Ouray Trip - High Mountain Flash Floods
Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 10:04 pm
I am in Ouray Colorado / San Juans this week. We had one hell of an experience today..
Today we headed up Engineers Pass up to Engineers Mountain - then back down. At the Y some went onward to Animas Forks and our group decided to run Engineers Pass back to Highway 550. On the way back we made a detour to run a section of Poughkeepsie up to the climb. On exit of Poughkeepsie, a storm was just beginning to show its violence.
From the branch back to the Breen Mine rain was heavy - and then as we transversed the canyon shelf road the rain came down in buckets. I was lead, baja'ing down into the lower switchbacks less than a mile from the main road. At the first switch I saw a firehose of mud rolling across the turn - but still driveable. By the time my tailgunner passed the location he yelled that the mountain was coming down - and to roll fast. I got around the next switch and came up on the section below. There a torrent of mud water was racing across the trail. I may have decided to gun it - but the mountain was exploding so fast. Large boulders and trees appeared in the flash flood and it was all I could do to back up. The mountain was coming down.... in several sections.
We did the right thing - made sure the group was safe. We had water and food and clothing. We had others in our group from the Animas Forks side who heard the frantic radio calls and rallied vehicles to get us back to town. We'll get the vehicles tomorrow once Colorado DOT recovers the road. Engineers Pass is a mess tonight. As a note, one of the Animas Forks group did have rocks fall from the cliffs and damage his rig as he made is way back to Ouray on the 550 - he said it was raining rock.
For reference - http://tinyurl.com/2damxzh A: Where the flooding was first noticed - B: Where the mountain fell... and at several other places.
So there - a note to everyone - stay safe - and remember - you can always recover, repair, replace your vehicle. Dont push it.
Today we headed up Engineers Pass up to Engineers Mountain - then back down. At the Y some went onward to Animas Forks and our group decided to run Engineers Pass back to Highway 550. On the way back we made a detour to run a section of Poughkeepsie up to the climb. On exit of Poughkeepsie, a storm was just beginning to show its violence.
From the branch back to the Breen Mine rain was heavy - and then as we transversed the canyon shelf road the rain came down in buckets. I was lead, baja'ing down into the lower switchbacks less than a mile from the main road. At the first switch I saw a firehose of mud rolling across the turn - but still driveable. By the time my tailgunner passed the location he yelled that the mountain was coming down - and to roll fast. I got around the next switch and came up on the section below. There a torrent of mud water was racing across the trail. I may have decided to gun it - but the mountain was exploding so fast. Large boulders and trees appeared in the flash flood and it was all I could do to back up. The mountain was coming down.... in several sections.
We did the right thing - made sure the group was safe. We had water and food and clothing. We had others in our group from the Animas Forks side who heard the frantic radio calls and rallied vehicles to get us back to town. We'll get the vehicles tomorrow once Colorado DOT recovers the road. Engineers Pass is a mess tonight. As a note, one of the Animas Forks group did have rocks fall from the cliffs and damage his rig as he made is way back to Ouray on the 550 - he said it was raining rock.
For reference - http://tinyurl.com/2damxzh A: Where the flooding was first noticed - B: Where the mountain fell... and at several other places.
So there - a note to everyone - stay safe - and remember - you can always recover, repair, replace your vehicle. Dont push it.
I'm kind of a weather nut and would love to see something like this up close... I'm envious.
