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- Dec 2, 2019
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- 186
After several days of fantastic weather and great hiking through the north-western portion of Capitol Reef National Park, the air felt heavy, as I packed up my gear the next morning. The distant rumbles of thunder sounded rather ominous, and I made sure to have my rain gear readily available at the top of my pack. I wound my way slowly down from the Slickrock Expanse towards pretty Pleasant Creek, and then made the undulating traverse towards Burro Wash. The first drops of rain were starting to fall.
.Pleasant Creek
As part of this hike, I had originally hoped to explore the high slickrock areas above the Burro, Cottonwood, Fivemile, and Sheets drainages further south, but with the stormy weather closing in, I decided these would have to wait for a later visit. It turned out to be very fortunate that I made this decision, since I was initially scheduled to end this side-trip via a west-to-east traverse through the Fold, via Sheets Gulch. This often narrow drainage would most definitely not have been the place to be during heavy rain, as I was to observe first-hand later in the day.
And so, rather than take the intended high route south from Burro Wash, I trudged across the lower eastern slopes of the Waterpocket Fold in the direction of Cottonwood Wash. This was a very tedious hike through the rain showers, working my around or across a seemingly endless series of long, shallow drainages, or clambering over low clay hills. By the time I reached Cottonwood, my energy was zapped by the repetitive small exertions across this mind-numbing terrain. For the next section towards Fivemile Wash, I decided to make life a bit easier for myself and walked along the much flatter ground running parallel to the Notom-Bullfrog Road.
Tedious hiking across the lower eastern slopes of the Waterpocket Fold
The sky was darkening considerably now and, as I reached Fivemile Wash, the thunder and lightening were in full flow; the rain was starting to fall heavily. As it was already mid-afternoon, I decided to set up camp for the night. Although the wide wash of Fivemile was still bone-dry, I knew better than to camp in the creek-bed, and so set up my tent on a small bank a few feet above the drainage. The rain was now torrential, and from my tent, I could see a few trickles of water flowing through the creek. However, despite the deluge, I didn't really anticipate it would end up being much more than a small stream. How wrong I was !
Within 30 minutes of the heavy rain starting, I sat in my tent, and heard a distant rumble, and presumed it to be thunder in the distance. It steadily increased in intensity over the next few seconds, and then I smelt a terrible stench. Now, I knew what was heading my way: a flash-flood ! I put my head out of the tent, just in time to see the head-wall of water, mud, tree branches, bushes, and detritus heading down the wash. It was an astonishing sight, and I began to get a little nervous that my campsite was not high enough above the drainage. I was fine, but in hindsight, I should definitely have pitched my tent much further away from the creek. A lesson learned. It was then I remembered that my initial plans would have had me hiking through Sheets Gulch around this time !
The arrival of the flash-flood signalled the transformation of the previously dry creek-bed into a full-blown river, and in the subsequent 18 hours that I spent there, the water flowed continuously and intensely, rising and falling a little, depending on the amount of rain that fell over the previous hour.
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Fivemile Wash was bone-dry, one hour previously
The next day started wet and continued like that until the early afternoon, when the sky started to brighten and it seemed that the worst of the weather might be gone. I packed up my gear, and decided to road-walk south along the Notom-Bullfrog Road. Within the hour, the heavy rain showers started again, and after crossing the private property of Sandy Ranch and reaching BLM land, I decided it was almost time to set up camp again.
As I passed a dirt road running west, I saw someone in the distance, waving their arms, and shouting 'help'. I walked towards them and it was a woman: very wet, covered in mud, and wearing no shoes ! She was very calm, and asked if I had a satellite phone to call for help. It turns out that her husband had driven down the dirt road, and tried to cross 'a stream', but the vehicle got stuck. As they tried to exit the car, their feet go stuck in the mud, and their shoes were effectively sucked off !
It is at this point that I have no idea what I was thinking, and look back on the incident with great embarrassment. Any reasonable, decent person would immediately volunteer to help this shoeless woman; but what did I do ? I suggested that she either wait on the Notom Road for a car to pass by, or that she walk (shoeless !) the 1 mile back to the Sandy Ranch to raise the alarm. I genuinely don't know why I reacted with such a lack of empathy. Somehow her calm demeanour and complete lack of distress, convinced me that she would be fine on her own. In hindsight, I'm greatly ashamed of my (lack of!) actions.
And so, I wandered off, thinking about finding a suitable campsite, especially given that the rain had now stopped. My sanity and decency returned 15 minutes later, and I (finally !) realised that I should be helping this woman in trouble. I headed back after her towards the Sandy Ranch, but couldn't see her anywhere along the road. Finally a car approached and it was a Park Ranger who had picked up the woman, and was on his way to help out her husband. He transported them back to civilization, and a rescue vehicle arrived after dark, to extract their car from the newly formed river.
As I said, it was most certainly not my finest hour, but at least everyone ended up safe and well, even if they did end up losing their shoes!
I thought I would then continue along the Notom Road (now a dirt road) for another half hour before pitching my tent, but I was quickly disavowed of this plan. I soon discovered that the normal trickle of Dogwater Creek, which crosses the Notom-Bullfrog Road, had now become a fast-flowing river, and was thus making any further progress along the road impossible. I'd have to consider my options in the morning, but as this was the only reasonable route south, if I wasn't able to cross the creek, this could be the end of my hike.
To complete the rather surreal nature of the evening, as I was finally setting up my tent, a passing German tourist drove up, asking all about my hike, and we had a very pleasant 30 minute chat, as I cooked my noodles for dinner.
As I was lying in my tent later, I heard an engine roar and tyres screech for a few seconds, and I wondered if someone was attempting to cross flooded Dogwater Creek. Surely not ! I thought little of it, and fell asleep.
Thankfully, by the next morning, the waters of the Dogwater Creek crossing of the Notom Road had receded significantly, and it was now just a muddy mess to traverse. Happily, I was on my way south again, although the rain was still falling, and the skies were ominously dark, once more.
In my planning of this hike, I had hoped to find a route up to the Circle Cliffs atop the Waterpocket Fold, and then follow the ridge to emerge at Upper Muley Twist Canyon. This would then lead me to the Burr Trail Road, and onto Lower Muley Twist. However, given the ongoing poor weather it would have been foolhardy to try to ascend the steep slopes of the Fold to reach the high cliffs, especially as I wasn't 100% sure of the exact route to take. Instead, I had to resign myself to a very long road-walk. As the heavy clouds gathered over the Fold once more, and thunder roared in the distance, I knew that it was the correct decision to spend the day hiking along the Notom-Bullfrog road.
.In my planning of this hike, I had hoped to find a route up to the Circle Cliffs atop the Waterpocket Fold, and then follow the ridge to emerge at Upper Muley Twist Canyon. This would then lead me to the Burr Trail Road, and onto Lower Muley Twist. However, given the ongoing poor weather it would have been foolhardy to try to ascend the steep slopes of the Fold to reach the high cliffs, especially as I wasn't 100% sure of the exact route to take. Instead, I had to resign myself to a very long road-walk. As the heavy clouds gathered over the Fold once more, and thunder roared in the distance, I knew that it was the correct decision to spend the day hiking along the Notom-Bullfrog road.
Heading south along the Notom-Bullfrog Road, with the Waterpocket Fold shrouded in cloud
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.Looking north along the Notom-Bullfrog Road with the distinctive domes of Capitol Reef in the distance
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The walk was pleasant enough, despite the poor weather and often muddy conditions underfoot, and I made fast progress south. After about 4 hours walking, I saw a white car in the distance, but something didn't look quite right. As I approached, I saw that the car was severely angled upwards on one corner at the front, with one front wheel 3 feet in the air ! The diagonally opposite corner was submerged into the deep water of a huge puddle/pond.
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I had no idea of whether there was anyone inside the stricken vehicle, and if so, what state I may find them in. I nervously tapped on the window, and a young woman levered the door open, and said 'hello'. Despite, the desperate looking situation they were in, she and her boyfriend were completely unfazed, and said they would patiently wait for the water to subside, and they would then dig themselves out. I wasn't entirely convinced, but they said they were absolutely fine, and didn't need rescuing. It appears they drove into the large body of water after dark, the previous night. When they realised that they couldn't get through, they turned the steering wheel sharply and effectively got lodged in the high mud bank, alongside the road. I then realised that this was the car I heard revving to get through the creek last night. As I left, I told them that I would at least inform anyone I met, that there was a stranded car further back up the road.
.I had no idea of whether there was anyone inside the stricken vehicle, and if so, what state I may find them in. I nervously tapped on the window, and a young woman levered the door open, and said 'hello'. Despite, the desperate looking situation they were in, she and her boyfriend were completely unfazed, and said they would patiently wait for the water to subside, and they would then dig themselves out. I wasn't entirely convinced, but they said they were absolutely fine, and didn't need rescuing. It appears they drove into the large body of water after dark, the previous night. When they realised that they couldn't get through, they turned the steering wheel sharply and effectively got lodged in the high mud bank, alongside the road. I then realised that this was the car I heard revving to get through the creek last night. As I left, I told them that I would at least inform anyone I met, that there was a stranded car further back up the road.
Heading south along the Notom-Bullfrog Road, as the clouds start to lift
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A brief glimpse of some blue skies
After another 4 hours, and the crossing of Bitter Creek Divide, I finally reached the Burr Trail Switchbacks, only to find another scene of chaos. A vehicle had crossed the very muddy wash, but could not then ascend the slippery slope on the other side. A couple of other cars were trying to help, but no-one was going anywhere quickly, and it was all very, very messy. It was like a scene from The Somme, and I managed to add to the carnage, by plunging up to my knees in thick, gloopy grey mud, as I attempted to cross the drainage. The stranded driver said that there was a road-crew on the way from Bullfrog to help, and so I slowly walked up the switchbacks to find a campsite for the night. The local sheriff from Boulder then appeared, and I hailed him to tell him about the stranded car I had found earlier in the day. The line of previously stranded cars then drove up the hill past me.
So, another day of high drama, mainly caused by the heavy rains and flooding over the past 72 hours. The late evening was calm, as I set up my tent, so perhaps tomorrow would be a more relaxed affair.
Tomorrow would unfortunately prove to still be a long way off; Hurricane Priscilla decided to pay a visit !
So, another day of high drama, mainly caused by the heavy rains and flooding over the past 72 hours. The late evening was calm, as I set up my tent, so perhaps tomorrow would be a more relaxed affair.
Tomorrow would unfortunately prove to still be a long way off; Hurricane Priscilla decided to pay a visit !
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