What happens when a space that has been submerged under up to 50 feet of water for the better part of the last century re-emerges? With a rapidly declining water level lake powell, I decided it was time to make the best of this "mega-draught" and see if the river had returned.
It has.
The quick overnight wasnt necessarily the most scenic but it was cetainly unique, floating through rapids created by the degrading silt of the former lake. With a few months having gone by, i would bet this stretch of river has already changed significantly since we saw it. I look forward to making more lemonade out of the lemons that are this mega-drought and exploring further downstream as the lake level continues to drop.
We put in at the North Wash take-out- what once was a lake with floating bathrooms has now had a boat ramp rebuilt a few times as the water level recedes, it was mid febuary and the place was a ghost town.
From here, 9 miles of new river would take us to the confluence with Trachyte creek, where we would take out and walk back to the road. The river portion was interesting, springs abound everywhere, the rock having had 50 years to absorb water that was now pouring out of every hole and crevice. Several rapids were present, forming as the river cut through lake-silt, something that was a bit new for me to see bt led to fun water. At our take out, we found thick layers of silt, in some places at least 15+ feet deep with 5 foot deep contraction cracks creating strange clay columns. We even found an old boat anchor! Unfortunately Cattle have definitely found the area as well for grazing, we had a bit of a debacle trying to get around a small herd of them in the narrow confines of the canyon, luckily before it got really narrow i was able to run around ahead of them and herd them back behind the rest of the group.
This Anchor is a long way from the lake these days.
Cut banks way overhead and trachyte is still working its way down to where it used to be.
