The water started turning muddy red around dinner time on Saturday
Looking down into the canyon by the Mooney Falls
Mooney Falls
The green picnic table is buried somewhere underneath the mud and wood (last campsite by the Mooney Falls)
Our campsite (closest site to the Mooney falls)
This is from the cliff above the cemetery where we had to camp from about 3:30 - 5:30 AM. To the lower left is where the trail got washed out and the bridges destroyed.
This is Havasupai Falls at about 6:00 AM. You can see how much it is gushing and raging with water and how all the pools are completely submerged.
This is a cliff-top view of where the bridges had been.
We were told at noon that the Blackhawk choppers were on their way to get us and we needed to make a line by the landing field. The line stretches all the way down the fence. We stood out there, in the sun, for almost 2 hours before the first chopper even landed.
The broken trail leading up to the cemetery decent. It was washed out in several places but we were able to get all the way down to the cemetery (on the opposite side of the river from it anyway). All the signs posted near here said, "Warning: Unstable ground." We laughed at that.
Even though there was already a canyon here, the dirt was washed out all the way up to this fence post from the dirt below being washed away.
That is the cemetery in the upper left side of the photo. The water had been running thru this spot when we were in the cemetery.
This is where people took refuge when the rangers ran by yelling, "Flash Flood!" -JK
This is a morning after shot after people got up. -JK
This is a bridge to the lower village. Notice how some of those twigs are above the bridge. The water mark was between the middle and top rung. -JK
This is Sunday evening. This used to be the path out of the canyon. Notice how the water is still there. -JK
This is one of the villagers huts in the lower village. He slept there the entire night. He had a new washing machine. -JK
Arizona search and rescue helicopter. This and the black copter with red flames (commercial) can be seen frequently at Havasupai.
A blackhawk landing. Monday morning. -JK
Waiting around to be rescued by the Mooney Falls
A view from where we had made our second flood camp. Sunday morning. To the left is the path out of the canyon. -JK
Path to the village about a quarter mile from the city square. - JK
Mooney falls around 6am on Sunday
Here is John again with the new 30 foot waterfall at the top of the new canyon in the background. This is the water that used to flow over Navajo Falls. It was almost completely dry when we went by it. We tried to get a pic but there were too many trees.
We were some of the "volunteers" who got stuck in the Village for Sunday night. We hiked back down the trail as far as we could and were AMAZED at the destruction. You can see at the top of this new canyon where the land and tree line USED to be. This is my husband John Gray.
Another view of the new canyon. We liked the limestone outcropping to the right.
Some of the destruction of the valley just before where Navajo Falls used to lie. -JK
Another shot of the new canyon that used to be the 6 foot wide stream the gently flowed next to the path. The new waterfall is at the top and there is a second, smaller one in the middle of the photo.
