When I used to go hiking in Yosemite and other national parks, I often saw signs warning visitors of various dangers. Most notable in Yosemite were warnings about the danger of going near the water at the tops of waterfalls: if you fall in, there’s little chance of being extracted before you go over the edge. In other parks, there were warnings about the dangers of flash floods catching visitors off-guard in low-lying areas.
Today I saw the worst of both worlds in a video my brother sent me. Video is here, and starts with a family at a park in India walking on some rocks sticking above the water. Within seconds a flash flood arrives and traps them on those rocks - and then quickly grows deep enough to wash them over the waterfall, killing three of them. According to this news article (and the comments under the YouTube video) there is a wall and warning signs in the area, and these people disregarded it (not only that, but they seemed rather casual about retreating when the wall of water approached).
Obey the warning signs - especially the explicit ones laid out by park officials who see this kind of thing happen with depressing regularity - and you and your children get to go home at the end of the day.
There’s a beautiful state park in the Hill Country called Pedernals Falls. It’s a decent hike down the limestone walls to the river that cuts and twists through the limestone bedrock. It’s an enchanting place with canals, falls, fossils calling you to explore. Problem is with all that limestone stretching far back into the watershed, one good rain and it’ll flood WITHOUT WARNING just like the link aboue. The front page of the Austin American Statesman had 4 pictures of a family caught in its middle years ago. The first 3 showed the river coming up around them and in the 4th they were gone.
I had to edit that video for our newscast last night; knowing what was going to happen you wanted to scream RUN!!! Especially as you watch them kinda teeter around delicately, as if to avoid getting their shoes wet.
It kinda reminded me of pictures and video of people on the beach before the tsunami a few years back.
If there’s a warning sign telling you not to do something, there’s probably a reason for it. And it probably isn’t just because someone doesn’t want you having any fun.
In Arizona, the dry washes make great places to hike, but a flash flood can appear even though it may be raining many miles away.
A sort of tradition here is not to build bridges on roads crossing large washes, but there are just dips in the roads. After a rain, they can become torrents that will even wash away a pickup truck.
The worst ones have warning signs, yet every year some idiots decide to drive across. At best they get suck and can be rescued, at worst they get swept away and don’t make it.
A few years ago it became so bad, they had to pass legislation making the people rescued not only pay a fine, but pay for their rescue. It is popularly called “The Stupid Motorists Law.”
Couple years ago some moron driving a Mercedes got stuck in the middle of a flooded wash. After he went to court and paid a pretty stiff fine and the rescue costs, a reporter asked him if he’d be more careful next time. He replied that he had plenty of money and would do it again if necessary.
We have multiple deaths here every single winter/spring from avalanches. There are warnings out the wazoo, and people still manage to get themselves killed. You can’t save people from themselves.
I went back and watched the start of the video again, and you do just want to yell at them - RUN! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, RUN!
I hiked out to the trail closure and talked to the ranger who was posted there. According to him, the hikers were warned not to cross the bridge by a trail crew. I can understand not wanting to make a 17-mile detour when they could practically see the parking lot, but they made a really stupid mistake.
In the canyons in southern Utah, you can see debris in the trees ten feet high. They can happen in bright sunshine and blue skies from a storm at the entrance to the canyon miles away.
There is an iron railing separating the viewing area from the water, but other than that it’s all on the same elevation and the water is flowing over the smooth rock just a metre or so from your feet. It looks so cool and refreshing. The sign reads, “If you step in this water, you will die.” :eek:
There are a couple of pools just upstream from the falls that are soooooo inviting on a hot day after the long slog up. One slip on a rock and you can be deep trouble real quick. I was rock-hopping up there one time and a well-meaning hiker gave me a stern warning. At the time I resented him interfering with my fun, but I know better now.
Zion National Park. You can hike up the Virgin River (in the river) to the Narrows. It’s a dangerous hike in its own right but the reward at the Narrows is to literally touch the sides of the canyon with arms out-stretched, look up, and see the opposing walls rise more than 1,000 feet.
The real danger is a thunderstorm up drainage miles and miles away. Without warning, in seconds, the knee deep river is now 20 feet high. You will die.
Years ago I went hiking in the Escalante. One of our group had misled the rest of us about his hiking experience and pooped out in the middle of a narrow bit. I had to threaten him with physical violence to get him moving again. No … we can’t “just stop here” for the night. Because if it rains, we will die.
I waded a swift-moving stream in the Cascades once. The water wasn’t even a foot deep, and I could barely stand in it, let alone move. I can understand why those folks in the video didn’t even try to move – they’d lose their balance immediately.
The real world is not like the Disney-world many people believe. If you do something stupid, you may very well die.
“Think of it as evolution in action”
