How to Narrowly Avoid a Flash Flood

This past weekend our east coast friends Dan and Case flew in for visit.  Mike and I have always wanted to hike down to the Havasupi Falls, so we decided it was the perfect time to do it!

Friday morning, we left at 6 a.m. and started the drive down south.  We first stopped off in Monument Valley, where my wonderful parents said they would watch S for the weekend.  After resting for a couple hours, we continued the drive and eventually pulled into the Havasupi Falls parking lot around 11 p.m.  We then proceeded to eat some gummy bears and get psyched up for the long hike in.  But, right before we started our descent, a security guard pulled up and said that we couldn't hike in at night.  Apparently it is monsoon season, so we would need to wait until 5 or 6 am to begin the hike.

  [Note: we had previously been told that hiking during the night was the way to go to avoid the heat]

ok.  monsoon season in the desert?

Not wanting to get banned from the reservation for disobeying orders, we then proceeded to sleep uncomfortably in the car (or at least try to sleep) for the new few hours.  Around 4:30 a.m., we woke up and by 5 a.m., we had started the hike down into the canyon.  The first 1-1.5 mile was a fairly steep hike down the cliff.  Then we had another 7 miles or so to the actual village through wide, flat terrain, and then through the canyon until it opened up a little bit more for the village.

Once we got to the village, we checked in at the tourist's office.  I remembered to bring my CIB, so my entrance and camping fee were waived!  Woo-hoo!  After paying for the white people's admission, we then proceeded to walk another 1-1.5 mile to the campground.  By this point, we were all exhausted from lack of sleep (and for me, the first real exercise I had done in several months).  We set up camp at the first site possible and took a nap.

After nap-time, Mike and I checked out the falls right next to our campground.  It was awesome.  I convinced Mike to climb up behind the falls.  Very cool.

We then walked down to see the other falls, which kept getting bigger and bigger! We also saw where the main campground is located.  Saturday was like a day in paradise.  By the time it started to drizzle, we were ready for bed.

Sunday, we woke up to blue skies and sun.  We walked back down to one of the bigger falls.  Very quickly, the sky turned cloudy and it started to rain lightly.  And then it started to rain harder.  We decided to head back to the tents.  By the time we reached the tents, it was a hard downpour and a little river of water had started to take over the trail.  Waterfalls suddenly popped out of no where and lined the canyon walls.  We returned to the campsite to find that Mike and I had left our packs out of the tent.  All of my clothes were wet.   Eventually the rain stopped and we started to discuss what our exit strategy should be.  Originally, we had intended on hiking out Sunday late afternoon.  By this point, the river had turned to chocolate and the water fall near our campground tripped in size.

[Note: this picture is pre-flooding.  I will have to grab a good one from Dan of the chocolate river]

We decided to pack up the campsite and head into town. Initially we were told that a bridge at the edge of town was flooded and to be careful if we were headed out.  But no less than 20 minutes, as we were walking out of town, we were quickly flagged down and told that the canyon was closed.  Too much of a danger for flash floods.  We put our names on a helicopter list just in case the canyon didn't open up again and man oh man, it's a good thing we did because the canyon remained closed for the next 24 hours.

Eventually, the entire campground was evacuated.  As people started congregating on the basketball court outside of the elementary school, we started to hear all sorts of stories.  Two people were almost swept away by a flood, only to be caught at the last second.  Hikers who left earlier in the day were unaccounted for.  A flood seized 12 pack horses while the local riders were still out in the canyon awaiting a helicopter rescue.

Due to all the rescuing required, we were unable to get out Sunday via helicopter.  Instead, we had to spend the night at the school and hope that we would have better luck the next day.  The night felt much like spending the night in a refugee camp.  Everyone was sharing their story of how they arrived at the camp.  Water and food was passed out to the campers while rez dogs were everywhere you looked, hoping for a scrap of food to hit the deck.

We were told that the helicopter would begin again Monday morning at 8 am.  Translated to Indian time, the flights picked up again around 9:30 a.m.  We were the first on the list for the day and it was the best $85 spent.  Havasupi is a little oasis in the desert, but we were grateful to get out.  I was sick of being wet and had to get back to work on Tuesday.

Overall, I have to say we were really lucky.  We could have easily been in the canyon or in the lower campground when the flood occurred.  From now on, we take the monsoon season more seriously and I am going to invest in a dry bag for my clothes the next time I go.