First Hand Account, Flash Flood....

[GloryDaze]

In the interest of full disclosure, the hardest part was deciding "what is high enough" to have as a retreat area. We didn't feel like trekking 20' up a bank but knew having no height was a bad idea.

We ended up on a gravel bar that was probably 3' above normal rivers level. But there was an immediate bank behind us that was probably another 6' high. In theory, that gave us a Max rise of 9-10' before we were climbing trees. Not knowing how high the river could rise could have easily put us in a bind. The biggest fear we had was getting another 2-4" of rain the second night. If that happened there was a good chance we were climbing the trees.

I guess in all reality the decision was made based off experience on the river, understanding rivers flood habits and a good old fashioned educated guess.

We also learned just how easy it would be for a casual floater to not take their escape plan into consideration. They could easily be amazed at the view of the big bluff next to them, which of course is a death zone. Etc, etc.....

That's scary about the boat around Mt Hershey. Hard to imagine what folks like that are thinking.

[ollie]

Glad you are safe. I've experienced that once before down on the Little Mo, but we were at a campground and were able to get out before the real damage begun. Sounds like you guys used some good 'ol common sense!