37.9

River Mileage

L

River Left

About Tatahatso Camp

Tatahatso is a medium-sized camp, located 0.3 miles below Tatahatso Wash which is also on river left. This camp has a beach landing area and then behind some brush towards the canyon wall are tent sites. As of November 2021, this camp looked quite poor and uncomfortable from a recent washout.

The High Flow Experiment (HFE) showed that this camp had a “…less than desirable result of HFE…” as the high water removed the landing area making it very difficult to access the camp. Since the HFE, the sediment has returned making the campground accessible again but should be noted if you are in the canyon during a high water event.

The name Tatahatso is Navajo, which means “hole in the crevice”. (Source: River to Rim by Nancy Brian.)

July 14, 2021 Tatahatso Incident

On the evening of July 14, 2021, a flash flood occurred here while a rafting group was camped at this location. An emergency call was placed at 6PM to the National Park Service alerting them that two people from the party were missing as well as numerous injuries. The following day, one of the missing persons was found uninjured and the other was located and sadly was deceased.

A first-person account of the incident including photos can be read here.

The NPS press release regarding the accident can be found here.