What’s normally a small stream flowing lazily through an otherwise dry river bed has swelled with the rains of the latest typhoon to a wide, swift flowing river. Just a few meters from where I’m standing there’s a kind of wier, consisting of a series of large concrete blocks, stretching across the river. Normally you’d be able to get across to the other side by jumping from block to block but today that’s not possible. The entire wier has been turned into a waterfall, the concrete blocks engulfed in muddy brown water. Just below it, there’s a massive standing wave, the water curling in on itself as it flows across the stones and concrete. A loud booming fills the air of this otherwise peaceful river valley. That even a relatively small typhoon can transform a river this much is a stark reminder of the truly awesome power of nature.
July 31, 2021 at 14:05
I tried to go river tracing in Taian, it was the same thing. Water so high and frocious I couldn’t even get past Shuiyun Waterfall! There were waterfalls in places that usually don’t even have a river or stream. I river traced half way up Tiger Mountain along a river that shouldn’t exist, caught the trail the rest of the way up (the river was too steep to follow after that), and once past the top bushwhacked to the source of the same river. It flowed in tiny, small amounts out of the ground and then… suddenly transformed within a few meters into a raging torrent of a waterfall! It was amazing – and a little bit scary.