Zion Flash Flood Warning

[oldno7]

Looks like the Virgin is on the rise.........

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?site_no=09405500

[Scott Card]

Dang, three out of the last four days!

[Udink]

Looks like the Virgin is on the rise.........
Biting. My. Tongue. So. Hard. :lol8:

[bowjunkie]

Biting. My. Tongue. So. Hard. :lol8:


:roflol:

[Felicia]

Water is running in Pine Creek and Keyhole as of 7:00 PM tonight.

[Sombeech]

Looks like the Virgin is on the rise.........


Biting. My. Tongue. So. Hard. :lol8:

Why, was the Virgin going down before?



too far, too far. Dennis' fault.

[tcott]

We were in fat man's today and it dumped buckets on the climb out. Rain turned to hail and it was really coming down, pretty crazy stuff. Thankfully it blew past us after about 20 minutes. The rangers stopped and asked if everyone else was out of harms way in the canyon and told us that everything flashed today.

[stefan]

thanks for the update, tcott!

[blueeyes]

Did Pine Creek yesterday and it was AWESOME! Full of water lots of swimming. So much better than my first trip through last year.

[ratagonia]

From Amelia at ZAC:

We've got word on current conditions (9-17-2011) of Keyhole, Pine Creek, and Echo canyons.
High in Springdale today was 85F. All canyons are reported to be full to the
brim (cuz of our epic floods!), and require many swims. This is what customers
said about the canyons:

Echo:
-Cold (as usual), with several swims, folks said wetsuit REQUIRED

Keyhole:
-Cold-ish, with many swims, most folks said "you'll want a wetsuit!". While some
tough guys said that maybe they could've been ok without, other tough guys said
no way.

Pine Creek:
-Cold, with many LONG swims (40 yds or so), folks saying "it's the wettest I've
ever seen in there", wetsuit REQUIRED. All tough guys said you'll want a
wetsuit.

Fun!

:) Amelio

[Felicia]

Did Pine Creek yesterday and it was AWESOME! Full of water lots of swimming. So much better than my first trip through last year.

Awesome!

We went through Keyhole this afternoon and I had a great time. I've never been through Keyhole when it was so full of water. I was wet from beginning to end and I was very comfortable in my full wetsuit. The flooded hallway was a swimmer from the down climb, around the corner, and to the next down climb. Fun!!!

On the way in, we met some Bogleyites on their way out.

Felicia

[Cirrus2000]

Swimming Keyhole - Very jealous! We had a nice midnight trip through there on the 9th, but soooo dry. Would have loved a lot more water.

Is the deer carcass gone? Was in the middle narrows, just before the wide area prior to the first rappel...

[blueeyes]

Awesome!

We went through Keyhole this afternoon and I had a great time. I've never been through Keyhole when it was so full of water. I was wet from beginning to end and I was very comfortable in my full wetsuit. The flooded hallway was a swimmer from the down climb, around the corner, and to the next down climb. Fun!!!

On the way in, we met some Bogleyites on their way out.

Felicia

We had fun in Keyhole as well! Lots and lots of water floated it in like a lazy river. Loved it!

[blueeyes]

Swimming Keyhole - Very jealous! We had a nice midnight trip through there on the 9th, but soooo dry. Would have loved a lot more water.

Is the deer carcass gone? Was in the middle narrows, just before the wide area prior to the first rappel...

I didn't notice any deer carcass.

[Felicia]

.

Is the deer carcass gone? Was in the middle narrows, just before the wide area prior to the first rappel...

Yup - it's gone! John took all the pictures today, so I have none to post at this time. There was a new debris pile that we had to crawl through - Chere, did you get a picture or two?

Felicia

[scubabryan]

How long does it usually take Pine Creek to lose all that awesome water?? I've done it 6 times and there has never been any swimmers except at the bottom of the cathedral. I'll be in pine creek this Saturday and would be stoked if it were still full!

[Bshelton]

Typically how wet is pine creek? I have only had the pleasure to visit it one time as a filler canyon earlier this year. I always thought it would be to crowded since access is so easy. Myself and 3 others made our way down one swim after another the entire canyon. Waterfalls were running fairly strong with some moderate hydraulics. Is this normal for this canyon?

I had an absolute blast in pine creek. It was more than I expected for the length and you can't beat to approach or exit as far as convenience goes. Perfect for what we were looking for.

To get back on track, did I hit a rare opportunity to have flow in the canyon?

I have posted some pics for reference. ( I hope they load, I'm loading them off my phone) let me know if they don't and I will reload.

[Scott Card]

How long does it usually take Pine Creek to lose all that awesome water?? Let me be helpful..... Depends.

No really, it depends on temps, saturation, what the flooding did to the sand and the sand dams, etc... etc..... The first time I did Pine Creek it was bone dry. I didn't even get my feet wet. I have never seen it in that condition since. The fun of repeat canyoneering is noticing the dynamic (and some times subtle) changes that occur after a winter, a flood, a fire and so forth.

[blueeyes]

Yup - it's gone! John took all the pictures today, so I have none to post at this time. There was a new debris pile that we had to crawl through - Chere, did you get a picture or two?

Felicia

Yeah I got a few. I have decided to give up on the camera in the canyons. Pain in the arse. I am just backed up on uploading pictures. Still haven't uploaded our Narrows trip. I will get to it.... sometime... someday...

[ratagonia]

Let me be helpful..... Depends.

No really, it depends on temps, saturation, what the flooding did to the sand and the sand dams, etc... etc..... The first time I did Pine Creek it was bone dry. I didn't even get my feet wet. I have never seen it in that condition since. The fun of repeat canyoneering is noticing the dynamic (and some times subtle) changes that occur after a winter, a flood, a fire and so forth.

At the moment, it is not all that hot out, and the nights are almost as long as the days, so the water in Pine Creek will ebb away slowly. Should have lots of swims for the next couple of weeks.

A pleasant, fun flow in Pine Creek is unusual, and for some, highly sought after.

Tom :moses:

[ocanler]

Flash flood was interesting to watch. Last Friday the folks at ZAC told us the Virgin was flowing at 689 cfs, and that's when I showed up at the back country office to get my permit for Orderville (LOL) They told me to come back in the am which was a real bummer since we wanted to do Birch/Orderville and I had a shuttle line up at 6:30am with ZAC. Long story short, there I am in line waiting at 7:00am for the permit, looking nervously at my watch. Though they gave me my permit, they told me the dirt road after Ponderosa Ranch was impassable (too much slippery mud). They were right, almost put out truck in a ditch and proceeded to walk/skate in the mud for 2.5 miles to Birch Hollow. What a mess! We did not get to start Birch until 10:30am. The approach to the 1st rap was a slippery affair with so much sticky mud. The creek did not flow though,which was a shame.
We made good time through Birch after lunch proceeded downstream through Orderville. That was our first time through Orderville, which was beautiful but very very muddy after the flash flood. Multiple log jams to go through, and a few log soup pools. We made it to the Narrows and the paved trail as darkness was really setting in. An 11 hour romp, muddy but fun. The day was not over: we still had to go fetch our car at the Ponderosa Ranch.
The next day we did Mistery. The death gully was a mud hill which made it a little bit challenging. We had to resort to hang to any twig we could find.
Mistery was beautiful. First time in there. The last 2 raps were just unreal.
Before heading back to San Diego, we did a quick trip through Keyhole. It was full of water but the water was much warmer then when we did it in June. Wet suits were still welcomed!
For 4 out of the 5 guys I went with, it was their first canyoneering trip. They are hooked now!
The most dangerous part of the trip: driving through the Riverside traffic!

[Felicia]

The most dangerous part of the trip: driving through the Riverside traffic! :roflol::roflol::roflol::roflol: YUP!