Zion Flash Flooding 8.2012

[Bill]

We arrived in Zion Sunday afternoon and immediately set up camp at Watchman. Moments after zipping up our tent both my wife and I's stating squealing the emergency broadcast system noise . We grabbed our phones and it was a flash flood warning for Zion canyon so we jumped on the shuttle and headed up canyon. Once we made it to Canyon Junction the rain started to dump and there was rolling thunder bouncing across the canyon walls. By the time we made it to the grotto everything was flowing... hard. The bad part was that it was dumping rain and I had a hard time shooting and keeping my lens dry.

Refrigerator Canyon and the Angels Landing Trail

Refrigerator Canyon Flash Flood by Summit42, on Flickr

We got out of the shuttle at Weeping Rock and ran up the trail. There was a steady flow coming down on the far right and we figured that it was echo. Then, 5min later the real Echo shot out a canon blast of rocks, sticks, and muck and the REAL show began.

Tyler

Tyler and the Flood by Summit42, on Flickr

https://flic.kr/p/7831322888

looking up at Echo

Echo Canyon Flash Flood by Summit42, on Flickr

Heaps and the middle Emeralds Pools

Heaps Canyon and The Emerald Pools by Summit42, on Flickr

Featured image for home page:

 

[wes242]

Looks like a good day in Zion to me!

 

[lostlandscapes]

Total insanity! Great shots, and glad you guys were somewhere safe when it hit.

 

[pixie1339]

Awesome! I've always hoped that one day I will get to witness a flash flood from a safe vantage point. Good job capturing these Bill!

 

[intuitive cat]

incredible!

 

[Nick]

Killer stuff. Someday I want to be there for this, just hope it's not on a trip that I'm supposed to be doing canyons on.

 

[Jammer]

Awesome. I've seen some great flooding in the Lake Powell area, but never like this in Zion. I would love to time it right someday (and NOT be anywhere near a slot!)

- Jamal

 

[Sandro]

We had just picked up our permits to hike the subway on the following day when the T-storm arrived... because of this flood we had to give up. We had almost lost any hope when we found open spots for August 21st and a sunny day allowed us to make the hike !
A guy fron another group said that he had already done the subway 5 times and he had never seen so much water ! Also lot of debris along the trail and a log stucked under the rock ball in the bowling ball corridor !

 

[Bill]

We had just picked up our permits to hike the subway on the following day when the T-storm arrived... because of this flood we had to give up. We had almost lost any hope when we found open spots for August 21st and a sunny day allowed us to make the hike !
A guy fron another group said that he had already done the subway 5 times and he had never seen so much water ! Also lot of debris along the trail and a log stucked under the rock ball in the bowling ball corridor !

Everyone in our group (except me) did the subway on the 20th, the morning after the flood.

 

[Sandro]

Everyone in our group (except me) did the subway on the 20th, the morning after the flood.

on the 20th we went to the trailhead but decided to give up because it was cloudy and didn't want to take the risk...

 

[Nick]

We had just picked up our permits to hike the subway on the following day when the T-storm arrived... because of this flood we had to give up. We had almost lost any hope when we found open spots for August 21st and a sunny day allowed us to make the hike !
A guy fron another group said that he had already done the subway 5 times and he had never seen so much water ! Also lot of debris along the trail and a log stucked under the rock ball in the bowling ball corridor !

That log has been stuck under the bowling ball since the flooding in Spring 2011.

 

[Sandro]

That log has been stuck under the bowling ball since the flooding in Spring 2011.

ah yes, I can see it in your picture ( http://backcountrypost.com/forum/index.php?attachments/zion-subway-12-jpg.2994/ )

But we found smaller branches stacked in the log and the water was sandy and covered by leaves and small pieces of wood !

 

[Sandro]

I posted a pic here

http://backcountrypost.com/forum/index.php?threads/the-subway-was-off-the-hook.1227/

 

[JamesM]

Great vid, thanks for sharing, I always love a good Zion flood video.