Friends of Little Rocky Run - Virtual Tour of Watershed, Page 5, Misc. Information on Area Near the 2nd Creek Crossing

This part of the creek, from the first creek crossing to the second creek crossing, is marred by some abandoned concrete water pipes and power lines, but it is very beautiful otherwise and full of wildlife.  Wild turkeys, deer, beavers, and even a flying hawk clutching a snake in its talons have been observed in this stretch.  Dozens of monarch butterflies sometimes appear to feed on the thistle flowers under the power lines.  In the summer of 2001, a beaver family built a huge dam that incorporated the concrete pipes and created a small lake that was utilized by numerous nesting ducks and geese.  Unfortunately, the beaver dam was torn down by the Fairfax County Stormwater Management folks on June 13.   To their credit, it should be noted that they hauled one of the pipes away and also several tons of other concrete debris dumped long ago by parties unknown. The power cut area on the far side of the picture where the asplalt trail shows, is the home of mounds of tires and other debris, slowly being hauled away by volunteers.

The picture at the right, taken on a very bright Fall day, shows the first creek crossing from the vantage point of the hill near Bay Valley Lane.  The crossing is visible at center right.  Butterflies love this area of the powercut, and at times many dozens of Monarchs gather to feed on the flowers.  Just behind the vantage point of the photo is a Dominion Power substation.  This power line originates at Possum Point near Dumfries and terminates at the Loudon substation near Middleburg. Blackberries, left photo, and even wineberries grow in profusion at various places on the power cuts.

Know what this is on the left?  It's a paintball and was fired from a paintball gun in one of the occasional skirmishes waged in this part of the creek.  Sure these are biodegradable, but paintball guns are just as illegal in Fairfax County as any other type of compressed air gun.  Worse, for reasons unknown, these same people typically leave drink containers and empty paintball containers all over their "battlefield."  The photo on the right shows two of many homemade bongs discovered in the LRR watershed, these two at the second creek crossing.  The Fairfax County Police regularly patrol the LRR watershed on bicycles and occasionally arrest people.  PFC Jeff Gregory, pictured to left, is one of the policemen who patrols the paths in our watershed as of October, 2002.

The bong on the right looks ancient, but is probably only a year or two old.  Most of the hideouts where people go to get intoxicated have been found and cleaned up, at least in the watershed below New Braddock Road.  Once you clean up a hideout and keep it clean, the folks using them tend to go away.

But don't get the wrong idea from the preceding negativity.  This part of the creek, once you get past the abandoned concrete pipes at the second crossing, is well worth visiting. For the record, here are the abandoned pipes.  If you look at the lower left, you can still see remnants of the once impressive beaver dam that was torn out in June, 2001.  Please see our Want a Project? section if you would like to take charge of removing these pipes, and restore the stream bank as well.

Take me to Page 6 of the Virtual Tour Section!

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Photos on this page shot in October 2002 except for photo of Officer Gregory, taken on 9/14/02, and the photo of the blackberries and conduit pipes, which were taken in July 2002.