinity River Flood

Last Thursday I went to Gateway Park because I thought Trinity Falls might be flowing loud and large. It was. Today, after seeing how high the Trinity River is due to all the water delivered by the Hurricane now known as Tropical Depression Hermine, I thought it'd be interesting to see how Trinity Falls handles a lot of water. Well, as you can see, the falls has disappeared, as has the dam/bridge that causes the falls. In the blogging from last Thursday I made note of the astonishing amount of litter piled up behind the row club's dock.

As you can see, today, the Trinity is exhibiting a bit more litter than last Thursday. The river has dropped quite a lot from its high mark. I was surprised, as were others checking out the river with me, that the water got so high.

In the above picture we are looking at the location of my infamous encounters with White Darth Vader Express Energy Services trucks, earlier in the year. A Barnett Shale water sucking operation was taking place in a location that would be way under water today. I wonder if the water sucking operation on the other side of the river that I made note of in last Thursday's blogging, managing to pull out in time?


I was not sure I wanted to walk over the litter pile to cross the bridge. But I strongly wanted to see what the boardwalk viewing area looked like inside Gateway Park. I forgot to mention Gateway Park is closed due to the flooding, both entries blocked, but the pedestrian entry from the Trinity Trails was not blocked. On my way to check out the river I saw Quanah Parker Park is closed and flooded. I do not recollect it being flooded before. This means River Legacy Park is badly flooded and my newly re-born mountain biking will be on hold for quite awhile, awaiting the BIG DRY UP.

As I nimbly made my way across the pile of litter I looked down to see dead fish. This was not pleasant. Dead fish quickly become malodorous. There were a lot of dead fish.

Usually in the view above you look at a huge pipe crossing the chasm above a creek. The huge pipe is now under water, with the creek flooded and full of an astonishing amount of litter and debris.

Normally, in the above view I would be looking at Trinity Falls, often hear it roaring, usually seeing someone on it, walking or biking. But, today the falls is flooded.

In the above picture we have crossed the pedestrian bridge and are in Gateway Park, looking at the flooded boardwalk that used to take you to various viewing platforms, with the boardwalk switchbacking down to the river's edge. Both Gateway Park boardwalks have been closed for quite some time, due to neglect and poor maintenance.

I don't quite understand the sign saying "AREA CLOSE TO THE PUBLIC." Yes, the public felt very close to these boardwalks, until they fell into disrepair, but why put this message on a sign? Very perplexing.

Equally perplexing is the disturbing amount of litter in the Trinity River. When I lived in Washington I lived in the Skagit Valley. The Skagit River flows through the Skagit Valley on its way to Puget Sound. The Skagit River is a much bigger river than the Trinity. The Skagit River can go into flood mode that makes what the Trinity is doing today seem minor. And yet, in all the times I saw the Skagit River flood, I do not recollect ever seeing litter line the edges of the dikes when the river receded. Lots of logs, yes. Litter no.

Now, this may have something to do with the fact that the Skagit River starts up in Canada and winds its way through the Cascade Mountains, having no contact with a highly populated zone until it reaches the Skagit Valley flats.

The Trinity River flows through mostly rural areas until it hits the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. Is that when it picks up all the litter? I really think an effort should be made to find out where all this Trinity River Texas litter comes from.

In Texas If Water On Road Turn Around Don't Drown

You are looking south on Loop 820 in East Fort Worth, just north of the Trinity River.

Which is currently in heavy duty flood mode.

Ironically, where this sign is located, drivers had slowed way down, due to being looky-loos, looking at the flooding Trinity River.

Before noon, when I headed north on 820 and crossed the Trinity I was surprised at how high it was and how forcefully it was flooding to the north, with a strong current.

On the way back here, 2 hours later, the river was higher, had obviously not crested and was flooding into the industrial park that is north of the river on the west side of the freeway.

In the picture you are looking through my windshield and the rain at some flooded PODS at the north end of the aforementioned industrial park.

I am sure River Legacy Park is under water. The last time this happened it was something like 6 months before the mountain bike trail was bikeable again.

I think I'll head out of here and see what Trinity Falls by Gateway Park is looking like right now. Gateway Park may be closed.

Just as I typed 'closed' the sun broke through the clouds and brightened up the place. The rain stopped an hour or so ago.