denaliguide
10-27-2007, 02:47 AM
Back at the start of October I did a trip into the middle of Grand Gulch for a couple of days.
Started the trip with high hopes of seeing a section of the canyon I haven't had a chance to get into. The plan was to drop into deer creek and come out at Water canyon (if I could find an exit there) (still don't know if there is one).
The first day was windy and cool. Then around mid-day it started to rain. not hard, but steady. The canyon walls were starting to drip and waterfalls were beginning to make their appearance. About 5 in the afternoon the skies started to clear and nothing but blue sky overhead when i set up camp. I figured "hey it's the desert. Won't need my tarp tonight, storms passed. right?" So I tossed my bag out on this nice open flat above the creek.
Well, guess again! Sometime around midnight I wake up to what I thought were the sounds of rockfall in the canyons. Lots of rockfall. hmmmm..... The next thing I know it's bucketing down hard with rain. I jump up and barely have time to throw my tarp over the top of me between flashes of lightning and cracks of thunder that were 2 seconds apart. Little close, me thinks. Its a good thing my tarp is one of the silicone impregnated type or I would have been hosed. So, I'm laying there for about 15 or 20 minutes with this huge light show going on overhead. When it just stops.
I peel the tarp back and get out of my bag and pack up as fast as I can. Then head up to the base of the cliff where there is a great overhang. Should have just camped there in the first place. Except there are archeaological sites all along this particular overhang. Now I know it's against the rules to camp near archeaological sites, but thems da breaks. I didn't want to take the chance of another downpour.
The morning dawns clear and beautiful. Now, I'm camped out of sight of the creek, but the noise is deafening. I break camp and go down to get a look at the creek and it's in FLOOD!!! Isn't this just great. What was a trickle yesterday is now a red torrent knee to thigh deep. Obviously no way to keep my feet dry today. Trudge on back and forth across the creek. If any of you have ever been down Grand Gulch you know that you cross the creek on just about every meander. Did I say how much I hate having wet feet. Too much of a pain to take the boots off and put them back on every meander so in I go, over and over.
I finally get to where Collins canyon comes in. I could have made an escape here, but that would have put me on the wrong side of the canyon and about 50 miles from my vehicle. I guess I head down to the narrows. Fortunately I don't have to wade through the narrows (it looked deep and fast). There is a trail that bypasses it and goes around a rincon (even if it had'nt flooded I would have done the bypass) that has several nice pictograph panels.
Down stream from the narrows I find a canyon heading out to the east. I think theres a route out. So, I take the chance. Pick a faint track up the canyon and piece together a route through the ledges and find myself on the rim and only 1 1/2 miles from my 4 runner. What Luck.
Next time i go back I can use my exit route to drop in and then I'll have a go at seeing if there is a way out of Water canyon.
Started the trip with high hopes of seeing a section of the canyon I haven't had a chance to get into. The plan was to drop into deer creek and come out at Water canyon (if I could find an exit there) (still don't know if there is one).
The first day was windy and cool. Then around mid-day it started to rain. not hard, but steady. The canyon walls were starting to drip and waterfalls were beginning to make their appearance. About 5 in the afternoon the skies started to clear and nothing but blue sky overhead when i set up camp. I figured "hey it's the desert. Won't need my tarp tonight, storms passed. right?" So I tossed my bag out on this nice open flat above the creek.
Well, guess again! Sometime around midnight I wake up to what I thought were the sounds of rockfall in the canyons. Lots of rockfall. hmmmm..... The next thing I know it's bucketing down hard with rain. I jump up and barely have time to throw my tarp over the top of me between flashes of lightning and cracks of thunder that were 2 seconds apart. Little close, me thinks. Its a good thing my tarp is one of the silicone impregnated type or I would have been hosed. So, I'm laying there for about 15 or 20 minutes with this huge light show going on overhead. When it just stops.
I peel the tarp back and get out of my bag and pack up as fast as I can. Then head up to the base of the cliff where there is a great overhang. Should have just camped there in the first place. Except there are archeaological sites all along this particular overhang. Now I know it's against the rules to camp near archeaological sites, but thems da breaks. I didn't want to take the chance of another downpour.
The morning dawns clear and beautiful. Now, I'm camped out of sight of the creek, but the noise is deafening. I break camp and go down to get a look at the creek and it's in FLOOD!!! Isn't this just great. What was a trickle yesterday is now a red torrent knee to thigh deep. Obviously no way to keep my feet dry today. Trudge on back and forth across the creek. If any of you have ever been down Grand Gulch you know that you cross the creek on just about every meander. Did I say how much I hate having wet feet. Too much of a pain to take the boots off and put them back on every meander so in I go, over and over.
I finally get to where Collins canyon comes in. I could have made an escape here, but that would have put me on the wrong side of the canyon and about 50 miles from my vehicle. I guess I head down to the narrows. Fortunately I don't have to wade through the narrows (it looked deep and fast). There is a trail that bypasses it and goes around a rincon (even if it had'nt flooded I would have done the bypass) that has several nice pictograph panels.
Down stream from the narrows I find a canyon heading out to the east. I think theres a route out. So, I take the chance. Pick a faint track up the canyon and piece together a route through the ledges and find myself on the rim and only 1 1/2 miles from my 4 runner. What Luck.
Next time i go back I can use my exit route to drop in and then I'll have a go at seeing if there is a way out of Water canyon.