State Parks

Arizona’s Parks In Peril: Kartchner Caverns State Park

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[Source: Gretchen Mominee, Examiner.com]

Photo credit: Arizona State Parks

The volunteer leading our tour, John, tells us that being dripped on during the tour is good luck, sort of like a blessing from the cave. He says those drips are called “cave kisses.”

Kartchner Caverns is a living cave, which means that it is still in the process of becoming, still growing and changing. It is a work in progress. As you read this sentence, drops of mineral-rich water are slowly dripping from the tip of a stalactite or slipping from the end of a soda straw, a skinny hollow tube growing from the cave’s ceiling.  The stalactites and stalagmites are infinitesimally growing toward one another. The incredibly beautiful and majestic formation, Kubla Khan, continues to form.

This cave was forming long, long before the day in 1974 when two University of Arizona students, Gary Tenen and Randy Tufts, chiseled an opening wide enough to wriggle through and become the first human beings to ever stand inside it. Imagine the wonder of knowing that you’ve just discovered something miraculously beautiful that no one else has ever seen.

Tenen and Tufts knew they had made an incredible discovery. Because they were avid cavers and had seen the damage done to other caves by carelessness and vandalism, they kept their find a secret for a long time, eventually sharing it with the landowners. Together, they spent years ensuring that the cave would be protected, and that they could be shared with the public in a responsible way that would allow people to experience and learn about the cave without harming the fragile formations inside.

Kartchner Caverns State Park opened in 1999. It was one of the parks that Arizona legislators voted to be closed this year, despite the fact that Arizona State Parks make $260 million for the state annually. To call this decision short-sighted is an understatement.

The cave doesn’t need us. If they close Kartchner Caverns State Park and no human ever sets foot in it again, it won’t matter to the cave. Bats will continue to roost and raise their young in the Big Room. The massive 58 foot column Tenen and Tufts call Kubla Khan will still stand as a testament to what nature can do with water, minerals and tens of thousands of years. Stalactites and stalagmites will continue their inexorable journey toward one another and in time will be joined. Soda straws will grow and fall. The ghosts of the good intentions and efforts of many will linger in the cave, but the cave will be fine.

The cave doesn’t need us. But maybe we need the cave. Maybe we need the opportunity to see geologic time at play. To be able to access the fragile beauty of a place that has been forming for so long it’s almost unfathomable.

Maybe we need to be able to stand inside the cave and hear the story of two college kids who found something magical and wondrous and wanted to share it with the world in such a way that it would be available to all of us and future generations.

Maybe we need the possibility of being baptized by cave kisses, of receiving a blessing from a living cave, to be reminded that we are all, after all, works in progress.

Maybe, as John Muir wrote, “Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to the body and soul.”

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Trail Training this Fall

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[Via: CopaNews.com]

Arizona State Parks, along with several partners including the Arizona State Parks Foundation, City of Phoenix, City of Scottsdale, and Volunteers for Outdoor Arizona, are hosting two trail trainings this October.

Photo credit: worldssmalletsmeuseum.com/CopaNews.com

Trail Design and Layout Course

October 9-10, Phoenix, AZ

Registration is $30

This two-day class in trail design starts with a half day in the classroom learning the basic concepts of trail design and layout. The afternoon is spent learning how to use a clinometer and to apply the new trail design skills to evaluate existing trails. The second day is spent evaluating an existing section of trail and laying out a new sustainable reroute. NOTE:  This is not a construction course.

Trail Design Concepts Covered:* The Three Purposes of Trails * Grade, Tread Watershed, Anchors * Measuring Grade with a Clinometer * Five Critical Rules of Trail Design * Indications of Poorly Designed Trail * Evaluating Existing Trails * Planning Trail Reroutes * Five Stages Of Trail Layout * Types of Trail Users * Positive, Negative, Seasonal and Construction Control Points * Trail Routing Considerations * Climbing Turns vs. Switchbacks * Designing For Sustainability

For more information on this training click here.

Universal Trail Assessment Process Coordinator Workshop

October 19 – 20, Scottsdale, AZ

Registration is $50

The Universal Trails Assessment Process (UTAP) provides objective, accurate information about the conditions on a trail or in outdoor environments. The assessment results can help trail users determine whether a trail meets their interests and abilities. Land managers can also use the information to identify areas where access may be limited and to determine whether a trail complies with the proposed accessibility guidelines.

This two-day workshop enables individuals to conduct accurate assessments of trails in their own community and to lead groups of untrained individuals in the completion of trail assessments. Individuals who achieve a minimum of 70% on the final written exam are also eligible to be certified by American Trails as a Trail Assessment Coordinator. To become certified, individuals must submit copies of the trail data that they have collected for a minimum of two trails, which total at least one mile in length.

For more information on UTAP click here.

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For more information on this specific training visit https://azstateparks.com/trails/trail_workshops.html.

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No changes at Patagonia Lake State Park after alcohol-related death

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[Source: Nogales International]

An Arizona State Park official said there would be no change in rules regarding alcohol consumption at Patagonia Lake State Park following the drowning death of a 28-year old man who investigators said was intoxicated when he dove into the lake on Aug. 8.

Image source: Arizona State Parks

The drowning of Sergio Rene Chavez of Nogales was the latest in a string of ugly incidents since march 2009 at the park – known as a popular drinking spot – that include a stabbing and sexual assault.

A different scenario

At Parker Canyon Lake, a U.S. Forest Service recreation area southeast of Sonoita in Cochise County, locals say unruly behavior is uncommon.

Scott Kerr, owner of Parker Canyon Lake Mercantile and Marina, said he could not recall any notable incidents. He said a big reason is that drinking is not tolerated when it becomes excessive. In fact, his store doesn’t even sell alcoholic beverages.

“If they are slobbering drunk, we don’t want them here,” Kerr said. “We call law enforcement immediately.”

Kerr said the U.S. Border Patrol, which is usually the first responder, can usually make it to Parker Canyon Lake in less than 10 minutes after a call.

However, Kerr said it hasn’t always been this way.

“They say it used to be pretty crazy here because it was a dirt road and no law enforcement would come out,” he said. “The hoodlums would just party, party, party.”

Kerr said he remembered a case some years ago of a person who drank too much and drowned

’We have nobody’

Bilbrey said Patagonia Lake State Park, due to a declining number of rangers on duty, has to rely on other law enforcement agencies if a situation begins to get out of hand. Usually that means sheriff’s deputies, who at times can be up to 20 minutes away.

“We have nobody. Budget cuts have barely allowed us to keep one law enforcement person there,” Bilbrey said.

“There is nothing really we can do. People have to manage themselves.”

Hot spot for law enforcement

Patagonia Lake State Park has been a regular site of unruly, dangerous and even deadly behavior. Here are some of the incidents reported to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office:

  • Aug. 8, 2010 – 28-year-old Sergio Rene Chavez of Nogales drowned in Patagonia Lake. Investigators said excessive alcohol was a factor.
  • June 16, 2010 – Rangers from Patagonia Lake State Park requested back-up dealing with a disorderly man with a mental condition.
  • March 27, 2010 – A man reported that his wife was at Patagonia Lake State Park, where three people, who were under the influence of alcohol, were attempting to open her car.
  • March 20, 2010 – A wreck involving four juveniles left a 17-year-old boy critically injured after the pick-up he was driving rolled near Patagonia Lake.
  • March 14, 2010 – Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a stabbing at the Patagonia Lake State Park marina.
  • Oct. 24, 2009 – A caller from Patagonia Lake State Park said that a man had assaulted a woman by the bathrooms near the marina.
  • July 24, 2009 – Rangers at Patagonia Lake State Park requested assistance in transporting a man to the Santa Cruz County Detention Center after finding he had a warrant out of the Nogales Police Department.
  • June 20, 2009 – A vehicle was reported stolen at Patagonia Lake State Park, only to be later found in a canyon near Debra Court.
  • March 21, 2009 – A caller said his girlfriend had just been sexually assaulted at a campground located by the Patagonia Lake marina.

But Ellen Bilbrey, spokeswoman for Arizona State Parks, said the incidents are simply a function of the park’s high visitation.

[You may also want to read the Sierra Vista Herald’s coverage: Alcohol rules won’t change at lake]

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Superstition Mountains, gold draw tourists to Apache Junction

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[Source: Rachael Myer, OpportunityGreaterPhoenix.com Aug. 10, 2010]

Photographers travel hundreds of miles to take pictures of wildflowers blooming at the base of the Superstition Mountains.

Miners still disappear in the ridges looking for the fabled lost gold.

Lost Dutchman State Park’s saguaro cactus, ocotillo plants, and wild javelina draw tourists from all over the world.

With a challenging economy, Apache Junction is launching a tourism effort fused around the park’s beauty and mystique.

The timing seems just right to center a tourism push on the park. This spring the community rallied in droves to save Lost Dutchman from possible closure and the park recently received $1 million in grants for capital improvements.

Now city officials are distributing brochures, creating online videos, and planning downtown revitalization efforts to boost the East Valley city’s economy.

Lost Dutchman’s support, capital improvements

Public support for Lost Dutchman State Park appears to never have been more abundant.

Residents from nearby communities raised $26,000 this spring to keep the park open after a lack of state funding threatened to close it.

Donations came rolling in.

Taylor H. Sanford Jr., a Texas resident who winters in Mesa, donated $8,000. Haley Anderson, 12, led the fundraising effort at Mesa’s Smith Junior High School and collected $1,431. Superstition Harley-Davidson sponsored a motorcycle ride that generated $10,000.

The Friends of the Lost Dutchman State Park formed after the closure threat. The organization continues advocacy efforts even though the State Parks Board voted in May to keep the park open.

Capital improvements to the park over the summer will help to attract more visitors and enable them to stay longer, officials said.

Installing electricity at 38 campsites and constructing an additional restroom and shower will allow campers to enjoy air conditioning in their recreational vehicles, and encourage longer stays in the campgrounds.

The $1 million project, funded through federal and state grants, is expected to be completed in the fall.

Officials hope campers will spend more money at the local grocery stores, gas stations, and restaurants. About 100,000 visitors – almost half from outside of Arizona – come to the park each year.

The park generates a significant economic boost of $4 million. More than 45 jobs are indirectly tied to the park, according to the state park system.

Mitzi Rinehart has led hikes and educated visitors at the park for nine years. She has met people who have traveled from Scotland, Germany, and Italy.

“They’ve all heard about the Superstition mines and the gold,” the 75-year-old park volunteer said. “They say have you found the gold yet? I’ll say if I had, do you think I’d be standing here?”

Rinehart enjoys the park most of all for the Superstition Mountains’ beauty.

“There’s more quality to a life if you get nature in it and you understand it,” she said. “You take time out for reflection.”

Read the entire post HERE.

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