Article from
VOL. 48 NO. 10 OCTOBER 2007
Virgin
Valley and the Ark!
With the obsession of a true opalholic, and the
resources of a fairly prepared desert rock hound, I set about to fix
it myself. I found the worst case scenario, a freeze plug that had
been replaced four years ago, had failed and was located dead center
under the motor mount. I
used the pretty orange RV leveler blocks to build a wheel ramp to get
the van high enough to work underneath it. I blocked all four tires
front and back with fire wood. I used the scissor jack from the Chevrolet Tracker 4x4
I was towing and some firewood for blocking to lift the engine off
rubber motor mounts for removal. I had just enough tools in the tool box
to remove all the bolts and brackets and other parts to get to the
freeze plug. I drove into Truckee, got the freeze plug, some antifreeze
and a couple of new 11/16 deep well sockets for my socket wrench. I sort
of lost the one I was using in the ford square frame access hole! Back to Donner Summit, where I replaced the freeze
plug, reassembled the motor mount assembly, and refilled with fresh
antifreeze, and cold mountain water. Just in time, it started dumping
snow pellets! I got three good days of digging in the bank, got a few
good specimens, and a bucket full of unknowns. Friday night, around the
campfire, I had mentioned to other visitors that I had never witnessed a
flash flood in all my desert travels. Dumb thing to say! Saturday afternoon became cloudy which we had
anticipated from news reports. After the dig, at about 4:30 PM, I headed
out east of Virgin Valley along SR 140 to do some rock hounding. I
didn't get far when a big black ugly cell moved in with lightening and
heavy rain. I beat it back to the car and made my way back to the CCC
camp. By then, the road was a solid shallow river of water. As I worked
my way back the 13 miles to the Royal Peacock camp, I had to ford about
five flash flood zones several hundred feet long. While they were
shallow, they were full of slimy mud and rock debris. Fortunately, the
Virgin River ponds were dry and the drop off was only about a foot or
two in these areas. There was no danger of drowning; however, the
lightening and hail made for a very uncomfortable trip. I got back to
the camp and found it still dry. Like Noah, I called the campers to
repentance, and ordered an ark to be built! Did they listen? No! A wicked wind came up, the
lightning bore down all around us, and a rain — no, a
deluge—commenced. Within minutes, the entire camp became a sheet of
flowing water. The tents in the dry camp area were flattened and full of
water. As the campers realized that
their clothes and bedding were getting soaked, they tried to
salvage what they could. The hail came. Those out in it got beat with
balls the size of large shooter marbles. The ravine just west and above the camp became a raging
river. The sound of a fast moving river in such a dry place is a very
strange sound. The camp host had opened up one of the rental trailers
for the tent campers. Unfortunately, it leaked badly and we set out pots
and pans in about five locations. A fear began to circulate about the
whereabouts of the camp kittens. These kittens were stowaways in a
fifthwheel from Fresno last spring. They were the most playful and
friendly cats anybody had known. They endeared themselves to the campers
by jumping up in your lap around the campfire and purring.
They were nowhere to be seen in the flood, and this would have
been a new and dangerous experience for them. The rain stopped about an hour and a half later. The
water subsided. The tent campers surveyed the damage. It was not pretty.
I had plenty of firewood, some still dry as I had stashed it under the
van just in case it rained. We started a bonfire, shared what food we
had, laughed and howled at the moon until past 11:00 PM. Trailer campers
cleared out their cars, we all pulled our extra sleeping bags and
blankets and got the tent campers into a dry place to sleep for the
night. As I pulled open my spare sleeping blanket, three
kittens rolled out onto my bed. They were high and dry, since they had
found an ark! They were the only ones who took heed of the warning! The next morning, we put a convoy of five cars
together, those of us who needed to leave. We found the road covered
with up to 7 or 8 inches of slimy mud and debris in about 6 or 7
locations and in some places, another 6 or 7 inches of hail. The hills
around us were white in hail that had remained all night. We all made it through, barely. A couple of rental cars
were going to need some extreme cleaning, and my tow car was completely
mud covered from one end to the other. As I left Reno and headed towards the Donner Lake
Inspection Station, the most incredible rainbows appeared, two of them.
One appeared as if it was just on the other side of the guard rail on
the east bound side; the other, more intense one, closer to the
mountains. The trees and rock were visible through the intense fire of
the full rainbow. Traffic came to a stall on both sides of the freeway
as motorists pulled off and, with cameras in hand, tried to capture the
incredible sight. What a way to end one of my more memorable trips to
the desert! The thing that impresses me the most was the way people come
together to help each other in a crisis. More impressive than rainbows,
more impressive than opal. |