Originally posted by Geodude The time I drove down that rock-strewn road, the falls were completely dry. Good shot!
Originally posted by SpecialK I've been there when there was zero water (9/9/2009). Nice!
Geodude and SpecialK:
Thanks for your nice comments.
You can ascertain the flow status of the Little Colorado (and lots of other water courses in Arizona) courtesy of various USGS monitoring stations, so you don’t have to see the falls when they are dry! (Assuming your travel plans are flexible. I live just 40-50 miles from the falls, so I can go out there when the moment is ripe. That’s how I figured out when to go for my picture. As noted, the road is indeed ass-bust nasty, so I don’t make a habit of going out there. There is some indication that the Navajos may turn the area into a more attractive tourist operation, in which case it might become a nicer ride.)
Go to
USGS Current Conditions for Arizona_ Streamflow
Go down the page about half way to find the stations for
LITTLE COLORADO RIVER NEAR WINSLOW, AZ
and
LITTLE COLORADO RIVER NEAR CAMERON, AZ
As you may be aware, Winslow is some distance (perhaps 40 miles as the river meanders) upstream of the Grand Falls and Cameron is a comparable distance downstream of the falls, so the flow values at these sites should be indicative of how much water is going over the falls at any time.
Click on the station numbers at the left (09400350 and/or 09402000), and the latest stream flow values will be displayed. You need a few thousand cubic feet per second for waterfall pictures showing lots of action. You can get the system to display old data, too, so I went back and looked at the data from April 2010. It looks like the flow in Winslow was around 3000 ft^3/sec when I took my picture.
Good luck in your future efforts!
(Astro) Dave