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Westwater flash flood

5K views 18 replies 12 participants last post by  yesimapirate 
#1 ·
#12 ·
So do you have a contact for this elusive fellow? I love his black and white work on his website but there is no contact for him at all. Anywhere on the website except for to sign up for his newsletter or blog which I don't want to do.

The prints are beautiful and reasonably priced. It might work for my gallery.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Wow. That's another beautiful example of "The Dynamic Earth."

Thanks for posting that Logan. I did a spring trip years ago and Little D had flashed sometime in the previous month or so, leaving a scour line about 10 feet vertically above the bottom of the creek. I did a back of the envelope calculation and came up with a discharge of about 3,000 - 5,000 cfs during the flash flood. Here's a snapshot of the Little D drainage looking downstream, the guys in white shirts are standing on the scour line.
 
#6 ·
Our flash flood adventure...

My first time on Westwater I had a similar experience...We put on at around 6K cfs and ended up running the rapids at an estimated 12K cfs...

Us first timers were worried about running the rapids for the first time. I've got to say that the rapids were somewhat mild compared to watching 1-2' diameter boulders crashing down around us...My buddy was pulling softball sized rocks out of the bottom of his boat at the takeout!

Rock Formation Geological phenomenon Geology Outcrop
 
#9 ·
This is immediately below the last small waves below last chance river left. You wouldn't think to look for it when it's dry. Anyone know the wash this comes from?

There was also a river of water coming in from that wash below the Putin and a pretty cool waterfall right above sock it to me. Not to mention small cascading falls throughout the canyon. One of the most surreal canyon experiences I've had especially since the sun came out at the end. Just for kicks we paddled into the falls and it was 80% sand coming down.

Anyone have any other desert flash pics or videos?
 
#16 ·
"Good thing it wasn't 5% boulders! Something to keep in mind next time..."

Yeah, we definitely didn't paddle into or near that main flow for that reason. There is a curtain of water being funneled by a crack in the rock with an overhang for protection. If you look closely at the second picture I posted, I'm in there behind that curtain. Still probably solid advice to avoid these types of flows in general.
 
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