This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Monsoon descends after church

It was a beautiful Saturday morning when the Hope family and the Lake family set out to hike down the Grand Canyon to visit Havasupai. After finishing the 12-mile hike and arriving at the campsite a light but constant rain started.

 

Sunday Morning brought blue skies and no sign of rain.  The small camping group went down to the beautiful blue water to wash up for church.  Elise Hope, from San Diego, said, “Someone told me there was an LDS church at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. On the way to the campsite, I checked out this small white church and saw a sign that said ‘The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, services at 11’.” 

Find out what's happening in Rancho Santa Margaritawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 

The church meeting began under the direction of a gentleman from Kingman, Arizona, who regularly flies in by helicopter to run the meeting every Sunday.  Unlike a traditional LDS church, dress was pretty casual for the campers. Upon entering the chapel, the visitors were asked for volunteers to help to prepare the sacrament, setup the chairs, lead the music, play the piano and say the prayers.

Find out what's happening in Rancho Santa Margaritawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 

After church, Penelope Lake said, “the blue skies were gone and storm clouds brought a strong and constant rain.”  “After about five minutes of walking in the mud, it turned from a rainstorm to a monsoon”, says Brace Lake of Portola Hills, California.   He continued, “The water came down in sheets while people scampered for somewhere to stay dry. There just wasn’t anywhere to go until we reached the village. Once there we spotted the closed café with a large long overhang.”  While waiting, the campers watched the chocolate colored waterfalls converge on the small Indian village. 

 

Once the rain took a break, the campers ventured two miles back to the campsite.  Upon inspection, the rain fly on a few of the tents were blown sideways letting in about an inch of water, which drenched towels, clothes and food.  Some stayed in the damp tents playing games and reading books, waiting for the rain to stop. Then came the evacuation horn telling all campers to pack up and leave immediately. 

 

On the way to the village the small group evacuated, dressed in “Hefty garbage bag shirts”.  The once peaceful blue waterfall was now an avalanche of brown crashing muddy water.  The steep village trail that was once well marked was now a mess of rock and mud filled with campers trying to get out.  After a 2-mile hike up the steep muddy trails the campers made it to the Supai lodge.  Hundreds of evacuated campers waited together for hours to hear news of what would happen next.  After the wait, Stewart, the Supai tourist supervisor, came out to give directions to the refugees on how to get food, water, and helicopter rides.  $85 Helicopter rides would be offered in order on a list ten pages long and rides would begin Monday morning.

 

Brace Lake from Portola Hills, California decided he might be able to talk one of the local leaders of the LDS church to open up the church rather than stay in the gym with the other hundreds of stranded campers.  After a one-hour absence, Mr. Lake returned to his family and camping group to inform them they had just received permission to use the church to spend the night.  So with the same 17 members that attended church that morning, the group headed out to walk to the small white church.  All were smiles when they arrived to find that the church not only offered privacy but a stove, sink, fridge, washer, dryer, bathroom and most importantly a shower.

 

Monday morning the men headed out at 6:45 to get updates on the evacuation. The most refreshing news was the campers would be able to return to the campsite to pack up their supplies for the mules to bring back to the village.  The Supai tourist office would fly the supplies out on the helicopter since the trail out was too dangerous for the horses. The not so good news was that the Lake family was on page 6 of the helicopter rides.  After several questions, Stewart told Mr. Lake, “The helicopter company is closed on Tuesday and Wednesday so if you miss the ride on Monday you won’t get out until Thursday.”  Mr. Lake went back to his family to tell them plans had changed and they were hiking out.  Mom, Dad, and their 15 year-old daughter, Penelope, set out on the monsoon destroyed trail to head toward the top of the Grand Canyon. Out of the hundreds of stranded campers, the Lake family of three was three out of seven that chose to hike out rather than risk missing the helicopter.  The first three miles were precarious and it was almost impossible to see where the trail had ever been.  New rivers and mud covered every step.  Mr. Lake explains, “At the end of those few miles we saw a few Indians burning a horse that had been killed in the monsoon on Sunday. Later on the trail we saw blood on the rocks where some horses had obviously struggled.” 

 

The next few miles were filled with rocks strewn over the trails so there was no casual walking.  We met Clifton, an Indian guide, along the way and he said, “I don’t want to rush you, but you really shouldn’t stop until you make it out into the open part of the valley.  We are expecting the second Monsoon and the flash flood would leave you no place to go.”  That kept the Lake’s pace up and the breaks to a minimum.  The last part of the trail was 1-2 miles of switchbacks and the monsoon had really taken a toll on the path.  What was once a little bit difficult was now precarious with every step.  With the top in view, it started to sprinkle but it was so hot it was a relief to the small family.  After finding their four bags near the helicopter landing, the Lake family got in the car, relieved to be dry.  A short 15 minutes after being in the car, the second monsoon hit, and the Lake family could barely see through the windshield.  From the perspective of an enclosed car, the monsoon was just an interesting view after such a crazy adventure.

Funny Text Message Exchange During Evacuation

http://adventuresofgrandmahoney.blogspot.com/2013/09/and-to-think-i-slept-through-all-of-this.html

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?