SonoranWanderer 394 Posted August 13, 2022 (edited) What a fun night! The run itself was mostly uneventful, which is a good thing considering the storms in the nearby area. One Jeep arrived late due to weather delays en route but fortunately we were still in radio range, so I pulled out of the caravan and headed back down to the staging area and picked him up and we caught back up to the group just above the first zig-zags. We ultimately made it to the lower parking area, tried to wait out the lighting storm for a while, and decided to head back down without summiting out of an abundance of caution. Despite the heavy rains we could see in the distance and the moderate rain that washed over us at the parking area, the trail remained clean and easy for us to navigate up and down. The staging area was even fairly dry as we aired up around 8:45pm. Then the fun began. While Harquahala itself was spared a direct hit by the storm, nearby areas not so much. Road Crews and law enforcement were in the process of closing Eagle Eye Rd to I10 as the first few jeeps left after airing up. The first few heading towards I10 got through the before (or just as) the closings and before the water got too deep at a few of the southern washes. As the last of us headed out about 9:20, a brief moment of cell service allowed text messages from @Ladybug who with @ob1jeeper had headed north to Aguila to get through telling us they needed help at the first of the two Tiger Wash crossings. Our four vehicles @4x4tographer, @K2man56, @alexshel44, and myself along with @Stacey and Scott who had left just prior and were waiting at a deep wash towards I10, turned north and went to help. We were onsite about 9:35. A local trio on the other side of the wash had been trying to help but were unsuccessful with their truck on pulling the jeep out. Below the about 2-2.5ft fast flowing water was a lot of sand and mud washed over the road by the flash flood. From unflooded pavement to @ob1jeeper's jeep was about 120 or so ft. We setup a two Jeep anchored configuration at the water's edge, pulled the maximum extent of my winch line, added a 30 ft kinetic rope and a tow strap (20ft?) to complete the hookup. Once we got the jeep past the deep sand and mud it was able to drive the rest of the way under its own power. Total time onsite for the rescue crew was about 35 minutes according to my GPS time stamps. While the trio of men were unable to free the Jeep themselves, they were still beyond helpful in rigging line to winch the Jeep out. By 10 after 10pm we were heading south towards I10. While the main work was done the night was not yet over. We had a couple of minor washes to carefully navigate and then we came upon a line of tractor-trailers parked in the road before a flooded section. The flooded area was stagnant, and by the time we got out, walked past all the rigs, someone else in the area had walked the flood and determined was 2ft deep at most with no signs of mud build up. Once @4x4tographer drove across, those big rigs were not going to be sit there and be shown out. They jumped in with us and crossed. By 11pm we had made it to I10. I have a time lapse video of the recovery setup, but apparently my GoPro battery died right was we started to tighten up the rigging. Here is a time lapse of the mountain climb. Note, I had to turn back to go get our late arrival and then we had to play catch-up. And here are a selection of pictures I took: Edited August 14, 2022 by SonoranWanderer 2 2 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SonoranWanderer 394 Posted August 13, 2022 A couple more pictures that wouldn't fit above. 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
4x4tographer 2,531 Posted August 13, 2022 Awesome write up and videos @SonoranWanderer. Appreciate you running point on the recovery and running back to grab our straggler! Certainly a memorable night! Monsoon, lightning, haboob, flash flooding, road closures, cool weather - and of course @Ladybug's famous cookies! Here are some photos I grabbed throughout the run. Thanks to everyone that came out! Some cell phone photos: The meet-up with the storms looming in the background. Our situation while we were near the summit of Harquahala. We opted NOT to be the tallest things around and decided not to go all the way to the top. We enjoyed a lovely rain and lightning storm, some dinner, and of course - cookies for desert! The flood where we had to do a little recovery work. Note the drop off to the right and the rapids. Water was approx knee-deep in the center. Some photos via my camera: Clouds enveloping the summit Mike's YJ, storms and rain in the background. More scenery Some handsome devil out there socializing in some ORP swag! Another cloud-crowned view of Harquahala. Looking back at the line up Looking down at the crew from the switchbacks - Woody out giving a quick spot to Alex. Another line up shot. 5 1 1 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SonoranWanderer 394 Posted August 13, 2022 Always awesome pictures from @4x4tographer. He runs the shows and still gets in the shots! 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
4x4tographer 2,531 Posted August 13, 2022 Just now, SonoranWanderer said: Always awesome pictures from @4x4tographer. He runs the shows and still gets in the shots! We put the "shower" in "Meteor Shower" 😁 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
4x4tographer 2,531 Posted August 13, 2022 31 minutes ago, SonoranWanderer said: Here is a time lapse of the mountain climb. Note, I had to turn back to go get our late arrival and then we had to play catch-up. This Timelapse is absolutely amazing, Woody. Love seeing the weather and lightning moving through. 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dzJeepChic 2,372 Posted August 13, 2022 Thanks for the detailed account of the night's activities @SonoranWanderer! Whew, glad you were there to the rescue! That timelapse reminds me of a recurring dream that I have where I can fly. Great pictures too, @4x4tographer, what an excellent adventure! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stacey and Scott 1,129 Posted August 13, 2022 Hey OP JeepPeeps! Ryan, thanks for leading another great run! This was a new trail for us and as usual, the trail was really fun to run and the location was beautiful...we may not have gotten the Perseids...but there was still excitement aplenty...you sure know how to show a group a good time It's awesome to see so many new folks coming out with OP... to all of you, welcome to the family and we hope to see you all again on the next lap. Here is a link to the pics we got... https://photos.app.goo.gl/xFsYtBxVUXQ1yBce7 Also, here are a couple videos from our dash cam...we had headed south from the meet up site and just a couple miles down the road we came to the first flash flood "puddle", the flow felt pretty strong as we crossed so we stopped to wait on the other side in case anyone had a problem getting across. Then the bat signal went up from @Ladybug back to the north so we turned around and headed back north to help...you all know the story thanks to @SonoranWanderer's great write-up...a perfect example of not only jeep peeps taking care of each other, but how wonderful the people in Arizona are. I never got their names, but they were there for @Ladybug from the begining and even after the calvary had arrived...they stayed and helped till everyone was safely on the road again. Once everyone was rolling again we headed back south. We did pretty well, slowing down on the dips in case of deep water or silt/mud traps, but you can see what happens when a flash flood "puddle" sneaks up on you...when we hit it at pretty much full click Scott's eyes shot to the rear view in time to see @4x4tographer's headlights dive down as he hit his brakes just before hitting the water himself...at least the front of our rig got rinsed off... All in all, plenty of excitement...even without the Perseids... Till next time... Stacey and Scott 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SonoranWanderer 394 Posted August 13, 2022 48 minutes ago, dzJeepChic said: Thanks for the detailed account of the night's activities @SonoranWanderer! Whew, glad you were there to the rescue! That timelapse reminds me of a recurring dream that I have where I can fly. Great pictures too, @4x4tographer, what an excellent adventure! It was very much a team effort! 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
alexshel44 48 Posted August 13, 2022 Here's a couple more pictures I got. 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
