the culprit

 Saturday morning was pretty as well.  After seeing the destruction Millcreek had caused in town, I was curious to see how the creek itself had fared.  Milton and I got a fairly early start, pulling into the Millcreek parking lot with only one other car ahead of us.

Looking at the confluence of the left- and right-hand canyons

We went up the rim trail and this time actually found a trail that went right along the rim of the right-hand canyon; when H, Milton and I had done this before, we followed an old jeep road more away from the rim until we found the trail that led down into the canyon.  We met several other people hiking with their dogs but Milton was more interested in the fact that the lizards were beginning to stir as the sun got stronger.

Cool formation on the rim

View of the La Sals from the Millcreek Canyon rim

We took the trail that dropped us into the canyon and as soon as we got down to creek level, everything was very wet and muddy.  The water had receded such that although it was running quite high, it was back within its banks, although in places it had moved those banks of its own accord.  There were tons of raccoon tracks in there, no doubt taking advantage of any edible critters left stranded as the waters fell back.

Debris field

Newly cleared cobblestones

We stopped just before we got to what we call the beaver glade (where the trees have been protected from beavers with chicken wire) and the creek was completely different: broader and lined with excavated cobblestones.  We went back down canyon on the other side of the creek; at the higher points, you could see just how wide the floodwaters had gone.  Down lower, as the creek emerged from the canyon, the flood damage didn't seem as destructive, but all the small trees lining the banks had been laid over and were covered with mud.  The creek itself looked like iced coffee now: less thick than it had looked on Friday.

All the cowboy hot tubs are under there somewhere

That's a good boy right there

post deluge

As we drove into Moab on the evening of Thursday August 11th, we were heading straight into the center of the storm.  The lightning was like nothing we'd ever seen - multiple strikes, cloud-to-ground and cloud-to-cloud, and I saw a fireball when one strike hit the cliff wall in the Portal area.  When we got to Main Street, it was under about a foot of water between Center Street and 100 South.  We turned up 100 South, going towards 400 East, which is slightly uphill of Main Street, and 100 South was a shallow river from the runoff coursing off the cliffs on the east side of town.  Once we got past Dave's Market, we were high enough that water wasn't covering the road anymore, but the storm raged on for a while.

Water water everywhere

In the morning, it was beautiful.  I had been thinking of going up to the La Sals for a hike since it had been a while (didn't go last summer due to the wildfire) but with all that rain, I wasn't sure what shape the roads would be in.  So Milton and I headed out to Moab Brand Trails instead, for a short hike.  We did the parking lot cutoff to left on Bar M, to Circle O, right on Bar M to the Copper Ridge Road and back out via the cutoff.  I figured that there'd be plenty of water in the potholes on Circle O for Milton and boy was I right: anything that could hold water did hold water, and we even found a couple of spots that were deep enough for him to swim, not just wade.

Copper Ridge Road

Back at the car, we chatted for some time with Kevin, a Moab trail ambassador.  This is a relatively new program, stationing people at the most popular trailheads to educate users about the trails, the desert environment and trail etiquette.  He was a little bored - it wasn't that busy - so he stayed and talked until some new vehicles pulled into the parking lot.

Funky clouds over the La Sals

That afternoon, we walked into town to grab a beer at Woody's, leaving a little early to check out the flood damage (little did we know that two weeks later there would be much, much more).  Millcreek had jumped its banks and rerouted itself near the bike path that we often walk Milton on in the evenings; the bike path tunnel under 400 East near the Youth Garden Project was full of water and debris; and the creek had encroached somewhat into the YGP.

Millcreek, wider and broader

Bike path tunnel

Main channel (wider and straighter) plus spillover

Past the high school and middle school, on the Millcreek parkway path, the little in-town campground had been slightly flooded, although campers were still perched on the east side, out of the mud (again, in the next flood, this campground would be completely inundated).  The 200 South bridge was nearly choked with debris and the bike path was blocked off.  On the other side, sand and mud covered part of the bike path and the creek was raging.  It looked like chocolate milk.

200 South bridge over the creek

The new bike park, on the north side of the creek, was covered with a layer of sticky mud and the walkway along the creek was choked with flood debris, showing just how high the waters had risen.  You could see where they'd shoveled sand and mud from the stairway up to Main Street.  It was a mess (and would be even more of a mess two weeks later).  Woody's was open.  We asked the bartender about the storm and she said that the bar owner had been very nervous, seeing how the building is right on the banks of the creek.  The bar was still standing and the beer was still cold, so all was right in the world.

Flood debris on the walkway

floodlands

 I'm terribly behind in posting: apologies for that and I'll definitely get caught up this weekend.  We were last down in Moab on August 11 - driving into town in the most amazing lightning storm and experiencing the smaller of the two floods firsthand.  But more recently, on August 20, Moab was caught in a massive flood that brought Millcreek, which flows right through the center of town, right out of its banks and over bridges, wiping out the Up the Creek Campground (gofundme here) and, at one point, having a greater flow than the Colorado River.  The creek completely redirected its course in several spots and inundated the Youth Garden Project, among other businesses and homes.  At one point there was three feet of water flowing down Main Street, completely swamping Dewey's and the Moab Kitchen (gofundme here) and pinning a passenger car against a lamppost.  Amazingly, the Back of Beyond bookstore employee had the wherewithal to sandbag the doors as the water came down the street and they only got some mud on the floor, no books damaged.  The Millcreek Parkway bike path, recently completely, is a wreck.  And while we've reached out to friends and neighbors to see how they made out (all okay, thankfully), we have been unable to find out how Woody's, our regular bar, fared: built right on the creek's bank, it has the potential for disaster.

Here's a video taken of downtown the next day.  The damage is unreal.  Amazingly, the storm was so localized that friends of ours who were camping up the Colorado River along Route 128, about ten miles from town, didn't even know there had been a storm.  Stay safe out there, everyone.  Back to regular programming in our next post.

csa summer (part 3)

 Week 5: corn on the cob, rainbow carrots, cherries, blackberries, raspberries, green beans, beets.  Roasted the beets, ate the corn and beans right away, devoured the blackberries and cherries, put the very fragile raspberries in oatmeal.

Week 6: corn on the cob, green peppers, jalapenos, nectarines, garlic, carrots, green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, nectarines, tomatillos.  Ate the corn and beans ASAP, made carrot top pesto, chunked up the tomatillos and jalapenos to make a salsa verde.  And just LOOK at that watermelon!!! Best watermelon we've ever eaten!

Week 7: corn on the cob, watermelon, tomatoes, peaches, nectarines, green pepper, cucumbers, zucchini, eggplant, jalapenos, anaheim peppers and serrano peppers.  Ate the corn right way, made baba ganoush from the eggplant, put all the peppers into a veganized Nigerian asun ("peppered goat").  Epic watermelon again.

breaking in

 Monsoon season has finally gotten down to it in northern Utah: on Saturday, we got a great midday full of rain, where the humidity skyrocketed and the temperatures plummeted.  It was delightful.  And when we got up Sunday morning, it was still fairly cool as we headed off for another Millcreek Canyon hike with the dog: returning to Grandeur Peak.

Sulfur buckwheat

We weren't quite as early to start this time but still, despite the popularity of the Grandeur Peak trail, we saw just a handful of people on our way up: three trail runners, one dog and one hiker who were on their way down already, and a couple with a dog who we passed on their way up.  On our way back down, the floodgates had opened and there were lots of hikers, runners and dogs pushing for the summit.  Milton did great, listening well to H and staying close, and not paying much attention to any of the other dogs.  He did tend to stop right in the middle of the trail as hikers approached, staring them down; people just laughed and one girl asked if he was the official greeter.

At the summit, waiting for snacks

Make no mistake, though, this trail is UP.  I have such a mental block in my head about Millcreek Canyon, that it somehow has easier hiking than the Cottonwood Canyons because it's a smaller canyon.  But it is precisely because it is smaller that Millcreek Canyon's trails are so tough: they are steep.  Grandeur Peak has a lot of switchbacks - most shaded, at least for the bottom half of the trail - but there are some very steep sections as well.  That last push from the saddle to the peak is brutal.  And because there are so many trees (and because it had rained and rained the day before), it was super humid.

New boots: I am going to get these filthy

I was breaking in brand new boots: Topo Trailventure 2s, purchased two days prior at REI.  It was a successful outing: they're super light with wide toe boxes and thick soles, like trail runners with more padding and protection.  I was a little concerned that the treads weren't robust enough (I am very hard on shoes for some reason) but they gripped the steep dirt and rocks well.  I love the bright, crazy colors too - although I suspect they won't stay bright for too long.

Millcreek Canyon is the only place we've 

seen rattlesnakes so far (but not today)

Hike stats: 6.37 miles; 2.36 hours/2.4 m.p.h. moving; 3:13 hrs./2.0 m.p.h. overall; 2,450' elevation

odd days are off-leash days

Milton really wanted to go on a hike so we decided to take advantage of the odd-numbered days are off-leash days situation in Millcreek Canyon.  To get ahead of the heat, we left the house around 6:30 a.m.; this also meant we got ahead of most everyone else.  Our route was: park just below the road up to Terraces, walk down the road to Burch Hollow to access the Pipeline trail, walk up the canyon on the Pipeline trail to Elbow Fork, take the trail from Elbow Fork back down to Terraces.  I was sure that there would be hordes of people but we only saw two runners, sixteen hikers, six dogs and a moose.

Fireweed: starts blooming at the bottom and

when it gets to the top, summer is over

This loop, at this time of day, is almost entirely shaded, which was just delightful.  I also forget how many switchbacks there are from Burch Hollow to where Pipeline levels off, but the footing is easy and we made quick work of it.  Milton was thrilled to be off-leash and was minding H quite well: H would call him back from running ahead and M not only listened to him, but got in line walking behind him.  He said hello to the other dogs but really didn't care about them, too focused on being out on the trail, I guess.

Here is a moose's butt

There were quite a few vehicles parked at Elbow Fork, but once we crossed the creek and started climbing up to the ridge, we saw only a handful of people.  There is some sustained climbing but in the shade it wasn't bad and a lot of the trail is soft with packed pine needles.  Just as we started to descend towards Terraces, H spied a young bull moose in a clearing below us.  I'm sure the moose knew we were there but he was completely unconcerned, far too busy stuffing his face with delicious leaves.  It's been a while since we've seen any moose so we watched him for a while before continuing on our way.

Wading

There was good access to the creek where we parked: after changing shoes and t-shirts, we grabbed the cooler and found a shady place to drink a beer and have a snack whilst soaking our feet in the cold, cold water.  It was very pleasant - the whole morning had been, actually.

Hike stats: 6.22 miles; 2:11 hours / 2.8 m.p.h. moving average; 2:30 / 2.5 overall; 1,380' elevation

the rest of it

 I'm going to lump the rest of our Pioneer Day long weekend in Moab into this one post: because we didn't take hardly any photos because we didn't cover any new ground.

Saturday: It didn't cool off much overnight due to the cloud cover so it was already 90F at 6:30 a.m. when we left to MTB at Moab Brand Trails.  However, also due to the cloud cover, that 90F seemed pretty temperate and pleasant since the sun wasn't beating down on us.  We got some sprinkles of rain as we were heading out, and there were multiple rainbows all around us.  We were the first people there and didn't see anyone else out on the trail for the first 1.5 hours.  It felt really good to be riding again - it had been since May(!?) - I felt strong but a little wobbly until I remembered how to do what I was doing.  We did our usual 12.6 mile loop and then H went out for a 20.8 mile road ride when we got done.

Moody Millcreek

Sunday:  Overcast and cooler for sure on Sunday (mid 70s F), with off and on sprinkles all morning.  H rode 38 road miles; Milton and I hiked Millcreek Canyon.  It was super humid (for the desert) and there were not many people at all.  The creek was lower but still flowing and Milton took full advantage for wading.

Monday:  We returned to Moab Brand Trails Monday mornng, not wanting to drive any further with gas prices still so high.  The light was not as gorgeous as it had been on Saturday but there were very few people in attendance, even with our later start.

up the creek, so to speak

We got back to Moab for the long holiday weekend (local, Utah holiday: Pioneer Day, July 24, known to the non-Mormons as Pie-and-Beer Day), putting in extra time so as to be able to take Friday off too.  We like being able to go down Thursday evening as the traffic is much less intense than it is on Fridays.  We took the MTBs down with us which necessitated taking the truck - we haven't going MTBing at all in Park City this summer due to the wicked high gas prices - and Milton was so happy to be snuggled up with us on the bench seat instead of stashed in the back of the Subaru.

This was under a foot of fast-flowing water in May

It was stupid-hot on Friday (108F) so we made a point to get up and get out early.  H wanted to do a longer road ride (30.5 miles) so I asked him to back the truck out (there's a long narrow alley with people parked along the sides and while I'm okay driving the truck forward, I am not comfortable reversing down an obstacle course like that) so Milton and I could do a hike.  I didn't want to drive far, nor did I want to take the elderly truck off pavement too much, so that ruled out the La Sals, where it would be lovely and cool.  I decided to do Kane Creek again: even if the water was down from May when we did it before, it would still be shady this early in the day.

It's a "creek"

"Even if the water was down" - hahahahaha!  I was shocked to see that there was NO water in Kane Creek at all, just sporadic stagnant puddles.  There was a fair amount of wet - and very slippery - mud, which led me to believe that the water wasn't that long gone, but it was a far cry from our May hike.  It was much quicker walking, not having to wade knee-deep.  It was also kind of stinky, with all the decayed vegetation (and some small critters) exposed by the dry creek.

Found a frog

As we got closer to where we had turned around before, the stagnant pools got bigger and deeper.  And I definitely didn't want either Milton or me to wade through that muck.  We climbed up on the banks and what had been springy and green in May was now sharp, prickly and crunchy.  My legs got quite scratched up and I had to stop several times to pull burrs and assorted thorns out of the dog.

And some decent water, finally

Once we pushed on past where we'd turned around in May, some actual clean, clear water showed up.  There are several springs in the Hunter Canyon area, enough to keep the creek going in this section.  There were tons of tracks in the mud - deer, raccoon, coyote, other - and while I was watching a big ol' bullfrog, Milton amused himself by chasing after who knows what.

We were right down in there

We climbed up onto the Kane Creek Road at Hunter Canyon, then walked back along the road; there was a little bit of traffic (and thus dust) so I had to keep Milton leashed, but my legs were stinging (and bleeding) and I wasn't that eager to walk back through the thorns and murky water in the creekbed. When we got to the 4x4 entrance to Cliffhanger/Amasa Back, we got off the road and back to the MTB trail.  Milt took off after something - a deer, I suspect - and was gone for several minutes; when he got back, he was exhausted - and would spend the rest of the afternoon completely sacked out.  It was getting rather hot and windy but we made time for a snack and a beer at the truck, watching a BASE jumper successfully throw himself off the cliffs, before heading back home.

csa summer (part 2)

Week 3: cherries (even better than the prior week!), zucchini (2), summer squash (1), scallions, apricots, green beans, cantaloupe, corn on the cob (2) and French breakfast radishes (spicy!).  We made: zucchini-kale-scallion "risotto" with orzo; ate the green beans and corn on the first day; froze the summer squash for future smoothies; and froze most of the apricots for future baking.  I see a lot of apricot crumbles ahead in this autumn - yay! 

Week 4: blackberries (as big as my thumb), corn on the cob (4), green beans, red kale, apricots, tiny white onions, beets and cucumbers.  The blackberries were so sweet and the apricots were especially good this week.  We ate all the corn and the beans on the first day; the kale went into a weeknight salad with kidney beans, jolloff rice, pickled radishes and olives; I froze some of the beets for smoothies and quick-pickled the rest with some of the onions; the cucumbers and the rest of the onions got spicy quick-pickled.  I need to start making more smoothies because the freezer is getting full.  Not complaining about that - love having all the options.