Flash Flood Week

We had been having such a mild summer when it came to the afternoon thunderstorms that the week we had in the middle of September came as a shock. It started on the weekend while we were home and just happened to peak out. See it wasn’t raining in Springdale, but up canyon in Zion, it definitely was. We just happened to look up canyon to see that between the Twin Brothers and Mountain of the Sun, there was an enormous waterfall pouring out. Obviously, that was not the place to be during a thunderstorm. This was just the start of a week of flash flooding. My work week took me out to the Wildcat Trail, which I had only hiked this year when doing the Subway. This time, though, I was hiking the entire trail. I was amazed when I did it that it was in such bad shape. It was super wide with new social trails being created. I spent the morning hiking the trail to see conditions, check the spring, etc… but the afternoon was spent just finding logs to pile all over the social trails. I was doing so well because the fire crew luckily had made some big pile of logs for burning. I figured I could put them to some better use. I pulled one dead log up and was surprised to see a scorpion. I had heard of scorpions being in Zion, but this was my first one that I saw. I, of course, poked it with a stick to see it strike the stick, but kept my distance to make sure it did not strike me. Then I continued with my work, staying rather close to the trailhead as the clouds that had been building all day, began looking more and more ominous. Eventually, the thunder began and that was enough for me to high tail it out of there leaving my work for another day. I got to the trailhead literally minutes before the rain began. I drove down the KT road waiting for another day. That other day never came that week as every afternoon the rain came. Finally, near the end of the week, I said screw it, I am going out anyway. I chose the Chinle trail thinking that was the most flash flood resistant area I could possibly get to. So I started my hike late in the day after busily returning some phone calls after opening the desk. This was a bad idea. I saw some other hikers smartly retreating. I thought, I just don’t care if I get wet. The clouds were very dark to the south where all the weather comes from, but I was determined for some strange reason to hike the Chinle. Before the rain even began, I was hiking along hearing the thunder and seeing the lightning in the distance, thinking it was comfortably far away from me. Then BAM! A lightning strike hits within fifteen feet of me. Luckily, I am standing in dirt because if I was on rock, I might be unconscious. I throw my pack into the mud, as the rain has come with the lightning, and curl up in a ball. The lightning does not strike again near me, but it was enough to freak me out. Not enough to stop me from continuing my hike (why?) as I went to Huber Wash to see the flash flood pouring really strongly through there. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera. With the clouds looking terrible again, I finally bailed. I was getting poured on with lightning and thunder all around this wide open plateau. I tried to hurry, but the trail gets so nasty in the rain. It was super muddy and I just had to hike quickly and hope the weather did not get worse. Luckily, it did not and I made it back safe and sound. I was off work, so I changed my clothes and went to the weight room. The rain continued. I kept my radio with me and heard that there was a rockslide up canyon covering the road. Also, I heard Oak Creek was flashing, so I went to check that out. It was going good carrying big logs downstream. It makes you realize the power of a flash flood when you see it. I was hoping that everyone was okay in the canyons. They were, which was good, though there were some concerns for some time. Finally as the weekend came and I was working overtime, we got away from the bad weather. Zyla and Jacqueline were able to come for an afternoon hike with me on the Northgate Peaks Trail. It was fun because since I was at work, I had to carry my work gear with me, so Jacqueline got to carry Z. Jacqueline was not too thrilled about it and neither was Zyla. Z was a bit whiny and so was Jacqueline, but they settled into it as the hike went on. We first hiked to the end of the trail to see. the incredible view. On the way back, I spent most of it working on the trail because once again there were a sufficient number of social trails. Jacqueline and Zyla did not help me, but were patient enough to wait for me. On this day, finally, there was no fleeing from the rain as Zion was back to being 100 plus degrees as is typical for the summer time, though, summer was now coming to a close.