Experiencing a River Ranger Patrol of the Scenic/Wild Verde River
Part 2

On January 18 th, Dexter Allen, the head River Ranger for the Coconino National Forest, extended an invitation to ‘River Rat’ volunteer Rick Zabor to participate in the first five-day leg of a ten-day river ranger patrol on the Verde River. Accompanying Allen and Zabor were river rangers Brian McCormick and Mark Lemke. This is the second of a two part article is based upon the journal Zabor kept of his adventure.

Their home for the first night was on a popular beach campsite where they set up their tents and immediately changed out of their wet clothing into their dry camp clothing. They dried their wet gear in the receding sunlight and then moved the cold soggy clothing to where the first rays of morning sun would find it before they had to put it on again.

The rangers are all experienced river guides and know how to prepare amazing meals. McCormick carries with him on these trips an old army ammo box jammed with over 20 bottles of various spices. The open fire prepared meals were nothing short of restaurant quality. Among the foods they expertly prepared on the trip were grilled salmon, pasta and sauce, toasted garlic bread, cornhusk wrapped tamales, scrambled eggs and hash browns. Lunch fixings included turkey and salmon sandwiches, cheese and crackers with crab salad, humus, tomatoes, lettuce, bananas, bagels, cream cheese, and the old stand by peanut butter and jelly.

Following the no trace policy, the rangers used a porta-potty that was traditionally placed with a great view of the river and surrounding mountains, no magazines were required. The nights were clear and very cold. After retiring from the warmth of the fire into their sleeping bags, the stars served as their TV with a few meteors thrown in. An unusually large meteor was observed traveling for several seconds across the mountainous horizon. Each morning found their wet gear frozen and impossible to get into until the sun thawed them out. So, before trading their dry camp clothing for their damp river clothing, they worked to clean up the site from the previous site campers.

The river’s water is clear and provides an attractive nesting site for the many returning bald eagles that hunt fish in the river. Several of the magnificent birds were spotted flying during the trip and one morning one landed opposite their camp to look the interloping rangers over. Eagle nesting sites along the Verde River are closed to camping. Even stopping on the river during the months from February to June is restricted in designated nest zones to keep people from disturbing the nesting eagles.

Other birds observed by the rangers included the Great Blue Heron, Western Bluebirds, Canadian Geese, Ravens, Red Tail Hawks, Rock and Canyon Wrens, Redwing Blackbirds, Mallard Ducks, and Kingfishers. Beaver were also in evidence as shown by their teeth marks on trees. At night, the rangers could hear the loud slapping of their tails letting them know that we are the intruders.   

There are many class 3 rapids on the Verde River, but Palisade, Punk Rock, & Bushman are unusually intimidating class 3 rapids even at this lower volume. Bushman was particularly daunting where water funnels through a rocky 90-degree bend of standing waves accented with a tree over hang and large rocks placed strategically to enhance the run. Zabor decided that the challenge of running the Bushman was more than he was comfortable with. After taking his own kayak through, Allen hiked back to run Zabor’s kayak down the rapids.

Zabor lined his kayak through Palisade and Punk Rock rapids by walking the shoreline with a line secured to the kayak’s stern. Lining a kayak through rapids was wet, cold and slippery work but much safer for even someone like Zabor with limited white water canoeing experience. Zabor observed, “The Verde River was definitely underrated in its challenge”.

There were flood debris in trees 15 feet overhead and the rangers climbed over snag piles eight feet tall and 30 feet long looking for trash. They found bottles, tires, fishing rods, a plastic garbage can, wheel covers, broken foam coolers everywhere, which they collected to pack out.

On the third day, the rangers hiked up Towel Creek Trail that runs seven miles from the Verde River to FS 708, also known as Fossil Creek Road. They monitored the first couple of miles finding little signs of use. The condition of the trail was poor. Allen kept a written record of this information along with everything the rangers had worked during the trip to improve the wilderness experience for hikers and paddlers along the Verde.

At a stop at another beach, the rangers found a barbwire fence partially buried by floodwaters along the river edge. They dug the barbed wire out of the sandy beach to remove the hazard and wrapped it up for the rancher to remove. Ranchers are required to install fences to keep cattle away from the Scenic and Wild River designated areas. These fences that line grazing sections along the river area are at a distance that is not visually obvious to people on the river. The Forest Service allows occasional fence lines to lead down to the river to allow the cattle access to the river for water. Along the river, the river rangers saw a few cattle trapped in restricted areas between the river and the fences designed to keep them away for the river. They also found considerable evidence of cattle intrusion along large areas of the restricted river edge. Allen also recorded this information so the ranchers holding the grazing permits would be notified of the problem and repair the flood damaged fences.

After five cold days on the river, Zabor ended his trip at the Childs campground where the rangers met up with Sedona’s Friends of the Forest ‘River Rat’ volunteers, Mike Ward and Al Gilson, for resupply. Ward and Gilson have brought ice chests of food to restock the river patrol along with two additional river rangers, one kayak and their supplies to put in at Childs. The rangers, Michael Boseman and Reed Allen, who is Dexter Allen’s son, joined Allen, McCormick and Lemke for the second leg of the river patrol to continue the nine-day trip down the Wild River designated section of the Verde River to Horseshoe Lake.

Bags of trash, two auto tires, broken Styrofoam coolers, a lawn chair and a fake fiberglass rock are unloaded from the four kayaks. The trash collected from along the river almost fills the back of the pickup truck. Ward, Gilson and Zabor return to Sedona while the rangers from the Coconino, Prescott, & Tonto National Forests continue their patrol to cleanup and monitor of the National Scenic/Wild portion of the Verde River.

Two more river ranger patrols supported by the Friends of the Forest are planned in February for the installation of kiosks, and the dismantling of an old Department of Agriculture metering station. The work necessary to protect and preserve the Scenic/Wild Verde River is an unending challenge for the dedicated River Rangers of the National Forest Service.

If you are interested in becoming involved the Friends or for more information about the Friends of the Forest, you are invited to contact the Red Rock Ranger Station at (928) 282-4119 and for further information, visit our website at: http://www.friendsoftheforestsedona.org