The Pump Branch

LARGO

Piney
Sep 7, 2005
1,553
134
54
Pestletown
Having a dear little bit of "me time" again today I stayed close to home and walked off a section of the pump branch. Don't much care about the super bowl.I needed to get out.
The gun club across from me is like a war zone of drunken pre game idiots on their range so I know where all the crazies are.
I actually was checking it out because I intend to launch my daughter and son's first canoeing from the Miller's bog. I've had my Daughter up on a Pocono lake in August which is awesome and my son on a lake in Pennypot. Lakes & streams are a world apart and my wife won't let me bring them on one deeper than they can stand up in first.
At it's worst in high water I've only seen the Pump Branch 2-3 feet in spots. I've got ready access from the Mullica in Sweetwater but I agreed to this just the same. During high and moving water the mullica is no fun to tip in !!!
We are doing dinner at the Library II by choice while the skids stay with the football crazy inlaws. So I once again had but so much time, such is life.
I digress, back to the Pump Branch, nice tromp along the way and quiet for lack of people. It is flowing pretty well acually as the Miller's bog is high and there is a good wind behind it. I was fortunate to find a five gallon spackle bucket and left with a good load of bottles and such ( and of course... a mylar baloon. I ran into one of the USGS stream guaging stations that are very visible from a nearby trail but never bothered before to look at.
N 39 41.77 W 71 49.55 ( I am toying lately with a GPS that is on semi-permanent loan from a customer/hunter who doesn't know how to use it.) Garmin Etrex out of the box.
I know that Scott must know this one well, it is not exactly hidden from sight. What I did notice is that it's feed pipe from the stream by the water level marker was letting by air bubbles. I can only assume this was not a good thing regarding it's operation. Right by it on the stream bed is a strange thing. Little grave apparently marked by a wood cross, a plastic angel, plastic flowers, and two american flags, all kicked over and broken.
Well that's it, no big deal, just a fun walkabout by me own self and back home. A whole lot of post for a little bit of walk I know.
Enjoy the game everyone, I'll be eating dead cow.

G.
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,967
8,712
LARGO said:
I know that Scott must know this one well, it is not exactly hidden from sight. What I did notice is that it's feed pipe from the stream by the water level marker was letting by air bubbles. I can only assume this was not a good thing regarding it's operation.

G.

Scott and I were at that gage together a while back, and we saw the bubbles also. I wrote someone I know who is in charge of the stream gauging and he informed me that the bubbles are normal. There is a pump that pumps air into the pipe and depending on the pressure that is needed to get the air out of the end of the pipe determines the height of the water. See the bubbles in this photo.

http://www.njpinebarrens.com/teegate/main.php/download/1359-1/IMG_5169.JPG

Here is the website on that one.

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nj/nwis/uv/?site_no=0140940810&PARAmeter_cd=00065,00060

If you looked around in that area you will find very small steel tubes in the ground. I asked about these also and was told they put them in more remote locations near the gage to test the water also. He said that usually means there are some flora in the area they do not want to disturb so they use inconspicuous pipes.

http://www.njpinebarrens.com/teegate/main.php/download/1362-1/IMG_5173.JPG

Great post...thanks.

Guy
 

RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
5,058
3,328
Pestletown, N.J.
George,
Here is the link to the USGS real time streamflow data for the station that you were looking at today.
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nj/nwis/uv/?site_no=0140940810&PARAmeter_cd=00065,00060
Copy and paste.
It is neat to check it out during or after a major rainfall event to see the spikes in the grapical data.
I told a friend of mine to try hunting woodies back there last fall by walking right down the stream bed in hip boots since it is usually 18" deep at best and slow moving.
He went there the day after we had a 2" rainfall event and he said it was whitewater and over the banks all the way through that stretch.
I checked the gage data and saw the spike in the flow for the time that he was there and he wasn't kidding.
Scott
 

LARGO

Piney
Sep 7, 2005
1,553
134
54
Pestletown
Thanks guys,
Makes a lot more sense now. While searching sites about waterways I've stumbled onto lists of these before. Never knew there were so many !
I remember the posts you guys had a bit back about them. I just never had cause to get up close to one. Cool the way the collected info is logged. I did write down the number on it when I was out. Neat.
 
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