Flash Flood in Behunin Canyon Zion 2015 [VIDEO]

[Sombeech]

I'll share this account I received from my Brother's Wife's Brother and his group if that makes any sense. I don't know the exact date (yet) but this was written up April 28 2015 down in Behunin Canyon in Zion

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9:15am - Start on the trail from the Grotto
10:00am - Reach Scouts look out, making great time.
11:45am - Begin descent into Behunin Canyon
4:00pm - Noticing slightly elevated water levels in stream at rappel #8. Group starts getting scared. Begin setting up second to last rappel. Heavier rain begins. Ben goes down first, followed by Taylor with the rope.
4:20pm - Ben sets up final rappel. Taylor is belaying Chad as he descends second to last rappel.
4:30 - Brett descends second to last rappel, Ben descends final rappel, Brian attempts to get ready for final descent but struggles getting the rope in the caribiner. Brian drops ATC preventing him from being tied into the rope when flood hits.
~4:35pm - Flash Flood hits. Chris yells from second to last rappel to get to high ground. Chris stays at second to last rappel while Taylor, Brett, Chad and Brian are at top of final rappel. We all attempt to reach high ground but this involves climbing up the crevice. Luckily the green rope was down in the crevice allowing easier exit. The group is split up, Ben is at the base of final rappel (LDC); Taylor, Chad, Brian and Brett (lower group) are on a ledge above last rappel (RDC); Chris is on a rock above the second to last rappel (RDC). (Ben attempted first call to rangers from near base of last rappel at 4:56pm).
4:35-8:45pm - Lower groups stands on small ledge, huddled together under Taylor’s emergency blanket. All are soaked and the wind is strong blowing the blanket around so legs and feet are really cold. Chris is alone on upper rock and lower group doesn’t know his fate yet.


*Here’s our best guess picture where everyone was. Picture from internet during a different time the canyon had a flash flood.



~5:00pm - lower group says prayer together (Brett voice)
~5:15pm - Brian jokingly mentions to Taylor that this is the kind of thing you don’t tell your wives about, believing that the flood will be over in half an hour or so
~5:20pm - Ben calls Park Rangers
~5:45pm - Ranger meets with Ben
~5:45pm - lower group singing hymns to try and stay positive and alert on edge (You are my sunshine, Nearer my god to thee, I belong to the church of Jesus Christ, etc)
5:50pm - Ranger spots three heads on cliff with an orange object around them. Last Ben knew Brian, Brett, and Chad were in a very dangerous spot so three heads would make him think the worst.
~6:00pm - lower group extremely cold and legs are cramping from standing but fortunately there are little bump / nodules in the rocks that help feet stay in place even though it’s sloped. Brett worried about hypothermia begins asking group members favorite food, about kids, etc. Talks about POWs that survive- not the most optimistic, instead it was those who knew help would come but weren’t thinking immediately. Suggests that we will be ok, but that it will be a long enduring wait.
~6:00pm - Ben begins to monitor storm progress on KSL weather app and NOAA, sees large storm moving across southern Nevada.
~6:15pm - Ben changes shirts in Zion Lodge and prays in bathroom stall. He is now wearing just a puffy jacket over a bear chest with wet pants because he didn’t put his spare shirt in the dry bag (another stupid decision).
~6:30pm - Storm moving across Nevada appears to be breaking up and moving North according to KSL weather app
6:45pm - Taylor, Chad, Brian and Brett look at clock and realize they have been standing for two hours but surprisingly it did not seem that long
6:45pm - Taylor pees all over his comrades in an effort to take a whiz while not falling off cliff. sorry boys.
6:50 - Lower group finally able to sit/squat down as water recedes a little. While looking down at Zion lodge the lower group notices white SUVs parked in a clearing and suppose it’s probably the rangers watching but unable to help immediately.
~7:00 - Brett encourages group, says that he feels that Chris and Ben are ok, and that we will make it out ok
~7:15pm- Ben rides shuttle down to pick up the car and bring it back up to the lodge.
~8:30pm - Ben arrives at lodge with car and sees lights on the cliff, he goes to the Zion Lodge lobby to call the rangers.
8:51pm - Ben sends first text to Kristi making her aware of the situation, he sends the text from the car. Messages take a while to get out as signal is weak and in and out.
~9:00pm - Ben exchanges light flashes with Chris and the lower group. The lower group exchanges lights with Chris but noise from flood is still too loud for communication. Lower group sees the headlight flashing in SUV and feels great reassurance that rangers must know of situation, but they realized there is probably nothing they can do and must be waited out.
9:09pm - Ben heads back to the lodge to tell the rangers about the flashes, on his way he gets signal and a phone call from rangers with canyon experience. Ranger asks for details about locations and tells Ben that nothing can be done tonight, but a rescue will be attempted in the morning if they are still in distress. After the conversation Ben calls Kristi. Ben also gets a voicemail from Brett, the voicemail was left at 6:25pm, but he can’t access it to listen to it.
9:30pm - Ben drives over to Emerald Pools Trailhead parking, gets out to walk across the bridge and receives a call from Kristi. While Kristi is talking Ben hears Brett’s voice in the background. The voicemail finally came through and played while Ben was talking to Kristi. The voicemail confirms that the lower group is out of immediate danger but that they don’t know the status of Chris.
9:43pm - Ben gets first call from Brett and confirms everyone is still there and safe for the moment.
9:45pm - Taylor finally able to get jalapeno beef jerky out of his molar that’s been stuck there since yesterday. Huzzah!
10:13pm - Group realizing that we are likely staying the night on the ledge, Brian messaged Carrie saying that it is going to be a long night
10:30pm - Ben is in Springdale to check on hotel rooms and calls Kristi
~11:15pm - Ben is back at the Zion Lodge and resumes watching the cliff, but sees no lights or activity
~12:00pm - lower group can’t sleep and is worried about hypothermia/falling off cliff. Move to lower platform and begin to exercise stiff cramped legs. Growing anxiousness to attempt a descent before daylight.
12:18am - Chris descends from the upper rappel to join the rest of the group (Ben sees lights and Brett and Ben speak on phone while this occurs)
12:40am - The group begins preparations for the final rappel
~1:00am - Brian vomits into stream because of nerves of a pitch black rappel
1:30am - Chad has to rappel in the pitch black with no headlight of his own, just the light from belayers below. Chris makes the final rappel! Ben hears shouts of triumph as Chris touches down on the valley floor. The entire group is out of the canyon and begins descending to the Emerald Pools trail. The darkness and wet rocks makes descent and trail finding very difficult.
~2:00am - Ben meets up with the group and they hike down to the parking lot together
2:43am - The group arrives at the Zion Canyon Visitors Center to pick up Brett’s truck
~3:15am - Check into La Quinta hotel in Springdale
~8:45am - Chad winks at waffle-master earning heart-shaped waffles.

[jman]

[Iceaxe]

There are two types of canyoneers in the world, those who have experienced an epic, and those who are going to experience an epic.

[ratagonia]

Great story, thanks.

Perhaps you would also post at the Canyon Collective.

It is a nice thing that Behunin has that nice platform at the top of the last rappel.

It is also a nice thing that ropes did not get so messed up as to be unusable, even with all that flow over them.

Tom

[jman]

I wish those guys could explain their decision on rappelling down at 4pm. If the stream is increasing and the rain is coming down...then why proceed?

Why not wait 30minutes or an hour and decide then? All rain clouds will eventually fade away...

The last two rappels to get everyone down and pulling the ropes can easily take between 30 to 60mins. It's no 20ft drop and you are done.


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[Sombeech]

I wish those guys could explain their decision on rappelling down at 4pm. If the stream is increasing and the rain is coming down...then why proceed?

Why not wait 30minutes and hour and decide then. All rain clouds will eventually fade away...


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Good question, although I wonder what the situation was like at that time, if they were wet and cold and were afraid to spend the night like that, or if there was a proper place to lay down and rest.

I heard from word of mouth that they were stuck on that little ledge and couldn't go anywhere, while shivering so much their jaws hurt from the freezing chatter. Maybe they thought if they waited for it to stop, they would be freezing in the night on that little ledge, and maybe fatigue could cause them to slip from it?

[qedcook]

Why not wait 30 minutes or an hour and decide then?

Or better yet, why not wait to do the canyon on a day with a better forecast? That's very easy to say now, on the sidelines.

[Sombeech]

Or better yet, why not wait to do the canyon on a day with a better forecast? That's very easy to say now, on the sidelines.

My response to this was, we did some canyons during high possibilities of rain and flooding a couple of weeks ago, but we went through each canyon with the lowest water levels we'd seen yet. So it's hard to forecast.

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[Renatomic808]

I don't know what the entire canyon looks like in general.. but that looks like a fun amount of water.

[tanya]

This would give Bo nightmares if he saw it!

[Cameron7]

What was the forecast for that day?

[Bo_Beck]

This would give Bo nightmares if he saw it!

Oh,ho,ho,ho,....was a good....coulda been a veeery bad day!

[taatmk]

So glad everyone is safe. What a story! That final rappel is unnerving as it is. Doing it in total darkness would be incredible! The support of family and friends is immeasurable in situations like that.

[ratagonia]

BUMP!