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Roving Ranger Events
for August 23-25 2024
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Who Are the Roving Rangers? | The Flagstaff area Roving Rangers is a partnership team comprised of both rangers and volunteers from the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service. The Rangers' mission is to provide fun and free ranger programs in and around the Flagstaff area, in the three Flagstaff Area National Monuments, and the Coconino National Forest. The Rangers bring understanding and inspiration to all ages, prompting visitors to cherish our natural world, and conserve natural and cultural resources. Check out Our Webpage and follow us on Our Facebook Page to stay up to date with what we're doing! | |
Here's what's going on this week: | |
Every week the Roving Rangers provide special programming around the Flagstaff area of the Coconino National Forest. You are receiving this email because at some point in time you expressed interest in learning more about the us. Here's what's going on this week: | | |
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ARIZONA SNOWBOWL: The Scenic Gondola Ride is open every day, weather permitting. On Fridays, Saturdays, & Sundays, Roving Rangers are there from 10am-4pm to greet you up top, and to provide interpretation and short presentations. Contact AZ Snowbowl @928.779.1951 for Scenic Gondola Ride details. | | |
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Volcanoes! With Expert Ranger Greg. Bonito Campground, 9am-10am.
Meet by the Amphitheater parking area and please bring a camp chair! Join Ranger Greg to explore the How and Why of volcanic eruptions. Hear how volcanic eruptions work and their impact including Sunset Crater and the rest of the San Francisco volcanic field.
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Fun Interactive Puppet Show for All Ages! East Flagstaff Community Library, Community Room 3000 N. Fourth St., Flagstaff. 9:30am.
WHO eats WHAT and WHY in our FOREST? The Eagle is Hunting!!! AND Junior Ranger Coconino Forest BADGES available. 9:30am to 10:20am puppet show
10:20am to 11am Coconino Forest Jr. Ranger badges
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Ranger Walk at Pine Grove Campground Loop Trail. 9am.
Meet at the amphitheater parking lot.
Come do a stroll around the Pinegrove loop trail. Learn about some history, animals that live here, and how a recent prescribed burn affects the health of the forest for all! Bring water and sunscreen. See what the forest has in store! Bring your listening ears and seeing eyes! One hour, less than two miles, easy walk.
Join Ranger Barbara at the Lava River Cave! (click for google map!). 11am-3pm
Open year 24/7, year-round, no camping.
You can hike this mile-long lava tube cave that was formed roughly 700,000 years ago by molten rock that erupted from a volcanic vent in nearby Hart Prairie. Read More Here.
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Roving Ranger Barbara
Hike and interpret!
Why are you a Roving Ranger?
“If it’s not fun, it’s not worth doing," is one of my latest mottos. So, when the Roving Ranger opportunity came up 4 1/2 years ago, I could not pass it up. After interviewing with Victoria Allen, I knew immediately I wanted to do this volunteer interpretation. But I had to meet Volunteer Coordinator Matt Sommer next and be cleared. Never having known many “Forest people,” by then I knew I had met two of the best! So, following some of what they wanted me to do and being a rebel on other things, left me wide open for enjoyment and learning about the forest, fine-tuning my interpretation skills, and imparting information to other people—nothing but fun!
Remember if it’s not fun it’s not worth doing!
What’s your favorite part about being a Roving Ranger?
The best part is of course “teaching nature to children of all ages.” I get to do that as a Roving Ranger and a volunteer for the Coconino National Forest. There are creative ways to do this and meet with visitors from all areas of life here in the forest, the Parks, and out in the community! It’s a great opportunity.
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Anything else you'd like to add or share with folks?
I would encourage anyone with a few extra hours a week to consider volunteering to talk with others about the wealth of this forest we have here in Flagstaff through a program such as Roving Rangers. The forest is an anomaly to most people visiting, and we can make it more understanding and more fascinating, more enjoyable, and even more beautiful to them!
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Every week the Roving Rangers consult with experts in the area to cover a pertinent topic of interest and publish it the Arizona Daily Sun on Thursdays. If you have a question that you would like to submit, please email: askaranger@gmail.com. | |
Oak Creek Canyon II: Early Non-Native Settlers by Richard McGaugh
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Born from snowmelt and springs in the mountains of Northern Arizona, Oak Creek has attracted people for thousands of years. As beautiful as the Canyon is, its history is just as colorful. Pre-contact cultures used the lush riparian strips, before early settlers rock-hopped and descended the steep canyon walls to claim water rights and scratch out a living on the narrow stretches of arable land. Some used the canyon as a place to hide from the law, not infrequently while distilling moonshine. One such moonshiner was named Sterling, hence we have Sterling Springs and Sterling Creek. Sterling Springs feeds the fish hatchery at the bottom of the switchbacks.
The first known settler in Lower Oak Creek was J.J. Thompson in 1876. He claimed the land we now know as Indian Gardens. As told by Thompson, that patch of land was farmed by a band of Western Apache until Al Sieber was dispatched from Fort Verde to remove them.
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J.J. Thompson's place in 1876. Courtesy Cline Library Special Collections. | |
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Thompson created a wagon road that connected lower Oak Creek to the old Munds Road. The only other wagon path to Flagstaff at that time was via Beaverhead, a 65-mile trip that took two days. Wagoneers could carry produce and supplies to the growing town of Flagstaff; the Munds Wagon Road was reputedly the shorter route between Flagstaff and Jerome. But still, Charlie Stemmer, in an early interview, claimed that by the time you got your produce to Flagstaff via the rough wagon roads your “fruit would be marmalade!”
Indian Gardens grew into an important hub in Oak Creek, featuring a general store, café and roller-skating rink. It became a great getaway for the folks in Flagstaff.
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Skating rink at Indian Gardens (circa 1950's). Courtesy Cline Library Special Collections. | |
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Next up the creek was Charles S. Howard, alias Jesse Jefferson Howard, but best known as the legendary Bear Howard. He built a cabin near West Fork. According to Platt Cline, Howard may have come as early as 1875. He carried a musket ball for 56 years after being wounded in the Mexican War (the old lead ball was eventually removed by Dr. Robinson in 1901). Oral history says that Howard was evading a manslaughter charge in California and choose Oak Creek Canyon as his place to hide out. He previously hunted bears in California, selling the meat to miners. Now he hunted bears in Northern Arizona for the railroad and logging camps.
In 1885, Howard's partner Richard Wilson went missing after a bear hunt. Howard set out to find him and after eight days searching he found Wilson's body, mauled by a bear in a side canyon, Wilson's faithful dog still at his side. Many Oak Creek landmarks bear the name Wilson.
Howard decided to avenge his friend’s death by hunting and killing as many bears as he could. But ironically, in the last years of Bear Howard's life, he was found living with an orphaned bear cub he had rescued. It seems Bear Howard pardoned all bears after he was pardoned by the Arizona Territorial Governor for his California crime.
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Bear Howard (center), and Flagstaff citizens on San Francisco St. Courtesy NAU Special Collections. | |
Mayhew Lodge. Courtesy Emery Kolb, with permission of NAU Special Collections. | |
About the same time that Bear Howard settled in Oak Creek, John Thomas arrived and also homesteaded near West Fork. Eventually he bought out Howard. In 1925 the homestead was sold to the Mayhew’s who changed the name to Mayhew’s Lodge. This is where Zane Gray was inspired to write western novels including “Call of the Canyon.” Other notables who stayed at Mayhew Lodge include Warren Harding, Clark Gable, and Walt Disney. In 1968, the Forest Service purchased Mayhew Lodge and its acreage for $170,000; sadly the lodge burned to the ground in 1980. West Fork/Call of the Canyon is one of the most beautiful places in Northern Arizona. | |
John Thomas' lodge. Courtesy Cline Library Special Collections | |
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Another colorful Oak Creek character was Banjo Bill Dwyer. Dwyer owned a log cabin saloon in Flagstaff in 1882, but then the canyon called him down. He improved the acreage near Banjo Bill Springs and built a fishpond. The picnic area and springs still bear the Banjo Bill name. The Coconino Sun reported that Banjo Bill was still mixing Grand Canyon cocktails at Sandy’s Saloon as late as 1895.
To be continued next week, with tales of historic settlers in upper Oak Creek canyon.
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Richard McGaugh was born in Flagstaff, grew up in Fort Valley, and worked for a few decades for the City of Flagstaff. When he’s not being a Roving Ranger, Richard’s favorite hobby is Northern Arizona History. | |
An Update from PSAR (preventative search and rescue)
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Mid-Summer (PSAR) Update by Holly Maszk and Curt Knight
It is mid-August and PSAR is in full swing up on the mountain. It has been a busy and fulfilling summer for our team.
Over the course of the last couple of months, we have successfully spotted and called in 5 fires. Our location at the Humphreys Trailhead gives us a unique vantage point to spot small smoke spirals and report them before they turn into something more serious. We have also been the eyes and ears for the Coconino County Sheriff’s Dept search and rescue (SAR). We have communicated by phone to help assess possible SAR situations before SAR is unnecessarily deployed to the area. In one instance, we were able to make contact with hikers coming down the mountain of a possible situation and then speak directly to the potential injured hiker to resolve the situation, allowing SAR to focus their attention on a more serious situation they had at another location.
Recently, we worked with Snowbowl to extract an injured hiker from the trail. After hiking to his location, we were able to access the situation, stabilize his injured ankle, and have Snowbowl security drive up the ski slope to our location. He was then safely driven to his awaiting vehicle, where his friend was able to drive him to the hospital.
We have had a front row seat on the changing of the seasons and each week there has been something new each shift. From the multiple reports of a sow and her cubs on the AZT down by Aspen Corner, to the deer visitors that stroll by in the early morning hours. The migratory birds, such as the Swallows and Tanagers, to the fascinating Hummingbird Moths that have taken up residence in the meadow to feed on the larkspur.
Our “Trash for Swag” initiative has been a shining success with kids and kids at heart. Our trails are looking great with the trade of trash for stickers, pencils, coloring books, stamps, etc. We also have a new sticker this year that was created for those that summit Humphreys Peak. That has been a very popular and coveted sticker to receive at the end of a very long hike!
During the removal of the old chairlift serving the Hart Prairie run, we had a two-week break from working at the trailhead. Now that the old lift has been removed, and the new and safer Aspen chairlift is under construction, we have returned to our PSAR post at the Humphreys Trailhead. With the current temporary reroutes of both the Humphreys and Aspen Loop Trails, it has been helpful for hikers to have a PSAR presence there, guiding them on how to access those trails.
With another 2 ½ months left for PSAR, this season, we are always happy to welcome new additions to our team. Shifts are from 8:30– 3:30 on Saturdays and/or Sundays. Half-day shifts are also available if that would fit your weekend schedule better. If you are interested in volunteering or just seeing what we do and what we are all about, please contact Holly at hmaszk@gmail.com or stop by the tent on a weekend to say hello and see the team in action!
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