Kings Canyon Flash Flood

 Last Saturday, a flash flood occurred near Kings Canyon, a curvy section of US Highways 6 and 50 west of Delta, Utah. We had heard about the flood from several people, and after my husband saw the remains, he told me I should go check it out. So this past Saturday I loaded up the kids and went in search of flood evidence. It was pretty easy to find. Even before we got to Kings Canyon, we saw debris a couple feet high along one of the reflector posts and several spots where water had crossed the road.

 The water had gone through the culvert and still got a couple feet higher above it!

 We loved looking at the cracks in the mud. Ants had already made a new home with a tiny little anthill.

 

Desert Boy picked up a piece of the mud.

 

 Underneath we could see a couple tiny seedlings sprouting.

 This old bottle sprouted out of the dry mud.

 The fence showed that the water was over three feet high in places. It wouldn't have been fun to have gotten caught in that flood and then washed into a barbed wire fence.

 This other section of the fence also showed how the gravel had been pushed by the water.

 I was intrigued by how some of the mud had little indentations. I'm guessing those are from frothy, bubbly water that settled.

 We got back in the van and continued to the bottom side of Kings Canyon. Across this wash is a gravel road. It used to be very easy to drive on the road, even in a passenger car, but now you need four wheel drive and high clearance.

 Looking upstream from this same site. The water had spread out at this point.

 Nearby I saw a car bumper amidst the bushes. Hmm, what was that from? I had an idea, and I was ready to investigate.

 First I got distracted by a flash of color from the wash: fiber optic cables. They were buried ten feet deep in the wash several years ago (despite warnings from at least one local that the wash wasn't a wise place to bury them).

 Not only were the cables unburied, but some also broke. Apparently these fiber optic cables are not currently being used. I've heard rumors the company went bankrupt after spending millions of dollars on installation for hundreds of miles. I wonder if anyone will fix these cables and rebury them.

 I was fascinated how they came out of the ground and then went back under.

 Next time it was time to park under the elm tree. If you've ever been on this road, have you ever wondered why there's an elm tree growing there?

I never gave it much thought, but I did enjoy the shade of it a few times as a rest stop. Then I was told a story about how it got there:

UDOT needed to shore up the road through Kings Canyon. So they brought in a bunch of old cars, filled them with dirt, and helped stabilize the road. An elm seed sprouted out one of the cars, and the car held enough rain water to allow it to live in the desert.

The bumper washed downstream seemed to substantiate this story. But I wanted to find out more. So we got out and started looking around.

Down in the wash we could see that the culvert was half-filled with sediment.
I didn't see any cars right around there.
But when I walked farther down the wash, I saw something that looked a little out of place. I kept walking.

 Near the orange barrel warning traffic not to get too close to the edge, it looked like the sand bank was not all sand.

 To get there I had to pass another spot where the fiber optic cables were exposed.

 As I got closer, I began to make out what looked like metallic shapes.

 Upon closer inspection, I could see some parts of vehicles just barely peeking out of the sand.

 In some places rusted bumpers peeked out at daylight.

 It was hard to tell exactly what kind of vehicles were in there, but they appeared to still be fairly complete, and they had probably helped save the road above them.

 Just a little bit of a headlight.

 It's hard to know how many vehicles are down there. I sure think they helped!

 As we continued further up the canyon, I noticed a road cut that was fairly narrow. I figured the water was probably several feet high going through there. I saw a glimpse of color and found that the bedrock had been excavated to place the fiber optic cables. That still didn't keep the flood from scouring the narrow gorge.

 'Flood Area' signs had been put up in a couple places in the canyon. I talked with a neighbor who had actually been in the canyon that Saturday. She said that she and her daughter had driven through one place where the water covered the road, but when they got to another, they decided they better not chance it. They watched water come down both sides of the canyon, with rapids in the wash. A truck was stopped near them, but when two motorcycles came, one decided to try and go through the water crossing the road. He made it part way, but then he couldn't keep the bike up, and it fell on its side. The man was okay, but his motorcycle was in a bit of a precarious position. ,His partner parked his bike, waded into the water, and helped pick up the bike. With both of them pushing, they were able to make it to the other side. After a bit the water started lowering, and they walked back through the water and pushed the other motorcycle through the water to the other side. Yikes!

 The road came really close to being washed out in several places. I didn't see any old cars in this section. I wonder if they'll put some in now to help?

 At least five sections of this concrete wall had fallen into the wash. I saw several of them washed many yards downstream. How much water force would it take to move a big concrete barrier so far?

 Another view of the concrete barriers.

 Below one of the huge culverts I found these neat patterns in the mud.

I wanted to look more, but the kids had reached their limit, so we started heading home. The wash adjacent to the road, that was now as big as the road, was a reminder of how powerful these flash floods can be. That used to be a little wash that no one noticed. I'm not sure how much rain fell in that little area, but only ten miles away it was hard to tell that a flash flood had occurred so close.

I would have really liked to have seen that flash flood--from a safe viewing point! We're under a flash flood watch for the next 24 hours, so I may still have a chance to see some powerful water. I just hope it's in an area where no one lives.Out in the desert, flash floods can help restore life, just like avalanches in the mountains can help aspen trees propagate. Flash floods basically allow succession to start once again, and as long as no one gets hurt, they are so fascinating!

An Interesting Walk

 We had so much fun at our beach out in the desert that we went back a couple days later. It was a hot afternoon, and usually I try to keep the kids out of the sun in the middle of the day, but since school was starting soon, it was time to make an exception. We lathered on the sunscreen, found our sun hats, and headed out.

 Big storm clouds loomed in the not-so-distant horizon. We kept a close eye on them, not wanting to be in a large body of water if lightning struck. Maybe it would just feel like a little tingle, but maybe not.

 When the water is high enough, the lake is a reservoir, storing water for irrigation. Gradually, the winter and spring accumulation of water is decreased due to agricultural use and evaporation so that water doesn't even reach the dam outlet.

 The lower water levels mean that there is plenty of sand for everyone. You can also walk out a long way from shore and still only be knee deep in water. During high water, the lake is high enough for my husband and me to flip our 15' Laser multiple times and never have the mast touch bottom. This time of year, it might be hard to find places you can't touch bottom.

 The kids and dogs were having a blast.

 Desert Boy and Sam hanging out in the big float tube.

 After swimming awhile, we decided it was time for an adventure walk. I love adventure walks, as we never quite know what we're going to find. I encouraged Desert Boy to collect some shells for a future craft project (which paid off with a blue ribbon in the fair!).

 This photo is for my friends Kris and Amanda, who love foot shots! Note how our feet are still relatively clean. Not all the sand was so kind to us...

 Just a little ways down the beach we found oozy, gooey mud. If anyone wants some, I'll go back and bottle it for you and sell it to you for $50. I'm sure it's good for your skin.

 Not all was beach. We also found rocks (with fun water lines).

 Ava and Desert Boy kept their shell buckets close.

 The cloud cover had cooled off the rock so it was bearable for walking on bare foot. Or scooting down.

 We did get a little hot on the walk, so we just waded into the lake and cooled off. Then we continued walking. I thought that was so cool.

 Ava had lots of smiles.

 Finally we got to the part of the lake I wanted to get to--the side with lots of California floaters. These are large mussels that are native to the area. They live in the mud, but when they die they float to the surface and the wind pushes them to the edge of the lake. The kids had a great time hunting for them. I managed to forget to take photos of them!

 Desert Girl was so happy sitting in the one-inch deep mud and spreading it on herself.

 Isaac soon joined her.

 Somehow the kids talked Jenny into carrying their shell buckets!

 Maybe it was so they could have a running contest!

On the way back we discovered something interesting--and by Ava's reaction, gross: a catfish head. That's one big catfish! Thinking about it makes me have some second thoughts about swimming in the lake!