Mississippi Tributaries / Han Tributaries

I grew up south of Arnold, Missouri.  Zoom in on Arnold with Google maps, you'll be amazed by what you see.

I lived on a hill in Barnhart during the great flood of 93.  That's the year I learned what Hepatitis A was.  A lot of people lost their homes.  Why there are still homes next to the river... I cannot explain. 

This year, I live close to a place that looks like this,

This is very different.  Let's pan back a bit.

Now we see a couple of Seoul's major streams.  At the top is Cheonggyecheon.

It flows into the Jungnangcheon.

The bridge shown above connects the Han River Park across the Jungnangcheon at Seoul Forest, which can be seen in the first google maps shot above.  The other day, we rode our bikes across it and noticed salmon jumping up the waterfall...  Seoul has salmon it seems...  We saw them jumping about in the shallows too.

Back to the tributaries though, there is my favorite place on earth, Yangjaecheon.

Yangjaecheon flows into the Tancheon,

I hope these images convey something.  These streams are beautiful.  They are heavily used for recreation.  When they flood only a few bike paths are lost.  Most of them have extra paths at higher elevations.  Paths get higher as the distance from the water increases.  Other than Cheonggyecheon (which is more of a public fountain anyway) buildings are constructed far from the actual water.

It is also important to see that in many cases grasses and other water purifying plants grow in the water and help clean it as it flows.

Children did that,

These streams are bicycle highways with all sorts of interesting features along them.  They connect the city's parks and neighborhoods.  Because they all flow to the Han River, their bike paths all connect to the bike paths in the Han River Park.  Due to the great volume of park users, bicycle riders and pedestrians are increasingly being given separate paths.  65% of injuries are bikes smashing into pedestrians.  The paths are very crowded at times. 

The Han River is then a bicycle commuter's dream.  If you can get there, you can get almost anywhere. 

Now, does anybody know where this is?

It must be in Seoul, right?  No, look again.  There's a fence by the river, like people are afraid of their children drowning.  There's a sharp ramp up from the water with significantly less room for overflowing water.  The water is brown and muddy.  The people are white.  Where could this be?

Ah, right, that's the River des Peres. 

St. Louis has a long way to go, but we're on the right track,

The Great Rivers Greenway District's River Ring has incredible potential.  It has become my greatest ambition for St. Louis.  I really hope the improvements never stop.  Imagine bird corridors and raccoon sanctuaries that double as a transit network.

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This article is part of a larger topic comparing the Mississippi to the Han.