Canyon Country Adventures Await

In just a few short weeks, the 2015 Wilderness Volunteers project season will kick off with a full trip to the Mojave. Get out of the cold and into the wilderness with projects across the southwest (and Hawaii), such as these projects on the Colorado Plateau:

Moab Arches and Towers, Moab BLM, Utah
Moab is a paradise for hikers, with many landforms unparalleled in the world.  Our project there runs the week of April 19th - 25th whre we'll work on the trails to arches and views of the Colorado River and Fisher Towers.

San Rafael Swell, Sids Mountain WSA, Price BLM, Utah
The San Rafael Swell is one of most striking areas in all of the wild western United States.  With slot canyons, gorges, mesas, desert streams and so much more. This is an area all wilderness lovers should explore, at least once. Read more about the April 19-25th trip in this blog post and sign up for the adventure on the website.

Escalante River, Glen Canyon NRA, Utah
This project is the continuation of a fourteen year project removing invasive Russian olive trees from the Escalante River watershed. The work is needed and this rugged landscape must be experienced. Join us April 26 - May 2.

Hammond Canyon, Manti-La Sal National Forest, Utah

Join WV out in Canyon Country from May 10-16th for a trail maintenance project amongst fascinating ancient history and scenic beauty. This extremely underrated area promises to impress you and reward your stewardship efforts.

North Rim, Kaibab National Forest, Arizona

When you think of canyons, there is one in particular that stands out - the Grand Canyon. Join us in northern Arizona in an area outside of the National Park and spend the week working from the Kaibab Plateau brushing trails that lead to the North Canyon. Read more and signup up for the WV service project on the North Rim, Kaibab National Forest, May 24 - 30, 2015.


And more! If you need help deciding which project is right for you, send us an email or give us a call at (928) 255-1128 - we'd love to hear from you.

Flash Flood

I just returned from the Glen Canyon NRA project where we are removing Russian olive trees from the main corridor of the Escalante River. I've been involved in this project since the mid-1990s, and really enjoy seeing the river cleared of this massively invasive alien. These trees kill the native species and crowd everything along the river's edge, hanging over the river and making travel along the river a painful experience. The trees have long needle-sharp red thorns.
Here are two shots of the river, before and after removal of the trees.We reached the 40-mile mark with this trip -- 40-miles of the river corridor have been cleared of the awful trees from the reservoir (Lake Powell) upriver. Follow-up trips every fall keep new starts and any regrowth in check.

On our day off, GLCA Ranger Bill Wolverton takes us on the most incredible dayhikes. I've been in tiny slot canyons, up scary Moki steps, up and down chimneys, learned all about canyoneering, visited remote arches, slithered through mud cracks, rinsed off in refreshing waterfalls, climbed sand dams and entered fern grottos. I can't wait for the next trip here in the spring.

Which brings me to to the title of this post: We are always watching the river while on these projects, and have witnessed several episodes of the water rising quickly and side channels flooding, even when the sky is clear. When it's raining, we are careful to keep all the volunteers on the side of the river where camp is located, but have had a couple of incidents where folks were trapped on the other side for a couple of hours or overnight waiting for the river to drop. We've had no injuries due to our diligence.

Wilderness Volunteers leader Curt Mobley has a story of a flash flood in Zion when he was hiking with this wife Ann Kruse a few years back that was told in the Sept 2010 issue of Sierra Magazine, and he's given us permission to share his story here (click on the picture to see the full image):