This family went on a vacation to the Capitol Reef National Park Area when the weather turned and it started raining. What started as a small rainfall soon turned into a troubling situation as waterfalls started forming from the edge of the gorges, and as people tried to drive out of the area, most got stuck in the floods or were washed away. This family too got stuck and was rescued with the help of a rescue helicopter and other volunteers.
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00:00What you're about to watch may cause increased levels of anxiety and may be disturbing to
00:29some viewers. These are the events that occurred from the experiences and perspectives of me
00:35and my family on the morning of June 23rd. As we entered the gorge dirt road, the river
00:48bed was dry. We had just passed through a small rain shower from the approaching cloud
00:55not knowing a large weather disturbance was heading right for us. We also had no phone
01:01reception since entering the Capital Reef National Park area. We followed behind a large
01:14motor home and black pickup truck to the parking lot area where the trail begins and the road
01:19ends. This is when the weather turned from clear skies to severe weather within minutes.
01:31Our Ram Rebel truck is seen parked closest to the awning and trailhead. Many of the other
01:36vehicles you see in the parking lot around us did not make it through what came next.
01:54The hail began to fall and became more intense as time went on. Visitors returned back to
02:14the parking lot from the trail as quickly as possible and took cover under the awning.
02:24You can see here there are roughly 30 people taking shelter under the awning mesmerized
02:29by the events unfolding. People's countenance began to change from entertained to concerned
02:43as the mood began to calm. What started out as a fun unusual weather moment soon turned
02:52to worry as waterfalls began to form from above the gorge edge. Seeing the intensity
03:12of falling water from above became alarming for most. At this point panic set in as people
03:31began running for their cars. A river began to form under our truck as we also made our
03:39escape. The amount of water falling from the cliff's edge was powerful to watch but we
03:49also realized we were sitting in a gigantic bathtub and it was only a matter of time before
03:56the bottom of the tub would start to fill up. We jumped through the river running under
04:05our truck and got in. I quickly made for the exit of the gorge not knowing what would
04:12soon meet us up ahead. I was still calm and entertained by the event as I joked with the
04:32kids but the rest of my family was still panicked and concerned. The forming river
04:52was still passable as I drove through keeping an eye out for trouble ahead. This high ground
05:20in the road would have been a prime location to sit and wait for any pending flash floods
05:26especially for small cars. As we made our way out of the gorge the walls began to narrow.
05:50Right here at this spot two vehicles were destroyed by what comes next.
06:20Some of those guys are gonna be stuck. Not you guys. Not you guys. Boy did I eat my words.
06:51One of my boys said a prayer for our safety that we would get out alive.
06:56This particular spot would soon become our safe haven for the pending flood. At this point the
07:19water is just a normal river. What came around this bend was two feet of water wall to wall
07:48coming straight at us. Unfortunately I didn't record the moment the flash flood came upon us
08:07or my crazy driving in reverse to jump up onto this island but I didn't expect to see what came
08:15next. Again warning these images could be hard to watch.
08:21Oh shoot!
08:51You just that's gonna get worse around that corner.
09:01I felt helpless as I watched the couple float away in their car and narrowly drown in the flood.
09:23I had to stay with my family not knowing if the floods would rise and take my vehicle with the
09:30kids inside. I later learned that that couple got picked up in a helicopter to safety.
09:38So we're here up on top of an island with a river going in front of us and a river going behind us
09:48and I just saw a car go by a small car riding down the river backwards and smashed into a
09:57rock. Thankfully the river was able to dislodge them and they kept going down the river.
10:03I really hope that this has not killed anybody because this is pretty serious stuff right here.
10:09We are currently stuck up on top of an island
10:14and at some point when the rain stops then we'll get ourselves unstuck.
10:19But for now we're just uh just staying calm in the truck and everything's gonna turn out okay.
10:28This was the spot we stopped as the raging flood came upon us. I drove in reverse and jumped my
10:39truck up onto the island. Okay so it's pretty common when you're in a wilderness area we don't
10:47get a chance to check the weather report. So we didn't know there was going to be some flash floods
10:52coming but there was a warning at the end. It was beautiful weather till we got to the end but we
10:58saw a cloud coming which is pretty normal. But when we got to the end there's a big warning that says
11:05as common there are flash floods that run through this area. So right away we started to see the
11:11flash floods happening as the the hail and the rain was coming down so fast it was pouring off
11:20the tops of all of these gorge edges right down on top of us. Underneath the truck became a river
11:26instantly. So what we had to do was get our ourselves out of the gorge some and try to get
11:35to high ground. Well what happened is when we got to this point right here as you can see
11:44the gorge gets narrow and there's nowhere for the water to go except for on top of the road.
11:49Thankfully we had this other higher part of the road which has now receded some.
11:56So what I did is I got I saw it coming up up and over the top.
12:01So I gunned it in reverse but now we're high centered on top of this island.
12:07So all we got to do is get the tire the tires undug and we're going to put some some rock
12:14underneath the front of the tires and try to get the truck to lift up to get it off of being high
12:19centered and then we're going to get down into this uh this normal road riverbed and then we'll
12:25be able to survey what's going on ahead of us. But we're about halfway out of the gorge there's a
12:31bunch of people trapped down at the end of the gorge where the trail starts. We'll probably get
12:37ourselves up on top of this berm right here where this grass is. So we're on higher ground and then
12:44we'll get a chance to go check it out being unstuck. But in the moment like anything you got
12:50to troubleshoot the situation. You got to see what you've got available. There's a couple tree branches
12:55and some loose rocks. So we're gonna we're gonna dig out the truck put the rocks under the front
13:01tires. I got lockers and four-wheel drive. So we'll just gently bring this thing out of its hole
13:07and get it up the river there. So that's kind of where we're at right now. There's no there's no
13:12need to panic. You just got to stay calm. If we ran into a situation where we'd have to bail out
13:19on the vehicle we just go to high ground. Thankfully this area here you can see the brush
13:25has been here for a long time. We got a couple trees uh but this is still high ground even for
13:31a runoff like this and we're already starting to see it recede a bit. It could take a couple hours
13:37to get out of here. I don't know what kind of damage is ahead of us
13:40but mark my words we will get out of here. We were actually quite a bit more high center than
13:47I thought. Being stuck was a blessing to keep me grounded. The road up ahead was impassable
13:54without help from a road grader. Got to film the whole thing so we can see it later. There's mom
14:03Celeste and Tanner are in there. Despite the four-wheel drive and the locker I didn't have
14:09a winch and I didn't bring my hijack so I had no tool to pull myself out.
14:19What I didn't know is when I jumped the truck onto this berm
14:23I landed my skid plate on a large bush. Just drive and dribble. Keep the low right there.
14:30Give it a little bit of gas. Okay stop. Stop. Go go go go go!
14:43Within hours rescue crews made their way into the gorge on foot and a helicopter flew overhead.
14:50They quickly discovered we had valuable information from our video and pictures
14:56to help aid in their rescue efforts.
15:01A rescue helicopter came and offered to get us out. Logistically I thought it best to get my
15:07family to safety and I would stay with the truck alone until the road grader showed up. Then I
15:13could drive out and meet up with them later. I knew if they pulled me out I could get the
15:19truck and myself out to meet up with them. Coordinating with the helicopter pilot on the
15:33rescue reminded me of my time served in the Army National Guard Aviation Group as a soldier.
15:39Thank you to our service professionals who save lives every day.
16:09The kids had an incredible experience flying in a helicopter through the gorge
16:23as they also got to see other vehicles stuck ahead of us.
16:39Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.
17:09The family was finally safe back on dry ground leaving me to work on my own rescue attempt.
17:39That's kind of a crazy feeling really.
17:47Well I'm out here in the wilderness by myself with a storm coming so
17:58but the family's out of here and I'm still stuck but uh making good progress so
18:06I'm going to try to record as much as I can of everything that goes on here
18:12and I'm actually making pretty good progress here
18:18with the uh with the jack. All the parts on the jack broke. The river is receding nicely.
18:28If I can just get it off this berm then I'll be in a much better spot so I'm just going to keep
18:36jacking it up see if I can make some progress. I'm going to give another shot and see if I can get it
18:41broke free.
18:50At this point the skies are relatively clear but I'm still stuck. Still too high for me.
18:58I'm pretty centered. It's unbelievable. Honestly the kids have been such a stinking pain
19:06and then to see them go off in that helicopter.
19:10I don't know. Words cannot express how I felt about that
19:18because that's your family. At the end of the day that's the family and
19:22they're going to be so crazy happy to see me. Okay this is it. He's almost here.
19:34So the uh the road grader is here. I'm pretty sure he can pull me out.
19:42So he uh he's not going to pull me out but he said that there's the road grader just right behind
19:51him. So I'm just going to wait for him. I'll just put all these rocks piled up so we know that's
19:57where that's where we got stuck.
20:03There we go. Right up to here. Okay.
20:34Yeah I got all kinds of stuff. Okay I'm out but look at this bullcrap. I was sitting on a freaking
20:48bush. I got the spot marked now. Okay we are out of here. As I pulled away from our island of safety
21:08you can see just how lucky we were to pause in this spot to admire a large waterfall.
21:16Up ahead there was no place for us to escape the pending flood waters.
21:24Holy cow. Good grief. Oh my goodness. This is what this is what we would have been stuck in.
21:36This is so beautiful now.
21:38Look at this. The park ranger said flash floods help rejuvenate the landscape but the process is
21:46best done without people present. It's really pretty here. Oh my goodness. This part right here
21:54would have killed us. If you look closely you can see how high the water got up in this section.
22:00Capital Gorge Wash typically gets eight inches of water a year. We saw one inch of water in an hour.
22:07They're gonna be so happy to see me. I actually made it. I actually made it out of here.
22:22Oh how how is that motorhome gonna get out of this? Seriously.
22:31Look at these guys. I'm grateful to these three rescuers who first made contact with us
22:40and lifted the spirits of my family. Even though I didn't know them well
22:44my heart went out to them as I drove by and said goodbye.
22:53Oh my goodness.
22:55Oh wow. I got I got stuck there. Paramedic out to see me.
23:05Even with help from the road grader the road was very wet and very muddy. Holy cow that was sketchy.
23:16At this point I was officially leaving the Grand Wash area.
23:21I was safe and heading back to meet up with my family. Okay I guess I get to check myself out.
23:38I guess I get to check myself out.
23:45Look how beautiful it looks out there.
23:49So every single dip in the road has got mud covering over it.
23:55It looks like they had to come through here
23:59with a bulldozer and clear it all off so that people could come through here.
24:07This is amazing. I guess one of the guys that does the search and rescue said that it's never
24:14been this bad. There is another storm coming. There's no way I would have gotten free by myself.
24:22Capital Reef you almost killed us.
24:26What happened to the survivors? Here's what we know. Everyone got out alive.
24:32Many were helicopter lifted out of the gorge like my family. The rescue crew worked late into the
24:39night until everyone was recovered and started the process of pulling out vehicles. We know the
24:45couple in the red car were airlifted from the submersed roof of their car. I believe the black
24:51truck managed to get farther up the road ahead of us and was able to get out after the road grader
24:57came through. The white truck parked next to a ram truck was caught in the flood. One of the
25:0312 passenger vans was destroyed and found close by to the white truck. We also know the black
25:10hatchback floated down the river and was lost from the view. The condition of the rest of the vehicles
25:17was unknown. So I talked to the ranger and they're just right here at the visitor center
25:29and I said are you Josh and he said yeah my name is Josh. Your family's already at the hotel.
25:35They're gonna be so happy to see you. Oh gosh.
25:41Unbelievable. I'll tell you what that's that was.
25:53Look at this. You got the fire going and the pool over there.
26:03Where's the truck? How'd you get back? I got back in the truck.
26:10Where is it? Yeah. How? I took a shower but they kept telling us they never had this. They never
26:19had such a fast. Oh yeah she was saying she was saying it's so bad. I know you guys got a
26:28helicopter. I was expecting you to come back at like midnight. Did you get out? Yeah. First time
26:32in a helicopter baby let's go. We're taking tons of videos. You know what I did? I piled up a bunch
26:38of rocks in that spot where the truck was. Huh? Like what? For us to stay? But wait how'd you get
26:46out? I'm never going there again. After having gone through something so traumatic to see a
26:52double rainbow at the end of the dangerous adventure was a sign of a blessed return to safety
26:58and everyone happy to be together again. Next time we'll hike the gorge on dry ground without
27:05a cloud in the sky. Yes.