First, some background. Willow Beach has had a long history of flash floods, even if it is located in one of the driest parts of the southwest. There was a trailer village and campground on this National Park Service land as far back as the 1940s. A closer look at the surrounding area makes it clear that there are a lot of steep mountains that drain into the Colorado River in this area. As you drive in, you also cannot miss the many dry washes and canyons that funnel water during heavy summer rains.
The biggest and most disastrous flood occurred in 1974 just a few miles south of here, killing 9 people when the area had 3" of rain in one hour. In the 1970s, the Willow Beach area included a large campground, marina, restaurant, motel, gas station, and trailer park. All of those facilities were removed in the early 2000s after several floods damaged many of the facilities. This article describes the anger of local residents who did want to move and fought the closure for several years: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-08-13-mn-23402-story.html
The current campground, visitor center, fishery, and ranger cabins were built in 2009-2010, with the campground and ranger homes on much higher, and supposedly, safer ground. The new campground is full hookup, with paved camping pads and asphalt roadways. It and the marina are run by a concessionaire, but seniors like me who have a national park senior pass get a substantial discount.
The problem is that water from flash floods is not always easy to
control, so while major efforts were made to direct flood waters away
from the facilities at Willow Beach, a heavy rain as happened this past
summer, can still cause problems.
To understand the flash flood problem, you need to start with a view of Highway 93, as it parallels the Colorado River on its way south. This is an animal bridge so the bighorn sheep can safely cross the highway.
And this is a view of a glimpse of the Colorado River at Willow Beach, taken from a scenic rest area on the highway. The area is very dry and consists of a lot of mountains that show evidence of erosion from very occasional heavy rains.
As you drive into Willow Beach off of US 93 on the Arizona side of the Colorado River, you will find a sign warning you of debris on the roadway or damage. I have been coming here for nine years, and some sort of warning sign is always there. Another clue to flooding is the roadway itself. It is heavily worn asphalt with evidence of recent sand and dirt removal. (They keep grading and other heavy equipment at the visitor center area.)
It is hard to tell from photographs, but the four-mile long roadway is fairly steep, so it acts as a "wash" during rains.
About two-thirds of the way down, the road enters a canyon that further funnels flood waters.
Part of the problem is that not only does water come down the road, but it also enters the canyon through the many smaller side canyons, bring dirt and sand with it. By this point, many people are convinced that somehow they have taken the wrong road, but there is really only one road into and out of this area!
Luckily, at this point, the canyon opens up and the oasis of Willow Beach appears. At this point, you are tempted to say "Wow!"
To the left is the wash-out area for boats being pulled out of the area. All boats must be washed and dried to prevent the spread of zebra mussels, plus there is parking here for people launching kayaks into the river.
Ahead, on the left, is the visitor center.
In front of the visitor center, and to the far left here, is the boat ramp, which serves a dual purpose.
On the right is the large parking lot, but in the right foreground is the opening of the flood control wash that runs down from the campground. Water crosses the roadway here and flows down the boat ramp into the river.
Here is a view up the flood control channel. To the left is the main parking lot, which you must drive through to get to the campground.
And a closeup. As you can see, there have not yet gotten around to removing all of the sand that flowed down with the flood waters.
This photo shows the boat ramp, aka flood control ramp.
As you turn right just past the flood channel, you drive through the parking lot and actually into the wash that empties into the controlled channel. You can tell by the color of the pavement that this is where the flood water crosses the roadway. At this point, you are now going up a fairly steep hill to reach the campground. In this area, obviously, higher is better than lower.
The flood channel is now on the left of the roadway. You can see where the water flowed during the last flood here. There are a few rocks that are supposed to help channel the water.
Almost to the campground. You can see an RV on the upper level, but you can also see a LOT of sand that was washed down during the last couple of floods. (The biggest one was last summer, but there were also two heavy rains in November this year.)
In the distance, the roadway turns left into the campground with the ranger's home a little farther up the hill. We are about 300' above the river level.
This is looking down the wash from the place where the roadway crosses it again to get to the campground.
This is an impressive photo taken late in the afternoon, showing the roadway from the marina and visitor center that I had just driven up.
I will be posting photos of the campground tomorrow, but in spite of the flood dangers, this is still one of my favorite campgrounds west of the Mississippi. I have camped next to and below dams, but this is one of few places I have been where you can really see how a flood can affect you personally.
I have been told that they are planning to build a new road down to the area, but have not yet decided which canyon to build it in or how to build it so it will not get flooded out periodically.
Here is a video that show flooding along Willow Creek road through the canyon. You can hardly tell there is a road there. The first was in 2017: https://www.facebook.com/lakemeadnps/videos/willow-beach-road-flood-7-25-17/10156344927590828/
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