Anyone who’s ever driven in the desert has seen these Warning Signs, and most of the time they have completely ignored them. After all, it never rains in the desert. You can tell just by looking around. There’s not a drop of water anywhere to be seen. The washes are all bone dry, and check out the plants. The scraggy few that are scattered around struggling to grow out of the barren sand look like they haven’t had a drink in years. Flash flood, yeah right!
Well folks, it might not rain much in the desert and there may not be water in those washes very often but when there is, you had better not be in the way because it can easily kill you. A lot of the time there won’t be any warning plus, it doesn’t even have to be raining where you are. One minute you’re under blue skies in a dry wash minding your own business and in the next you’re in a violent deluge fighting for your very life. In fact, most flash floods originate far away and high up in the mountains where it rains either so much or so hard in a short period of time that the land doesn’t have time or simply can’t absorb the volume of water falling upon it. When the water reaches the desert, the sand instead of soaking it up, locks itself together to form a substance as impervious to liquid as concrete. A wall of water then whooshes down the canyons at astonishing speeds taking with it anything in its path. Also, it becomes more than just water. It’s sand and dirt, cactus and bushes, pebbles and rocks, even boulders come crashing down the washes in a churning tumbling thick muddy brown liquid that sounds like a freight train as it passes. The flash floods themselves usually last only a few of minutes. Although after they’ve passed there may be a fast flowing river in the washes for hours, and when the waters have finally subsided the desert is changed.
Living in the desert I’ve witnessed a few of those raging torrents as they roar down the washes and I am always impressed by the power of such an awesome spectacle. Most of the time it’s just that since the desert is all but empty of people. However, every now and then some folks will simply ignore the warning signs the desert is giving them and end up in serious trouble.
Old Ed, along with George, Paul, my true love Kelly and I, plus a few other’s, are denizens at the hot springs where we are spending the winter. He’s called Old Ed because he is over 70 years old. He’s been coming out to the hot pools for years living in his campervan that he has fixed up real nice inside and keeps well maintained outside. This morning Ed determined he was running kind of low on supplies and since he hadn’t checked his mail for a few days decided it was time to make a trip to the store. He packed everything up and headed for town. It has been a fairly wet winter this year, which in desert parlance means it had rained hard several times this month and in the last few days it had poured a couple of times, but today was pretty nice. Mostly sunny with some clouds and a little wind with the temp’s in the low 70’s. Not bad for the middle of January.
Some hours later a bunch of us are sitting in the hot pools when we hear the loud roar of rushing water coming down the washes and know exactly what it is. However, with us is a young couple, who arrived late last night and are camping out here for the weekend. They ask us what in the hell is that noise.
George tells them then says to the rest of us, “Let’s got check it out.” because it’s always a sight to see.
We all get out of the hot pool and walk over to the big wash. The big wash is between the hot spring and the paved road a mile away. It’s called the big wash because it’s over 300 feet across. There’s been quite a few times that, after a flash flood, we’ve been stuck here until the water recedes and the mud dries up. Sometimes it’s been for days. Then we’ll have to do a little shovel work on the banks making the road passable again. When we get to the big wash we can hardly believe our eyes. There’s Old Ed standing on top of his van which is halfway across the wash and is surrounded up to its windows in dark rushing water.
We holler at Ed. Is he all right?
Ed looks at the torrent surging around him and just shrugs. There’s nothing either he or we can do but watch hoping that his van stays where it is and the water doesn’t get any higher or faster washing it, along with him, away. The young couple see this, look at each other then shout, “Oh no! Our stuff!” They go running towards their camp.
We don’t pay them any mind, we’re worried about Ed. Luckily, the flow starts to decrease and 20 minutes later it’s become just a wide shallow stream. We wade through it to help Old Ed down off the roof. The vehicle on the outside is buried halfway up to it’s windows in rock and mud. We look in the windows and see the inside is full of mud too. The van is probably totaled. Old Ed is extremely upset. How could the happen! When he started across the wash there wasn’t more that 4 inches of water flowing through it.
Instead of giving him any sympathy, George tells him, “Why, ya damn fool, how could ya be so stupid as to try and cross a wash with any water flowing in it. You’ve been out here long enough. You shoulda known better.”
The rest of us agree.
This of course, only makes Ed angrier. He cusses us as he gets a shovel out of his van and starts digging. It don’t do too much good since it’s still so wet that every shovel full he digs out is replaced with more mud.
We tell him to wait until it dries out a little but he just tells us to fuck off. We all head back over to the pools.
As we’re sitting in the hot water discussing the foolishness of Old Ed, the young couple comes over and, with the girl crying and the guy looking like he’s in shock, tell us that their whole camp including their car, a 4WD Subaru, and their 2 ATC’s have washed away.
We ask where were they camped.
They tell us in the next wash over.
The next wash is a much smaller one, only maybe only 20 feet across with real high steep banks so the wall of water that tears through it is always higher and faster. We tell them they were very lucky to have been in the hot pools with us when the flash flood happened or else they would have been killed for sure.
They say they don’t know what to do.
Paul offers them a ride to a phone but they say, “What about our things?”
George tells them they can follow the wash looking for their stuff but it’s probably gone.
They talk among themselves then head back towards the wash.
Old Ed, dragging his shovel, comes up to the pools, takes off his muddy clothes and gets in. He looks to be in shock too. In a calm voice he tells us, “There was only a little water in that wash so I though it’d be okay to cross. But half way across I heard a rumbling. I looked out and saw a wall of water coming right at me. So I crawled out my window and got atop my van. When that water hit the van shook and started to move, I thought she’d tip over then I was gonna drown. Oh God! My poor van.”
We try to console him but he just sits there staring.
Hours later the couple comes walking back up to the pools. They tell us they found their car wrecked a quarter mile down the wash. A mile further they found one of the ATC’s. A little further, the other one. Two miles down the wash they found the small trailer they used to haul their ATC’s and their camping gear. They found some of their camping things scattered along the way but it was all destroyed and unusable. They tell Paul they’ll take that ride to a phone now. They, alone with some of their friends and a tow truck, came back the next day to try and salvage their things but most of it was to busted up to save.
It took Old Ed, with the help of others, days to dig his van out of the mud then more days to clean it up inside and out. He ended up having to replace the engine along with all its accessories, the transmission and the rear end, plus he had to redo the entire the interior. We all though he was nuts. He could have purchased another van for a lot less than it cost to fix up his old one but he told us, “It wasn’t the van’s fault. It was mine, so the least I can do is fix her up.”
The desert is an unforgiving place. If you don’t respect her and follow her rules you can very easily end up dead. Always carry twice as much drinking water as you think you will need and always wear a hat. If you hike, bike or buggy let someone know what area you’re going to be in. In a car, always carry a shovel. If you get lost, stay in the shade in the day then build a big fire at night, some body will see it. And if you see a wash with water flowing in it, treat it like a railroad crossing. Stop, Look Up The Wash And Listen. If it’s safe, only then proceed across at speed. You certainly don’t want to get hurt because the desert is truly one of the most majickal places on the face of this marvelous earth. Why, just look around you. There’s all the immensity of that wonder and beauty surrounding you.