Camping in and around dry riverbeds

[Get Out GO]

Just a cautionary tale of camping in and around dry riverbeds.
The Richtersveld is an arid region of South Africa with hardly any rainfall. Doesn't mean you can't get sudden flash floods, even in dry areas like this...

Fortunately everybody got out okay and they managed to recover all the vehicles as well;

 

[Tundracamper]

I’m really surprised everything wasn’t totaled. Wonder if driving with the current would have made it easier to drive out faster.

I recently camped in a creek area in the mountains. Saw on forecast it was gonna rain - a lot. Then I remembered the Flash Flood Area road sign. Quickly broke camp and moved on. Just not worth it.

I wonder if there are ways to examine an area to see it it is flash-flood prone.

 

[trikebubble]

Similar thing happened to a couple with a Four Wheel Camper a few years ago. Found a beauty spot in a dry riverbed to camp, and woke up in the middle of the night to the feeling of their truck and camper moving (go figure). I also recall a story of a Jeep guy camping on the edge of a low reservoir. He woke up and realized they were letting more water out of the dam and his exit was slowly going underwater.

 

[rgallant]

Just want to say river beds in general are a bad idea, there are times of the year in some places where you can get away with it, but generally I avoid it. Not saying I have not done it, but the above shows the possible bad outcomes.

 

[Boostpowered]

Yep depending on how long the canyon or creek or river is and how many tributaries it has a storm many miles away can cause havoc. You could have no rain at all and all of a sudden get engulfed if there is rain anywhere miles up river. In the southwest desert areas of the united states its a water and mud mix normally and In the rest its water, mud and trees.

I love fishing dam tailraces below lakes when its flooding and even that can get hairy when they release water even with a siren to alert you before hand.

 

[bgenlvtex]

Seems like an extraordinarily bad idea.

Turns out it was.

 

[Get Out GO]

Seems like an extraordinarily bad idea.

Turns out it was.

These guys were actually on designated campsites but it still got to them

 

[El-Dracho]

Thank you for this important advice, Chris! You can't say it often enough, dry river beds can be dangerous and camping there is absolutely the wrong idea, no matter how beautiful the scenery is.

 

[ThundahBeagle]

My father was in the army in the 60's and when he got home, he was always taking us for walks in the woods. Periodically, he would have us turn around to see where we had been, so we knew what it should look like on the way back. That and other tricks.

One thing he always said was not to camp somewhere that water belonged, if it could at all be helped. Not in the bottom of a valley or hills, not on a dry riverbed, near the bottom or outlets of dams, all that. Scary

 

[Downs]

I wonder if there are ways to examine an area to see it it is flash-flood prone.

Topographical maps can be a huge help but obviously areas close to and around rivers/creeks ect are subject to changes in the terrain that a topo map won't account for. In my experience living close to the Brazos River growing up the areas that seemed to flood all the time had lots of "stuff" in the trees. Be it man made stuff or grasses and wahtnot that would normally be in the river. Lots of sand in flood spots vs regular soil. Stuff like that.

I try not to camp too close to rivers/creeks, or areas that look like "bowls".

 

[bgenlvtex]

These guys were actually on designated campsites but it still got to them

Common sense and situational awareness should prevail over signage.

Sign says :"Camp here"
BGE says: "Eh,this is a creek bed,I'll pass"

 

[Billiebob]

A dry river bed is obviously lower than the banks to the sides. Camping near a river, wet or dry, pick a high spot, and park facing the way out. The last thing you need is trying to fifure out which way to go at midnight in a cloud burst. Have your panick exit planned before you set up camp.

 

[ThundahBeagle]

A dry river bed is obviously lower than the banks to the sides. Camping near a river, wet or dry, pick a high spot, and park facing the way out. The last thing you need is trying to fifure out which way to go at midnight in a cloud burst. Have your panick exit planned before you set up camp.

^^^