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[Paddlegal]

Ya know those little pics on the bottom of your tv screen that say flash flood warning?

this is why

http://www.sonnyradio.com/flashflood.html

[Cowper]

We saw one like that come down a side canyon, the last day we spent in the Grand Canyon on our September, 2007 trip.

It was both scary and cool. Due to the wonders of modern technology, we had about a 30 minute warning it was coming, which was enough to reconsider exactly where and how well we had tied off the rafts, retie them to bigger trees higher up on the bank, and get everyone into safe positions.

Many years earlier, I was on the Buffalo (Steel Creek to Kyles section) for a lazy, low water "company" float with work friends, and experienced a slightly less rapid, but still impressive rise. In less than 15 minutes, the river came up several vertical feet - like maybe 10 feet. After the first couple of minutes, it was like watching a disaster movie. No more canoes came by - only swamped canoes, with their former and now somewhat confused passengers floating beside them, ice chests floating free, and other debris. We carried about a dozen people across the river so they could walk to Kyles; and "rescued" another 20 or so from a mid-river island that used to be a gravel bar, which we were afraid might go under if the river continued to rise. The last several trips were using a head-lamp loaned to me by a ranger. The ranger didn't give any of that "river is closed" discussion that day/evening - he was just glad someone was there who could get the people to safety.

Bottom line, sometimes when Mother Nature wants to turn loose, one of your best options might be to just step back and say, WHOA! CHECK IT OUT!