saint john river

saint john river, April 1999
Originally uploaded by searmid.

It's been cold lately. Really cold. This morning it was -22C and I don't think the temperature through the day climbed any higher than -16C.

The Saint John River is frozen solid from one bank to the other. At least that's how it appears. I spoke with the head forester with Fredericton's parks department a couple weeks ago about ice on rivers and lakes. He said the Saint John River is never safe. Even if the ice is two feet thick. He said it wasn't always that way, but things changed when the dam went in at Mactaquac. As flow rates are increased or decreased through the dam, the height of the river fluctuates. The ice might look solid, but it stands a pretty good chance of breaking up underneath you.

Try telling that to the locals though. Tales abound of having drag races in the middle of the night out on the river. I spoke with a fellow who had a stripped down VW bug he once took onto the river. He said he was speeding up and down the ice along the city's river front. The next day, not too far from where he was doing donuts, he said a car went through.

Venture down to the banks along the Northside of the river and you can see the tracks of snowmobiles driven out onto the river. Parallel lines run up and down the river. Those who ride the river claim to know the river. They say they've been doing it all their life, and nothing ill has come of it. Over on Union street there are even houses with snowmobiles parked in the front yard.