Not wishing for bad luck, but some of the best relic hunting we have here is when the Shenandoah
hits it's 100 year flood stage. That's usually just below 50 feet. Seriously, the railroad trestles go
under. That's the track, not the whole trestle. Afterwards the trees are full of the black plastic
the truck farms mulch the plants with. Ugly! In the pastures streaks or bands of alluvial mud
appear and with them points tools and media chips are everywhere. A great time to find large items
washed out of the secondary banks. Lots and lots of property damage though. FEMA only pays flood
insurance claims once per tract so there are many abandoned, wrecked homes along the river. Sometimes
they get picked up by folks who reclaim them for weekend camp sites.