North Wash Flash Flood Video & Quandary Conditions

[SRG]

When we dropped into Quandary around 11am on Saturday, there was one cloud in the sky. It was over by the Henrys and it was kinda small, definitely not a rain cloud.
Our group of five had a blast doing the Direct Route, most potholes were about 18" below the apparent high water level, and none were really keepers... although some beached whale moves were necessary.
By the time we were finishing the technical section, it was drizzling on us and we were hearing the occasional thunder clap from the distance. The predicted "0% chance of rain" from the day before had us cursing the weather forecasters.
By the time we made it to Muddy Creek the weather had mellowed out, and we met some new friends on the hike back to the shuttle vehicle.

When we awoke at Hidden Splendor this morning, it was very windy. The clouds all around us were threatening and it appeared to be raining over I-70, Capitol Reef, The Roost, The Henrys... pretty much all around us. We high tailed it to pavement and were relieved to have escaped The Swell, but it was 8:30am and our days canyon plans had been ruined.

The decision was made to stay on pavement and drive down to North Wash to see what was up with the weather. We were hoping to see some washes flowing and we were very lucky to see the business end of a flash flood in North Wash proper.


http://youtu.be/pG9FGC7wCOA

[flatiron]

When we awoke at Hidden Splendor this morning, it was very windy. The clouds all around us were threatening and it appeared to be raining over I-70, Capitol Reef, The Roost, The Henrys... pretty much all around us. We high tailed it to pavement and were relieved to have escaped The Swell,



Almost did not make it out of Swell 2 Springs ago. After 2 days of canyons at HS, woke up to pouring rain. At 9am tried driving out. Made it but scary! My 4WD had NO traction, literally was sliding sideways, never got above 15mph - or even tried. Also lost my tent to extremely high winds previous day - just torn to shreds. HS is a beauty but dangerous. :nod:

[hikster11]

Amazing lucky to see in person

[Erik B]

We were in cable on Saturday just upstream of you guys and had a similar experience. NOAA had down graded the weather LAST minute to slight chance of t-storms, 20% chance of precip. We awoke to not a cloud in the sky. It remained so when we dropped in. Halfway through the canyon BIG clouds rolled over head. Urgency increased. We exited the canyon to find definitive signs of rain near our drainage. The first three miles of the road out factory butte are impassible when wet and we started running for the last mile when we saw the thunderstorms rapidly approaching overhead. Made it out of the road AS it was starting to rain. Phew. Running wads totally indicated.