Recreation
Fossil Creek's steady flow, warmth, deep pools, and small waterfalls attract visitors who wade, swim, float, kayak, and snorkel in its waters. Four named hiking paths intersect the Fossil Creek corridor: the Flume–Irving, Fossil Springs, Mail, and Deadman Mesa trails. The U.S. Forest Service allows dispersed camping in some parts of the area but has made other parts, such as riparian zones, off-limits to overnight stays. Other activities in the area include wildlife viewing, photography, fishing, and visits to the remains of the Childs-Irving infrastructure.
Restoring the stream has made the area, a two-hour drive from Phoenix, highly popular. As recreational use of Fossil Creek increased after 2008, accumulations of trash and human waste as well as damage to forests and stream banks became problematic. The Forest Service at times closes parts of Forest Road 708 (Fossil Creek Road) to limit danger from traffic jams. Campfires are prohibited between the Fossil Creek headwaters and the dry bed of Stehr Lake, and other restrictions apply. The Forest Service is developing a comprehensive management plan for Fossil Creek; it was scheduled to be finished in 2012.
Read more about this topic: Fossil Creek
Famous quotes containing the word recreation:
“Playing snooker gives you firm hands and helps to build up character. It is the ideal recreation for dedicated nuns.”
—Archbishop Luigi Barito (b. 1922)
“Media mystifications should not obfuscate a simple, perceivable fact; Black teenage girls do not create poverty by having babies. Quite the contrary, they have babies at such a young age precisely because they are poor—because they do not have the opportunity to acquire an education, because meaningful, well-paying jobs and creative forms of recreation are not accessible to them ... because safe, effective forms of contraception are not available to them.”
—Angela Davis (b. 1944)