Geology Porn
November 10, 2009 6:54 PM   Subscribe

In 1996, the Ocoee Whitewater Center challenged the paddlers in the '96 Olympics. The dam controlled Ocoee river remains popular with rafters, kayakers and leaf-lookers. Today, the mountain reclaimed a bit the Ocoee gorge.
posted by I'm Doing the Dishes (25 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
"Well we had one rock in the road and now we have no road. The mountain has came off. It was unreal" Wowie, neat video.
posted by jessamyn at 6:57 PM on November 10, 2009 [2 favorites]


Must've been through there a thousand times. I remember one time a rock had rolled down, a small rock, say only the size of a fridge, took a leap and punched through the back of a box truck taking most of its contents with it on its way to the river. From the looks of it they're lucky they weren't still trying to chop up the rocks when the second slide hit!
posted by Pollomacho at 7:01 PM on November 10, 2009


Trees: OH SHIIIIIIIIIIIIII-
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 7:04 PM on November 10, 2009 [2 favorites]


Yow! What a cool video.
posted by HopperFan at 7:06 PM on November 10, 2009


Mrs. schyler523 is always really nervous when we drive through there. I always just say don't worry, I've driven this route hundreds of times.

Well now I'll probably be a little more nervous now too.
posted by schyler523 at 7:11 PM on November 10, 2009


That was awesome.
posted by jsavimbi at 7:24 PM on November 10, 2009


I've driven through there many times and thought those 50 and 100 foot walls of rock looked strange and untrustworthy.
posted by nola at 7:33 PM on November 10, 2009


I'd love to have natural looking rocks leaning over roads, no matter how unsafe. In Japan, nearly every hill or steep slope near a road has been covered over in concrete laticing to prevent any possible rockslide. It pretty much covers the countryside, and it's depressing as all hell.

When visiting the States with my in-laws, I made a point to drive them around not just Chicago, but southern Wisconsin, too. They were surprised by how beautiful the roadsides were. I tried to explain to them that the roadsides in America are one of the things I miss most dearly.
posted by Ghidorah at 7:47 PM on November 10, 2009


The fact that they were filming when it came down makes me wonder if they did it on purpose. If they thought the slope was unstable, then better to bring it down when the road is clear and all the equipment you'll need is ready.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 7:48 PM on November 10, 2009


you're in for a bad day on the road crew when trees casually saunter across the street while standing upright.
posted by radiosilents at 7:53 PM on November 10, 2009 [3 favorites]


It is a little odd that they had that piece of equipment out there, moved it, and then the slide happened. And no one seems to be even a little bit panicked when it's moving.

Still some fantastic footage though.

GEOLOGY IN ACTION! DIG IT!
posted by Big_B at 7:54 PM on November 10, 2009


The dam controlled Ocoee river remains popular with rafters, kayakers and leaf-lookers.

The preferred nomenclature is leaf-peepers.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 8:20 PM on November 10, 2009


They seem to be standing pretty close to what could have turned into a much bigger rock slide.
I need subtitles. I've listened to this three times and although English speaking, I can't understand his accent. e.g. after he says something about a 'diversion down' (0:10-0:12), it's Alamburnese to me.
posted by tellurian at 8:28 PM on November 10, 2009


holy crap; thanks for posting this.
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:41 PM on November 10, 2009


"at the diversion dam, right by the put-in, where the rafters put in at." I think.
posted by stargell at 8:41 PM on November 10, 2009


I absolutely love "the mountain has came off."
posted by stargell at 8:43 PM on November 10, 2009


"... at the diversion dam, at the foot end of where the rafters put in at", I think.

Looks to me more like they were working on it and some pre-slide activity caused them to take precautions. They were still pretty close -- it must have been much larger than anyone expected.

Story
posted by dhartung at 8:47 PM on November 10, 2009


"Ahhh, we're on Highway 64, or State Route 40, as we call it here...at the diversion dam, at the put-in, where the rafters put-in at. As you can see, we have a major rock wall. Part of it in the road. Got to get it busted up into small little pieces that we can load in the truck and haul it off."
posted by HopperFan at 8:47 PM on November 10, 2009


tellurian: here's a transcript:

We're on Highway 64, or state Route 40 as we call it here, at the diversion dam, at the put-in where the [rafters?] put in at. And you can see, we have a major rock wall - part of it in the road. Gotta get it busted up into small enough pieces that we can load it in a truck and haul it off.
[then footage of the big slide]
Well, we had one rock in the road, now we have no road. The mountain has came off. It's just unreal what come off -- it's something! A few minutes ago there was a big piece of equipment out there busting the rock up. They moved it out, and now it's all - it would all have been gone. I'm just glad nobody was hurt.
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:49 PM on November 10, 2009


heh, should've previewed.
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:49 PM on November 10, 2009


Dang, it IS "small enough pieces." I guess I was laughing too hard over "The mountain has came off." What a cool guy.
posted by HopperFan at 8:54 PM on November 10, 2009


Uh well crap. That's right where boaters and rafters put in on the river for some of the sweetest easily accessible whitewater in the Southeast. That same unstable geology, combined with dam released water makes for a fun ride during the summer when most other rivers would run dry. Grumpy's Ledge, a notoriously fickle feature just downstream of the put-in probably won't be the same again.
posted by Mercaptan at 9:03 PM on November 10, 2009


There is a similarly infamous place in N California called Confusion Hill. A few winters ago, before they put in the new bridges (yay!), Caltrans had watchers stationed on the road looking up at the hill. You'd slow down, they'd look for falling rocks then motion you to drive through the slide area real quick. It was kind of nuts.
posted by fshgrl at 9:30 PM on November 10, 2009


Fabulous! We were just trying to explain this to our kids last night. This video will give them a sense of scale...
posted by sneebler at 9:37 PM on November 10, 2009


w00t! Go Nature!

Also, heard this one yesterday: What's another name for strata? Rock band!
posted by Eideteker at 5:14 AM on November 11, 2009


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