Flash Flood in Mystery Canyon
We did Mystery Canyon on Monday July 22nd. This was our second time this year. Our first time we started to late, moved to slow, and reached the first big rappel right at dark. We made it out in the dark and after the shuttles stopped running, minus 1 gopro and 120 ft less of my brand new rope. So this time we started early, moved much faster and we doing great. We made it to mystery springs around 5pm and had plenty of time to finish with a good time. Well when we all were down from this rappel it started to rain. So we made good time to the last rappel into the narrows. At this time we set the rope but the pull rope was tangled. I said lets not waste time I will head down while they would untangle the pull rope. As I started down the flow was normal, very little flow. I did not even make it 10 ft and the flow was already growing. When I was a quarter of the way down they were yelling at me from the top. All I heard was left so I looked left and the waterfall was now at least 10 ft tall. The funny part was I might of worked my way under it but thought it was to dirty. I took my time getting down and had no problems. Once I was in the narrows the waterfall was landing 3/4 of the way across the river. My group said the water level on top was above the anchor at its peak. I stayed hooked to the rope just to be safe. The water level was not rising so I thought I just need to wait for the rain to stop. My group and the other group of 6 were safe on high ground. after about 45 min. the rain stops and the waterfall is going down. Im thinking all is well and we will be out soon. Just as the flow of the waterfall is low enough the narrows starts flashing. Im watching the river come up, a ton of debris and now I am worried. There yelling from the top but I cant here them. I was finally able to climb up onto a nice ledge and wait it out. Maybe another 45 min go by and the level is going back down. I yell back up for them to start sending people down. When Lena got down I got one of the best hugs ever. I don't know who was more worried, me or them. We made it out with no more issues. When we reached the shuttle there was a ranger waiting. She asked if we were one of the mystery groups, she had heard 1 person made it down and the others were still up there. I told her that was me and our group was out and the next group was coming down now. There is just something about this canyon for us. I wonder if there will be a third time.
