All week long, the National Weather Service has been predicting a major storm for Southern Utah. Well, this storm finally arrived! And one daddy of a storm it is! Check out the radar image as of 9:00pm MST! (Courtesy of WeatherBug)
Anyway, it’s usual to go into Springdale to get hiking food for days off, and needless to say, it was raining the entire time. (It’s going to rain for sometime, actually.) On the way back, we were stopped at Canyon Junction by a Park Ranger that told us the road was closed because of flash flooding across the road. So we had to pull up and wait for some time to get the all clear. While parked, we decided to go look at the river. Well, if you’ve never seen a flash flood, here you go:
This was awesome! However, as rivers do, they tend to increase in size, especially when countless waterfalls are pouring into the river. The image above? that was the beginning! About 10 to 15 minutes later, we decided to go back to the river, and guess what?
That’s right! The river flow increased dramatically! At least 10 fold! It was a sight to behold! Standing there on the river’s edge watching trees (and possibly boulders) flow down the river. I was enjoying the view, when I turned around and saw this:
This changed my attitude very quickly of WOW! to UH OH! Maybe this isn’t such a good idea to be standing here. I looked closer to the trees where I was standing and…..
… sure enough, the river was rising!
Time to get to high ground! As the National Weather Service always says, “Turn around, don’t drown.” So we high tailed it out of there.
By this time, we had yet to hear from the Park Ranger, so we decided it was time to go up the road and try to get home to Zion Lodge. A short time later, we were stopped again by a shuttle in the road. I decided to take advantage of the situation and get more photos of the river and waterfalls.
This was at the curve which was flooded out in 1995 by a flood, below the Sentinel. These trees are about 8 to 10 feet tall, or were that tall.
Here’s a cool look at the Sentinel:
The mountain in front is the infamous Sentinel Slide that created a lake in Zion Canyon about 10,000 years ago or so.
Here are some cool waterfalls coming off the Twins. The water of course is what’s flooding the road.
After much tribulation and driving through mud and debris, we made it back to the lodge. It’s always a treat to see Employee Falls flowing. However, it’s unusual to see three waterfalls at the same time. It’s either only one or two. It’s also unusual to see clouds below the rim like this, so, enjoy!
Hope you enjoyed the adventure as much as I did. You of course stayed dry the entire time. By the time I got home, I was soaked to the bone from the rain.
Kelly
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Employee Falls
Refrigerator Canyon (Angel’s Landing on right)
Above Weeping Rock
From Hidden Canyon I have not seen this waterfall at the Temple of Sinewava like this in a very long time.
Kelly Guymon Photography 