The Big Flood

Actually there have been many "big floods" -- the one in 1984 took out the mining access road. Local miners George Novak and his son Rocky were there. They told us the mass of brown swirling floodwater came roaring down the canyon, throwing mud high up the walls. Car-sized boulders scraped along the wash. George couldn't hear Rocky talk next to him for the din.

On September 3, 2001, another giant flood scoured Surprise Canyon, changing is appearance overnight. A monsoonal thunderstorm traveled over Death Valley from the east, throwing out lightning bolts and a deluge of local rain, pounding the rooftops of park service residents. The storm cell moved over the Panamint Mountains (above photo), pouring inches of rain into the canyons, including the watershed of Surprise Canyon. Witnesses said it rained here for two hours.

We visited Surprise Canyon three days later, and the scene was unrecognizable. A mass of rock and gravel filled the wash where willows and stream herbs had grown before.

The dirt road to the trailhead was blown out and covered by debris.

A BLM ranger surveys the destroyed road below Chris Wicht Camp.

The BLM gate used to close Surprise Canyon above Chris Wicht Camp was ripped out (placed earlier in 2001 due to environmental concerns with off-roading).

The wrecked gate at the trailhead. George told us it took only 15 seconds for the flood to take it out.

The lower canyon. Riparian vegetation destroyed.

Some willows, cottonwoods, and mesquite trees survived. Others were covered with three feet of cobbles, boulders, and gravel from the flood waters.

The stream dug a new channel through the gravel rock debris. We found no tree frogs or tadpoles. The stream now meanders in a more natural way, corrected from the straight channel created by off-raoders driving in it.

The hiking was tough through the torn-up trees and new boulders.

Amazingly, a few Panamint daisies held onto their cliff habitat with strong roots, getting quite a scouring by the water. They survived.

Partiall buried Arroyo willows.

A larger cottonwood trunk was scraped and ripped by rock debris.

The new sediment will be fertile silt beds for new plant growth in the future.

In the gorge most vegetation was scoured away, and also any sign of off-road 4x4 aids to winching up, such as rock pile "ladders."

The falls through the marble gorge. A new plunge pool formed at the base of the falls.

The yellow mining mucker sitting at the top of the falls (above) was swept like a toy truck almost three miles down the canyon, through the gorge, and buried in rock debris just above Chris Wicht Camp.

 

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