Lāčupīte spring

A significant part of Riga Pārdaugava is occupied by Kleistu Forest. From Buļļu Street in Kleistu Forest, the Lāčupīte River appears (flows out of pipelines), and in its further course to the Riga - Bolderāja railway, pronounced black alder floodplains can be observed. The left - steeper bank of the Lāčupīte River is formed by the Nordeķi - Kalnciemas dune ridge, along which the Lāčupīte River bends, further turning to the east. Shortly before the railway, on the slope of its left bank, which is formed by the already mentioned dune ridge, there is a small outlet of underground waters - a small spring.

I visited the spring for the first time together with Aigars Liepiņš, a researcher of springs and rivers. It could have been around the turn of the last century and this century. Aigars had come across this spring during his wanderings in Pārdaugava. Since the "mouth" of the spring had been blocked, we decided to organize a small "help group" and together we cleaned the outlet of the spring from fallen trees and leaves, creating a small depression where the water could collect. During the cleaning, it looked like someone had tried to do it before us. Since during the Bermontiades, there were Latvian Riflemen positions on this bank of the Lāčupīte, we tried to imagine in our minds what this place might have looked like eight decades ago. Maybe the spring waters were a little stronger? Maybe the riflemen climbed down here for spring water? Judging by one publication, Aigars called this spring the Strēlnieku spring, although there is no evidence that the riflemen ever used it. But now there is no longer Aigars to ask.

The next time - at the very end of 2024, I came here with spring researcher Jānis Bikšis. In front of the spring there was a mud floor trampled down, because forest animals had set up mud baths here. The spring water was just seeping out of the ground and only the wet spot and a small spring cirque in the sandy dune wall indicated the location of the spring. The water was not flowing, but rather seeping through the spring. We will have to come here on a snowy day and also in the spring.

Since there is currently no information about the name of the spring, in our notes Jānis and I called it the Lāčupīte spring.

We walked along the Lāčupīte floodplain. It looked like there were still some bomb holes left, which had become shallower over time and were now filled with water.