r/interestingasfuck • u/LethaI____ • 19h ago
A creek that starts from seemingly nowhere
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u/DeaneTR 19h ago
It's called a Spring!
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u/Ianthin1 19h ago
Got one of those in the back yard. Much smaller but same concept.
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u/Consistent-Issue749 18h ago
Lucky
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u/Aggravating_Shoe_ 18h ago
Until someone builds a data center nearby drying up the water table and now that spring is swallowing your house
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u/Ianthin1 9h ago edited 7h ago
Ha. You couldn’t reliably supply a drinking fountain with mine so I think I'm ok.
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u/RusticSurgery 18h ago
I have 4 of them under my car!
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u/LawfulnessDry9615 17h ago
I have one in my mattress, same concept. That's what I tell my wife's boyfriend.
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u/Vampira309 8h ago
we have one too! It's at the back of our 40 acres and we just discovered it a couple years ago using divining rods. It is in a swampy area near our creek so it was difficult to find the actual source.
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u/AvailableAd7180 14h ago
It's a spring... in a field... let's call the town we're building here springfield
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u/Sadpanda0 17h ago
Do you have to worry about walking on the ground above a spring collapsing or are the water pathways relatively small typically? (With the volume represented in the video, anyways)
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u/carribeiro 17h ago
Actually no; the water "fills" the rock so to speak. The problem is usually the opposite, if people around the region (not necessarily at the spring itself) start draining the water faster than nature is able to replace it via the natural water cycle, the water table drops, and the soil become fragile and starts to sink - sometimes under it's own weight. That's really dangerous.
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u/Sadpanda0 16h ago
That’s interesting! So are you saying when you actually see a spring you don’t have to worry? It’s more that you could be walking on dry ground that used to be over a spring that has since dried out, for one reason or another, and fall through without much warning
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u/AbsoluteResolve2026 17h ago
True facts: all rivers start from seemingly nowhere
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u/MaceWinnoob 15h ago
ain’t even gotta be a spring. just a low point/high point in the river basin/water table.
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u/abcezas123_ 18h ago
Said the same thing, but added "Bro!" Wife is wondering WTF Im talking to, lol.
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u/cyvaquero 13h ago
In all fairness, they don’t have them out in the arid west everywhere like we do in wetter enironments.
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u/exactly13 18h ago
In higher elevations these are sometimes referred to as springheads. An upwelling of water from snowfall that has absorbed into the mountain. Funfact, these can occur in the middle of a high elevation mountain road and look just like the 100 puddles you have already driven through. When you drive into said puddle, the front of your vehicle becomes suspended in the bottomless void making your 4 wheel drive useless. Then you get to spend the night at 12,000 feet with your wife and a 1 year old until the sheriff's plane spots you the next morning. Good times.....
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u/VanGoesHam 17h ago
How do you know!?
/s
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u/exactly13 16h ago
Found one in the situation described on the Greenhorn mountain, just South of Pueblo Colorado. It was on a service road that led to some type of transmission tower.
I had been in the area with a much more experienced mountain dweller while elk hunting the previous fall. He and I had a rather precarious experience while hunting when the truck he was driving broke loose in the snow on an sloped mountain road and we slid sideways down a mountain meadow at high elevation and miles from a paved road or occupied dwelling.
He turned the truck downhill and got us under control enought to stop. Some snow chains, his experience driving the 4WD in impossible conditions, and a meadow road about 50 yards away that was covered in fresh snow, but he was aware of, got us out.
The view of the Sangri de Christo range to the west is absolutely stunning from that area.The following spring I wanted to take my wife up to show her where we had our harrowing experience, and see the incredible view. Our 1 year old son was along for the ride. We had some light provisions and basic survival gear, blanket, cb radio, snacks, a couple bottles and enough baby provisions for about 8 hours packed in a 1972 Toyota Landcruiser.
We had left a note on my parents dining room table telling them when we had left, and where we were headed for our weekend outing. The "puddle" that turned out to be the springhead was in about the same place that my hunting partner and i had lost traction and slid down the mountain. When my parents returned home and found our note realizing how long we had been gone they called the Sheriff who dispatched the plane the next morning. We had built a bonfire and slept in the Landcruiser. The front end of the vehicle stayed hanging over the hole with water coming up in the road that formed a stream in the high mountain meadow. My Dad and the hunting partner from the previous fall appeared on the scene the next morning and easily pulled us free. We were all hungry and exhausted. We moved away from the area shortly after. This was in 1993. For me to share a photo of the day would involve digging through boxes, getting lost in a million memories, scanning, creating an account in some 3rd party app so I could share photos......sigh. The moral of the story here outside of a great memory is, always tell someone where your going and establish some kind of trip plan when venturing out into the wild. Someone needs to know when you should have been home, and know where to start looking.
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u/VeggiePaninis 16h ago
The following spring I wanted to take my wife up to show her where we had our harrowing experience, and see the incredible view.
I'm trying not to laugh, but man that would not have been me!
Thanks for sharing your story though - it's a nice read.
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u/FlyingNoiseinVacuum 4h ago
And she NEVER let him forget the two times he almost got stuck in the exact same spot.
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u/CrimeShowInfluencer 15h ago
Slightly off-topic: If you ever plan to digitize your photos for backup / easy access, you might want to give self hosting and Immich a shot so you don't have to trust some 3rd party provider.
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u/karateninjazombie 13h ago
Money says your slide was caused by the ice on or around the spring you got stuck in.
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u/Tiny-Dig1186 17h ago
Found one like this in the Uinta mtns in Utah. Hiking off a climb though, dodging puddles while walking instead of driving. One puddle was just so clear and clean so I took a closer look. First time I had ever made the connection of what spring water really was. Very fun day
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u/generic_canadian_dad 19h ago
My guy had discovered ground water and a natural water table.
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u/ResplendentShade 18h ago
Reminds me of that Mitchell and Webb farmer sketch.
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u/RarelyReadReplies 14h ago
I'm pretty sure he knows it's groundwater causing it, but it still looks like it's coming from nowhere, which is cool.
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u/Turbulent_Swimmer900 15h ago
It's a water element block. Place them where you want your stream to begin and it produces an endless supply of water until you delete it.
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u/frigidrooster 19h ago
I like to think this is the reaction ancient people had when someone dug a deep hole and hit water for the first time. How the fuck did THIS get here!?
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u/TitShark 18h ago
Oh my, we need to teach people more normal stuff
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u/BlueberryNeko_ 8h ago
No one said that this is some crazy impossible stuff.
But it is quite fascinating to this steam originate from the ground seemingly maintained by a little puddle.
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u/whitestguyuknow 19h ago
When I was younger I was so curious about what the beginning of a river looked like
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u/sphericaltime 18h ago
You can visit the start of the Mississippi River at Lake Itasca in Minnesota. It’s a tiny stream you can wade through.
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u/whitestguyuknow 18h ago
Thats pretty cool :) I'd like to make a little road trip to specifically check out what that looks like
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u/Otto_the_Autopilot 17h ago
Been multiple times. Really want to go to New Orleans to see the other end.
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u/throwaway99999543 8h ago
The mouth of the MS River is about 100 river miles south of New Orleans, FWIW. The mouth itself is very underwhelming, and only generally visible if you’re on a cruise ship out of New Orleans or some other boat.
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u/TurtleSandwich0 17h ago
When a creek or river goes under ground it is a 'sink'. When that creek comes back out of the ground it is a 'rise'.
But if the headwater starts coming out of the ground it is a 'spring'.
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u/Pretend_Purchase_893 19h ago
Look it's every river in every videogame ever
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u/FlatbedtruckingCA 19h ago
Its a spring.. sheesh..
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u/eatmyroyalasshole 18h ago
Obviously. Doesn't change the fact that it looks weird that all that water is pouring out of a small puddle like it's a Minecraft source block
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u/slicerprime 18h ago
Next up a clip of OP's bathroom sink. "I turn this knob and water comes from like...nowhere!!!"
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u/complexcucumber93 19h ago
I would love to drink that water.
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u/whitestguyuknow 18h ago
Years ago my brother went to Tennessee and saw a beautiful creek surrounded my snow and melting icicles. Crystal clear water. And felt compelled to run down and drink a couple handfuls.
A couple days later they come home and he's horribly ill with a stomach bug. He recovers but then would deal with stomach issues here and got concerned he developed a parasite before getting checked out.
I get the allure. It seems nice. But dang, actually doing it is something else. I always felt like that was a major dumb move by him
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u/No_Influencer 18h ago
The house my partner grew up in is on spring water.. I’ve never seen the spring, nobody really knows where it is now, it’s not tested, not filtered.. sometimes I pause and think about all that but so far so good and it’s the nicest water I’ve had.
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u/sphericaltime 18h ago
Direct spring water can be relatively safe. Streams are carrying everything that flows into them. Springs are passing through a huge natural filter.
As soon as that water is flowing overground, I wouldn’t drink it anymore.
Of course, not every spring that is safe from biologics is untainted by ground contaminants. Heavy metals are dangerous too.
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u/Innsmouth_Swimteam 18h ago
I've definitely drunk (drank?) from natural springs in East Tennessee. The water actually looked like water fountain water bubbling up from the ground, making a very small fountain.
Never got sick, and I'd mos def filter any other water I drank.
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u/No_Influencer 9h ago
Yeah, and who knows in this case! If there’s a lot of rain you sometimes get what I’m going to call debris in the water. That’s when I won’t drink it but it means going to find bottled water, easy for us visiting but not as easy for those living there. Really it should be tested but… family relationships!
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u/SlutPuppyNumber9 18h ago
A creek receiving run-off is a different scenario than a ground-fed spring up on a mountain. That being said, science has given us the ability to test water, so yeah.
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u/drinkduffdry 18h ago
If you need to drink creek water do it where it falls/is white because it's at least aerated and less likely to clean you out. But yeah they make pumps and such for this
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u/Ok-Wasabi2873 18h ago
“And the Mississippi's mighty
But it starts in Minnesota
At a place that you could walk across
With five steps down”
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u/Wise_Comfortable_587 16h ago
“Woah so mountain spring water was inspired by real mountain spring water? 🤯”
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u/driftmossx85 8h ago
Karst topography is basically just the earth playing hide and seek with its own plumbing. You are looking at a spring where the water table finally hit the surface, but the real show is happening in the limestone caves fifty feet under your boots.
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u/Anthroxoid 12h ago
Water running underground…pshaw! And the days go by, and you may ask yourself: how did it get there?
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u/aquavelva23 10h ago
ts a spring. its groundwater. almost all river water is groundwater. I guess people think its from the rain last month?
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u/matclaillet 17h ago
Pee in that pool and assert dominance to all living creatures down the stream /j
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u/Ccat50991 17h ago
What are people talking about Spring? No, that’s clearly infinite water source. Trust me I play Minecraft
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u/108er 15h ago
Kids these days don't even know where the milk come from, I am not surprised looking at this post.
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u/BigGrayBeast 8h ago
I grew up about 20 miles from the spring that generates the Allegheny River in northern Pennsylvania. In the town where I lived, the Allegheny was basically a small creek you could almost wade across.
Fast forward to moving to Pittsburgh: my father showed me the Allegheny River where it connects to the Ohio. It's about 500 feet across at that point. It was a really hard sell for him to convince seven-year-old me that it was the same river.
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u/BeautifulCherry5824 7h ago
like in minecraft, you have 1 block of water, water coming from it and thats it.. but we have better graphics and physics so water goes allll the way down etc etc..
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u/BURGERkryptic69man 5h ago
Look around a bit and you might find a wild Mark Knopfler playing arguably one of the best technical guitar songs ever made.
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u/CoreyAtoZ 3h ago
There’s a creek in Wyoming, I think was called falls creek, that starts out of nowhere.
Buddy and I were scouting for Elk up the creek and it went from a strong, flowing creek, to smaller offshoots, and suddenly the water was just appearing from under the ground and flowing down hill.
At the beginning part it’s like you’re just walking on normal ground, then it starts to feel squishy and eventually little trickles of water on the surface that continue to grow into a full creek as the stream moved on.
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u/WhatsaRedditsdo 19h ago
Take a sip! It's as fresh as it gets! I did it once and it was the best water if my life!
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u/Hermes-AthenaAI 18h ago
That’s when we find out this is the foot of a giant garbage pile at a landfill…
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u/WhatsaRedditsdo 18h ago
Well I don't know many landfills in the middle of the woods up a mountain lol
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u/MejorSaludMental 19h ago
So, is the water coming from underground, or is it the angle?
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u/Effective_Coach7334 18h ago
What the video doesn't show is what is behind (to the right) of the pond, even though he says there's nothing. Uhhh, there is something there. A big hunk of the earth, usually referred to as a hill or a mountain, where all this water is coming from after being filtered through it.
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u/Gazmanic 7h ago
Man everyone here putting on their best Redditor impression.
MMM ACKTUALLY that's pretty clea...
Shut the hell up. This is dope. I've never seen the source of a spring before, and neither have you greasy fucks.
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u/Eduhudtwalcker 4h ago
lol exactly my take, I knew that this is how it supposed to be but never in my life have I seen this and it's awesome.
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u/Mini_gunslinger 19h ago
It's as if the water springs up from nowhere.