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azbackpackr Hi Tech Wizardess
Joined: 31 Dec 2005 Posts: 3639 Location: Needles CA
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Posted: 1/29/2008, 5:24 pm Post subject: Grand Falls Today |
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Today I made a somewhat surreptitious escape from wage slavedom and went to see Grand Falls of the Little Colorado for the first time. It wasn't exactly an Arizona Highways moment when we arrived. I had been led to believe from USGS river data that it might well be at peak performance today, but I was wrong. However, it was running pretty well. We stayed about 15 minutes. It was freezing cold and windy. So we did the tourist thing, took photos and left! As for the drive there, triplogs on HAZ provided good info, but you need to read all of them. You do want to go on 6910 to get there, as one of the Triploggers says. It isn't a bad road at all. You need to take down all the info, Mile Markers, mileages, etc. We never got lost due to those good directions. Here is a photo, and there are more in the Gallery:
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TrailHappy
Joined: 13 Nov 2007 Posts: 42 Location: YUMA
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Posted: 1/29/2008, 5:32 pm Post subject: Re: Grand Falls Today |
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azbackpackr wrote: |
Today I made a somewhat surreptitious escape from wage slavedom |
You played hooky??? Good girl! Hey, that's a pretty cool looking place! Are there places to hike, when it's not freezing cold and windy, or is it pretty much what you see is what you get? _________________ Petra with a long e... |
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azbackpackr Hi Tech Wizardess
Joined: 31 Dec 2005 Posts: 3639 Location: Needles CA
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Posted: 1/29/2008, 6:07 pm Post subject: |
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Yup, I snuck out of town!
Anyway, Grand Falls is on the Navajo Reservation, so I really don't know what they want you to do or not do. In a lot of areas the Navajos are pretty relaxed about rules, regs and permits. At Grand Falls a lot of people go down a steep trail to get to the falls themselves, and during monsoon if the water isn't too high they play in the muddy water, stand under the falls, etc.
Here's a link to the HAZ write-up. Be sure to read the "14 Triplogs," shown on top of the bar, because the directions given on the first page take you on a very nasty road, whereas if you take 6910, it's not too bad:
http://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=51 |
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wanderingsoul
Joined: 19 Jul 2004 Posts: 2285 Location: Gilbert AZ
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Posted: 1/29/2008, 7:16 pm Post subject: |
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Pretty neat picture Elizabeth with multiple little water falls. _________________ Wanderingsoul (Michelle)
Positive Thinking Is the Spark that Makes Dreams Happen~~~Unknown |
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Cynhikr
Joined: 09 Jan 2003 Posts: 1197 Location: Tempe, AZ.
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Posted: 1/29/2008, 8:13 pm Post subject: |
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L.C. was running (at Cameron, just west of the falls) at about 225 cfs at noon today and ramped down below 200 at 4PM.
However, just before 5 PM it climbed to over 1000 cfs! _________________ "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
---Benjamin Franklin
"I wonder what ole' Ben would've thought of the TSA and photo-radar?" -- cynhikr |
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azbackpackr Hi Tech Wizardess
Joined: 31 Dec 2005 Posts: 3639 Location: Needles CA
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Posted: 1/30/2008, 4:32 am Post subject: |
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Yes, but yesterday it was running at 13,200, according to the data site, at Winslow, just a few miles upstream from the falls.
Now you tell me: Where does all that water go? Is there a big irrigation canal that sucks it off or something? This morning it is 7,000 at Winslow and only about 400 at Cameron. That is not that far a distance and seems unreasonable to think that all that water is just sinking into the ground or evaporating.
At 13,200 those falls would really have been something to see! I wish anyway we could have stayed longer, but hubby just wasn't into it. He was cold and didn't feel well. |
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Shawn I'll sell you map to Lost Dutchman mine!
Joined: 03 Jan 2003 Posts: 2592 Location: Ahwatukee, AZ
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Posted: 1/30/2008, 6:29 am Post subject: |
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There are lots of acquifers to fill up, maybe it is just sinking in. Any hydrologists among us? _________________ The bear went over the mountain to see what he could see. |
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IGO
Joined: 08 Feb 2005 Posts: 4144 Location: Las Vegas
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Posted: 1/30/2008, 6:44 am Post subject: |
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Cool! _________________ "Surely all God's people, however serious or savage, great or small, like to play. Whales and elephants, dancing, humming gnats, and invisibly small mischievous microbes - all are warm with divine radium and must have lots of fun in them." John Muir |
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azbackpackr Hi Tech Wizardess
Joined: 31 Dec 2005 Posts: 3639 Location: Needles CA
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Posted: 1/31/2008, 5:31 am Post subject: |
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I posted on Grand Canyon Private Boaters the same question I asked here: where does all that water go between Winslow and Cameron? No one really seemed to know. The water level spiked at 13,200 at Winslow, but the spike at Cameron was only about 2,000. What happens to all that water in 100+ miles of river? The sheep drink it?
No one seems to know, so far. Maryphyl? Anyone? |
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azbackpackr Hi Tech Wizardess
Joined: 31 Dec 2005 Posts: 3639 Location: Needles CA
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Posted: 2/2/2008, 9:04 am Post subject: |
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I believe the river level at Cameron MAY be a better indication of what is happening at Grand Falls. Today, this morning, it is at close to 4,000, whereas Winslow has dropped to below 1,000. I believe that as the day goes on, Winslow will come up again, due to thawing on the Mogollon Rim, (it is fed in large part by Chevelon Creek and East Clear Creek) and perhaps then Cameron will continue to rise. It seems to be a slow process. Also, with another storm in the forecast, you might look at sometime next week to make your pilgrimage. |
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lzyboy
Joined: 21 Nov 2004 Posts: 201 Location: Mesa
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Posted: 2/2/2008, 10:10 am Post subject: |
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azbackpackr wrote: |
I posted on Grand Canyon Private Boaters the same question I asked here: where does all that water go between Winslow and Cameron? No one really seemed to know. The water level spiked at 13,200 at Winslow, but the spike at Cameron was only about 2,000. What happens to all that water in 100+ miles of river? The sheep drink it?
No one seems to know, so far. Maryphyl? Anyone? |
OK Elizabeth, I'll give it a try... You are correct in that there are about 100 river miles between Winslow and Cameron. There are spots between Leupp and Cameron where that river bottom is nearly a mile wide, but lets just assume it averages between a quarter and a half mile wide for those 100 miles. That gives you 25-50 square miles of mostly sandy river bottom. That's between 16,000 and 32,000 acres. With the river flowing at 13,000cfs for one day, that is about 26,000 acre/feet of water. Now, try this experiment. Build a box, 1 foot X 1 foot X 1 foot, open bottom and top, and go set it on a sandy river bottom somewhere. Now see how many gallons of water it takes to fill the box (7.5 would fill it if it had a bottom). That is why the flow peaked at Winslow on the 28th and here it is the 2nd of Feb and the flow is still going up at Cameron. A good portion of the water going in will eventually come out, just not at the same rate, it has to go thru that big filter first...
pete |
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evenstar
Joined: 03 Jan 2003 Posts: 5548 Location: SCW by way of CA
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Posted: 2/2/2008, 10:14 am Post subject: |
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She can probably do a simulation on her computer! _________________ John Richardson and Richie Rich, El Perro de Playero
http://members.tripod.com/~evenstar/index.html
http://www.arizonahikers.com
When the Man waked up he said, "What is Wild Dog doing here?" And the Woman said, "His name is not Wild Dog anymore, but the First Friend, because he will be our friend for always and always and always. Take him with you when you go hunting."
--Rudyard Kipling, from Just So Stories, 1902 |
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Shawn I'll sell you map to Lost Dutchman mine!
Joined: 03 Jan 2003 Posts: 2592 Location: Ahwatukee, AZ
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Posted: 2/2/2008, 2:28 pm Post subject: |
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You're mean Hooli, really mean. (But that's a good one!) _________________ The bear went over the mountain to see what he could see. |
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evenstar
Joined: 03 Jan 2003 Posts: 5548 Location: SCW by way of CA
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Posted: 2/2/2008, 3:46 pm Post subject: |
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Shawn wrote: |
You're mean Hooli, really mean. (But that's a good one!) |
_________________ John Richardson and Richie Rich, El Perro de Playero
http://members.tripod.com/~evenstar/index.html
http://www.arizonahikers.com
When the Man waked up he said, "What is Wild Dog doing here?" And the Woman said, "His name is not Wild Dog anymore, but the First Friend, because he will be our friend for always and always and always. Take him with you when you go hunting."
--Rudyard Kipling, from Just So Stories, 1902 |
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azbackpackr Hi Tech Wizardess
Joined: 31 Dec 2005 Posts: 3639 Location: Needles CA
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Posted: 2/2/2008, 3:57 pm Post subject: |
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Maryphyl put it in simpler terms when she said (on GCPBA) there are sand dunes, lots of sand. However, she didn't say about the river being so wide. Makes sense.
I'm ignoring Hooli. |
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