Fossil Creek to flow freely again after 100 years

evenstar · Joined: 03 Jan 2003 Posts: 5548 Location: SCW by way of CA

The June Arizona Highways has a writeup on the closing and dismantling of the two hydroelectric power plants on Fossil Creek. Creek diversions to the power plants is to end Dec. 31 and Fossil Creek will "Return to the Wild". No more Flume....the creek will flow over its natural creekbed. Should turn into one of the best, (and even more popular Crying or Very sad

) backpacking and camping areas in the state.
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Cynhikr · Joined: 09 Jan 2003 Posts: 1197 Location: Tempe, AZ.

We, as backpackers, still have work to do, folks.....
The current Coconino Forest proposal for the area is to disallow backpacking, as well as campfires
in the area between Fossil Springs and Irving Power Plant. (4 mi. +/-) . (There has been a ban on campfires for awhile now.)
Exerpted from : http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino/nepa/2002/fcpa_proposal.shtml
" Recommended Changes to Forest Plan Standards and Guidelines (applies to areas on both Tonto and Coconino forests)-
Upper Fossil Creek area excluding Wilderness, from Irving to and including'Fossil Springs Botanical Area and Natural Area'.
Convert to day use only. Prohibit camping and campfires.
Limit vehicle access along Forest Road 708 to designated areas."

Can anyone else see the Red Rock Pass on the horizon?
_________________
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
---Benjamin Franklin

"I wonder what ole' Ben would've thought of the TSA and photo-radar?" -- cynhikr

Glitter · Joined: 15 Mar 2004 Posts: 61 Location: Ahwatukee, AZ.

Do you think this will affect the existing pools above the dam? I went a couple weeks ago and I am going to get out there a couple more times before the end of the year.
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whereveriroam · Joined: 16 Dec 2003 Posts: 205 Location: Chandler,AZ

It would depend on how much of the dam they demo. Even if they removed all the concrete the sediment over all these years has filled up behind the dam. I wonder what the area behind the dam 1st looked like after the dam was built, my guess is the water was pretty deep behind the dam then. I would think that if all the concrete were removed then there would be a waterfall left which would slowly erode the sediment away.

whereveriroam · Joined: 16 Dec 2003 Posts: 205 Location: Chandler,AZ

I went here with terricita10 this past Sunday 5/16. I can see why the forest service wants to stop people from overnighting here. 1st of all there are dozens of fire rings and campsites scattered around the place, as well as garbage and toilet paper. It seems as though people have tried cleaning up of late but still you don't have to look hard to find some. There is also a camp fire restriction in the Tonto right now but did that stop someone from building one, NO! I don't want them to out law overnights and may go with this group next month but I hate to say they might be better off going to a permit system.

Arizonaheat · Posted: 5/17/2004, 2:23 pm Post subject:

Leva · Posted: 5/17/2004, 9:07 pm Post subject:

I've got mixed feelings about Fossil Creek, to tell the truth.

Personally, I think something along the lines of the restrictions on Horton or Sycamore Canyon, where you can't camp between the trailhead and the Highline Trail area (Horton) and Sumner Springs (Sycamore) would be perfect.

Ban overnight camping between the lower trailhead/parking area and the springs. Allow camping above the springs and in designated areas below the springs.

I hiked in, on a week day, a few years ago, to find an entire fraternity having an overnight beer bash at the first big waterfall, about half a mile in. I'd planned on photographing said waterfall and had deliberately gone on a weekday to avoid people jumping off the rocks. The party was complete with furniture (couches!!!), kegs, coolers, LOUD music. They harassed me, inviting me to "join" their party -- I felt quite threatened.

Okay, fine, they're having fun in the woods. They weren't actually doing anything illegal, except for being idiots, and, by the odor in the air, smoking pot.

I was not surprised to return the following weekend (still trying to get those photos) to find that they'd left a good bit of trash, including a few coolers, though I was gratified to find that they'd at least packed out the couches and the kegs. Deposit on the kegs, I guess. I hauled out a busted cooler stuffed entirely full of trash I picked up. I did NOT get a chance to photograph the falls as there was too much garbage on the rocks around it.

That's an extreme example, but quite frankly, the whole area is choked with trash from Joe Sixpack. I say make people hike in three or four miles if they want to spend the night -- and enforce it. That weeds out the people who haven't a clue and will also cut down on the pure numbers of people spending the night in the canyon.

(And please note that this is coming from an asthmatic with bad knees and a bad back. If I can do it, any dedicated backpacker can do it.)

But I'm afraid they're going to be overly restrictive about the canyon. Some of the environmental rights extremists have set their sights on Fossil Creek and they'd like to see NO public access whatsoever, anywhere, at all. Some people are nuts. What's the point of preserving wild places if we can't enjoy them too? And I don't mean enjoy them from a paved trail, from behind a fence, either, with a tour guide telling you all about the flora and fauna behind that fence, stuff you'll never see because you're not actually allowed to go in ...

The upper part of Fossil Creek is some of the wildest country in the lower 48. One of my goals is to take the goats back up in there, sometime in the next few years.

Leva

Cynhikr · Joined: 09 Jan 2003 Posts: 1197 Location: Tempe, AZ.

I agree on the "trashing" of the place. Just west of the Irving plant, where the road crosses Fossil Creek, there is a popular swimming hole... and in this case "hole" is apt... trash, beer cans, T.P, etc.
I even saw a Boy Scout leader @ Fossil Springs with a HAND TRUCK for chaise lounges & coolers ......- some "leader".
I bet that it wouldn't be too hard to recruit a volunteer ranger that could live @ the old Irving plant during high season to help educate the remaining brain cells of some of these people.

I HATE the litter, etc., but I also remember the words of "Brother Barry" Goldwater...
"As I say, any American, any person, has the right to see our country. And if we start making rules about who can and who can't see it, then we're not America. "
_________________
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
---Benjamin Franklin

"I wonder what ole' Ben would've thought of the TSA and photo-radar?" -- cynhikr

maryphyl · Posted: 7/11/2004, 8:47 pm Post subject:

Cynhikr · Joined: 09 Jan 2003 Posts: 1197 Location: Tempe, AZ.

maryphyl,
I understand that you, too, are a rafter. That "Brother Barry" quote was actually from an interview regarding the inequities in the access to the Colorado River through Grand Canyon by the Self-Outfitted boating community. But I think that it is wisely put.

Those of us that do not "trash" the backcountry should endeavor to be stewards of it by helping to educate the less well-informed. I'm not certain that the "trashers" are "bad" people, but obviously have not been as well educated as us in the ways of the backcountry.
_________________
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
---Benjamin Franklin

"I wonder what ole' Ben would've thought of the TSA and photo-radar?" -- cynhikr

Desertboots · Posted: 7/26/2004, 4:10 pm Post subject:

Does anyone know of the status of backpacking restrictions at Fossil Springs right now? I'd really like to trek out there before it's too late. Maybe kick some trash-puppy butts.

-=db=-