HAZARDS OF LARGO CANYON

Some people say that we have no true quicksand in the U.S.A, but what we do have is sand that is washed away from under the weight of an object so that it just starts sinking. It is like being near the beach when the waves are going out and the water just strips the sand out from under your feet. It may not be technically "quicksand", but it is "quickly moving sand".

The Largo has lots of it during the rainy season. Don't underestimate the damage it can do. There are whole semi trucks buried out there, lots of pickup trucks. Your vehicle could be the next victim.

Last summer we had some pretty good rains. Don't try to cross one of these streams when there is water in it. These people tried to cross a streambed with their new four-wheel drive truck a few hours before a storm. It didn't look like much water, but the stream bed was washed out under what looked like a little puddle, so they got stuck in the arroyo bottom. It started to rain. She said that the flashflood (the only way our streams flow) sounded like a freight train coming down the canyon. They got out and huddled under a rabbitbrush as the steam cut away the ground under their truck. Their nice new four-wheel drive truck rolled over and started sinking. Before the night was through, the only thing sticking out of the sand was the bottom of the tires. The people around here say don't bother to pull them out, but in this picture the owners have it waiting to be towed to the junk yard. They were digging through the 3 feet of mud in the cab looking for their wallets.

They could have avoided trouble by following a few basic rules.

• Don't drive into a puddle that may not have a bottom.
• Get out and walk through water you think you can cross to make sure its not three feet deep.
• Don't try to cross running water, just pull over and take a nap, the water won't stay up for more than a couple of hours.
• Get back to the pavement if you are impatient, but the dirt road will be dry by morning.

Barbara Truby, who has lived in the canyon all her life, shared the following photos with me. She says that if you just tell someone that it's dangerous, they won't believe you. Maybe these pictures will convince you! Click on them to see the whole image. On the bottom row, a semi was stuck, when one pick-up tried to go around it, then another pickup tried to go around both of them. In the last picture, the insurance company is paying to have the truck dug out since they can't believe it really isn't salvageable.

LARGO CANYON HOMEPAGE