IRENE: BEFORE, AFTER & FIVE YEARS LATER
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Photos of the Public Trail into Rock River Before Tropical Storm Irene, Immediately After Irene in 2011 & Five Years Later
On August 27 and 28, 2011, Tropical Storm Irene devastated river landscapes throughout the Northeast, including Rock River.
Houses, barns, bridges and roads were swept away. Boulders disappeared. High sandy river banks were washed away, and rock ledge river banks were scrubbed of all vegetation. Tangles of uprooted trees blocked roads and paths, including the path to the swimming holes at Rock River. All kinds of debris were caught in their branches. Some remain to this day, including a crushed mailbox in the deep woods far from any postal carrier’s route, which can be spotted to the right of the path as it approaches the corner with the stairs. The damage was so severe that the name Hurricane Irene was retired. There will never be another Irene. |
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Shortly after the storm, Rock River Preservation published before-and-after photos of Newfane Town Trail No. 11, the public access trail to the Rock River swimming holes. Now we have added photos of the same scenes as they look five years later.
The photos show that the effects of Irene linger still. They also show some of the major trail restoration undertaken by many volunteers, spearheaded by Thom Chiofalo, who has put much of his heart into trail maintenance over more than the seven years he’s been on the Rock River Preservation nonprofit board of directors.
The “before” pictures, at the left of most of these photo groups, are from two sources: A YouTube video from early spring 2011 and photos taken in mid August 2011 by a visitor from New York City who has been coming to Rock River for 28 years.
The “after” pictures, in the center of each group, were taken on Monday, August 29, 2011, the day after Irene. Subsequent to that, volunteers cut through many of the downed trees. Although water had receded some, it remained high, fast and brown more than a week later.
The pictures at the right of each group were taken in July 2016, five years after Irene.
For a printable (PDF) version with larger photographs, click here.
The photos show that the effects of Irene linger still. They also show some of the major trail restoration undertaken by many volunteers, spearheaded by Thom Chiofalo, who has put much of his heart into trail maintenance over more than the seven years he’s been on the Rock River Preservation nonprofit board of directors.
The “before” pictures, at the left of most of these photo groups, are from two sources: A YouTube video from early spring 2011 and photos taken in mid August 2011 by a visitor from New York City who has been coming to Rock River for 28 years.
The “after” pictures, in the center of each group, were taken on Monday, August 29, 2011, the day after Irene. Subsequent to that, volunteers cut through many of the downed trees. Although water had receded some, it remained high, fast and brown more than a week later.
The pictures at the right of each group were taken in July 2016, five years after Irene.
For a printable (PDF) version with larger photographs, click here.
Mid-August 2011 AUGUST 29, 2011 JULY 2016
The section of Town Trail No. 11 opposite the first visible cabins had been challenging long before Irene. That section once involved a cat walk and rope until the path was redirected downward by the Youth Conservation Corps as part of a trail management project designed to address erosion and public safety issues.
Irene wiped out anything recognizable there. Volunteers re-did some of the Youth Conservation Corps efforts and extended safe passage below the damaged upper trail far beyond where the earlier work had stopped.
Irene wiped out anything recognizable there. Volunteers re-did some of the Youth Conservation Corps efforts and extended safe passage below the damaged upper trail far beyond where the earlier work had stopped.
Mid-August 2011 AUGUST 29, 2011 JULY 2016
Opposite the second beach (the first of the clothing-optional beaches, across the river from the path) is another treacherous area where the path was blocked and/or changed by the torrent. This section included what some people called the hugging rock, where more than one person suffered dangerous slips and where Thom Chiofalo and another volunteer named Tom did some improvements.
Irene took away much of the footing along this section, extending the tricky track farther down river.
During subsequent seasons volunteers have smoothed the path in some sections and redirected it below the old “hugging rock,” significantly reducing the hazard at that spot.
Mid-August 2011 AUGUST 29, 2011 JULY 2016
Irene took away much of the footing along this section, extending the tricky track farther down river.
During subsequent seasons volunteers have smoothed the path in some sections and redirected it below the old “hugging rock,” significantly reducing the hazard at that spot.
Mid-August 2011 AUGUST 29, 2011 JULY 2016
After the hugging rock is a long flat straightaway leading to what used to be a slight depression in the path as walkers approached the third swimming hole. The raging river took away the path at that point and undermined the hillside. As a result, a group of trees slid down the hillside and blocked the way. The washout extends quite a way up the embankment along the path, and each season subsequent to Irene it’s been common to see other trees give way to the weakened hillside.
Instead of taking a slight dip at this spot, the path now goes down several feet to the river bed.
Immediately after Irene it was nearly impossible to thread one’s way through the tangle of large trees. The trees still lie there, but volunteers have cut a way through the massive tangle.
Mid-August 2011 AUGUST 29, 2011 JULY 2016
Instead of taking a slight dip at this spot, the path now goes down several feet to the river bed.
Immediately after Irene it was nearly impossible to thread one’s way through the tangle of large trees. The trees still lie there, but volunteers have cut a way through the massive tangle.
Mid-August 2011 AUGUST 29, 2011 JULY 2016
If you were to have stood where all those trees fell across the path and turned around to view the exit trail, before Irene you would have seen a fairly flat path (left). The path was washed away by the raging storm waters, leaving a precipice of several feet above a field of riverbed sand and stone (middle). In the seasons after Irene, volunteers have smoothed the way down, and vegetation has returned (right).
Mid-August 2011 AUGUST 29, 2011 JULY 2016
Mid-August 2011 AUGUST 29, 2011 JULY 2016
Irene changed the third beach entirely. What had been a mostly rocky beach was transformed into a wide open arc of sand.
The whole corner became much more open, visible and level with the sand-covered path. Familiar markers disappeared, including sitting areas among the bushes just beyond that log in second photo; they were wiped clean and became one with the extended beach up to a large snag of trees half way down the "island" of land there. Vegetation returned in subsequent seasons, and similar sitting areas are developing, but the wall of trees pushed down by the river remains.
The very large rocks that anchored the upriver end of the third beach, shown in the next set, disappeared.
Before August 2011 JULY 2016
The whole corner became much more open, visible and level with the sand-covered path. Familiar markers disappeared, including sitting areas among the bushes just beyond that log in second photo; they were wiped clean and became one with the extended beach up to a large snag of trees half way down the "island" of land there. Vegetation returned in subsequent seasons, and similar sitting areas are developing, but the wall of trees pushed down by the river remains.
The very large rocks that anchored the upriver end of the third beach, shown in the next set, disappeared.
Before August 2011 JULY 2016
These rocks once stood at the upriver end of the third beach. Irene swept them away. The bluff behind the rocks, from which the trees jut out, is also gone. The left photo, taken many years ago, shows the pre-Irene course of the river as it neared the corner.
The old dangerous bluff we used to climb before the stairs, where someone was hurt quite seriously in a fall, is totally gone. The stairs now define the path’s end, and they remain fairly solid. The remaining bluff is seriously undercut and is likely to see additional damage as the years progress.
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The Day After Irene Five Years Later
The path to where many cross (where there's a little sign from Henry saying last chance for men's crossing) had many downed trees along it after Irene, but it was the other side of the river that looked so odd at that point - some large trees deposited, some small trees gripping their spots but stripped white and leaning toward the ground, ghost-like. The crossing spot was unrecognizable in those first post-storm weeks except for Henry’s sign. Shortly after that, the path disappeared again and became impassable, but across the river one could see clearly to the most popular ("fifth") beach because that corner of rocks and bushes and trees was swept of vegetation. The open view around the corner wasn’t so obvious in the second photo. At the time, there was no way to go further along the path to get a better view because seemingly impenetrable tree tangles blocked the way.
Returning vegetation helps define the cross-river paths, and a couple new and delightful swimming pools have developed in Irene’s wake below and above the most popular sandy beach.
Mid-August 2011 AUGUST 29, 2011 JULY 2016
The path to where many cross (where there's a little sign from Henry saying last chance for men's crossing) had many downed trees along it after Irene, but it was the other side of the river that looked so odd at that point - some large trees deposited, some small trees gripping their spots but stripped white and leaning toward the ground, ghost-like. The crossing spot was unrecognizable in those first post-storm weeks except for Henry’s sign. Shortly after that, the path disappeared again and became impassable, but across the river one could see clearly to the most popular ("fifth") beach because that corner of rocks and bushes and trees was swept of vegetation. The open view around the corner wasn’t so obvious in the second photo. At the time, there was no way to go further along the path to get a better view because seemingly impenetrable tree tangles blocked the way.
Returning vegetation helps define the cross-river paths, and a couple new and delightful swimming pools have developed in Irene’s wake below and above the most popular sandy beach.
Mid-August 2011 AUGUST 29, 2011 JULY 2016
