A Walk in a Wash

Karen L. Monsen

by Karen L. Monsen

As temperatures cool and students return to school, a walk through a wash can sharpen observation skills and lead to a greater understanding of and appreciation for our place in nature. The Outdoor Leadership Academy (OLA), supported by the National Park Service, Dixie State University, and community organizations, was formed to introduce youth to nature’s outdoor classroom. Outside learning experiences can begin anywhere, and a walk in a wash is a good place to start.

What’s a Wash? A wash, wadi, gulch, gully, arroyo, and draw are names associated with dry water channels.

Dixie State University Biology Professor Dr. Erin O’Brien defines a wash as erosion from ephemeral (seasonal or intermittent) creeks and small streams that dry up for periods and that may experience flash floods during heavy rains. Washes in Utah’s sandstone canyons provide shade on hot days and life-supporting water in dry times. When water moving down through porous sandstone layers reaches a harder layer, it moves horizontally outward, drips, and forms shallow pools at the wall’s base. Early humans collected water from these seeps, and animals and plants survived on them.

Cottonwood, velvet ash, willow, hackberry, skunk bush, and arrow weed are common in Utah washes. Tadpoles, brine shrimp, and dragonfly larvae will occupy small pools, and tracks from insects, lizards, birds, small mammals, and even raccoons can be found in soft soil and sand.

Wayfinding in a wash is easy, and hikers minimize their environmental impact by staying in wash areas—which are already disturbed—and avoiding stepping on cryptobiotic soil crusts. Boulders, rocks, deep sand, and quicksand create hazards and expose the severity of prior high-water flows, thereby reminding hikers to closely monitor the weather.

Water Seep in Wash | Photo Credit: Karen L Monsen Flood Dangers Heavy rains on dry, hard-packed land will quickly fill washes and canyons and have been known to produce eight-foot-high walls of debris barreling downstream. The National Weather Service warns that six inches of fast-moving flood water can knock you off your feet, and a depth of two feet will float a car.

Storms in Arizona’s Tinajas Atlas Mountains in 2016 caused flooding 20 miles away at Baker Tanks. In May 2020, an isolated storm over Utah’s San Rafael Swell flooded Little Wild Horse Canyon near Goblin Valley State Park and killed two young girls. Rainfall of 0.63 inches in less than one hour in Zion National Park in 2015 raised the North Fork of the Virgin River flow in 15 minutes from 55 cubic feet per second (CFS) to 2,630 CFS, flooding Keyhole Canyon and taking seven lives. The same storm swept a van off the road at the Utah-Arizona border, killing 12 and leaving one child missing.

From 1.5-3 inches of rainfall in 90 minutes in Las Vegas in 1999, to rain near Highway 93 in Moapa that raised the Muddy River 12 feet in less than 90 minutes in 2014, flash rainstorms have caused extensive damage and taken many lives. A walk in a wash can be transformative, but be mindful of the weather, or “washed away” will be your legacy.

Grand Wash “DO NOT ENTER IF STORM THREATENING” states the entrance sign at Grand Wash in Capitol Reef National Park, alerting hikers to avoid the wash when storms approach. The area along the Fremont River experienced severe flooding in the early 1900s that caused the abandonment of several settlements belonging to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Grand Wash itself is an easy, five-mile round trip hike with towering walls of Wingate and Navajo sandstone rising 500 feet high. It runs between the scenic drive near the park campground and Highway 24 along the Fremont River. From this 20-foot wide wash, which narrows to 15 feet in one section, hikers can take the Frying Pan Trail and climb up to the Navajo sandstone Cassidy Arch.

In nearby Capitol Gorge, barely wide enough for a wagon, geologic and human history merge. Hikers can spot the blue bentonite clay that made a sticky gumbo for travelers in the late 1800s. It took early settler Elijah Behunin eight days to go 3.5 miles through the gorge. Still readable today are former settler names carved into the sandstone wall in a spot known as “Register Rock.” The gorge flooded in 1921, and wagon travel was diverted to a paved state highway in 1962, but the wash remains a nice hiking path.

Grand Wash | Photo Credit: Karen L Monsen

OLA in Zion Narrows | Photo Credit OLA

Outdoor Leadership Academy OLA offers opportunities for high school and college students in southern Nevada, southern Utah, and northern Arizona to participate in outdoor learning activities. It was created in 2015 under the leadership of Rosie Pepito, the superintendent at Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument. Director Dr. Erin O’Brien has been with OLA from the beginning. The National Park Service provides funding and partner support. Dr. O’Brien explains: “We work with youth who are racial and ethnic minorities, LGBTQIA+, those with disabilities, and those who come from a low socioeconomic background.” Groups

OLA DSU Zion NP Trip | Photo Credit OLA

OLA Hike in Zion NP | Photo Credit OLA

are small, and activities include short presentations, hiking, camping, river rafting, and canyoneering. Grand CanyonParashant is a major sponsor and a frequent destination.

Follow-up studies found that program participants were more likely to graduate from college than their peers and go on to careers benefitting local economies. Experiencing natural environments is important for mental and physical health. Dr. O’Brien says: “While it won’t solve the problems by itself, helping everyone get into nature more does make a difference.” In six years, OLA has run about 40 different trips and activities involving over 2,000 individuals. Although Covid-19 disrupted 2020 programs, camping trips resumed in April 2021. For more information, visit www.outdoorleadershipacademy.us or contact ola@dixie.edu.

A walk in a wash provides physical, mental, and emotional experiences that can connect people to nature. A wash is not just a destination; it is a path to learning and experiencing our natural world. Dr. O’Brien encourages everyone to “get outside and into these magical places that surround us in southern Utah.”