This area in the
River of No Return Wilderness in Idaho burned a few years ago.
Some of the trees
were killed and some still lived.
Looking up a little
creek. This is a debris flow either from a heavy rain or
quickly melting
snow. The burned landscape cannot hold on to the soil.
It's about 30 feet
wide. It looks just like the debris flows that occur in the desert
southwest after
heavy thunderstorms.
Ash-mud splatters,
looking down the creek.
Where the ash-soil
debris entered the river. A fan is formed, pinching the river
and forming a rapid,
just like in the Grand Canyon, except on a smaller scale.