Slide Rock Park Threatened

The Brins wildfire in Sedona spread into the edge of Oak Creek Canyon near Slide Rock State Park Sunday night & firefighters are continuing to fight the blaze using air tankers. State Parks staff evacuated the public from Slide Rock State Park on Sunday afternoon after the fire had been seen on Brins Mesa about 4 miles to the southeast & ash began to fall in the park. There is no estimate as to when the park will open again.

"We wanted to take every precaution to protect the public so we cleared out the swimming area & closed the park," said Regional Manager Keith Ayotte. "The fire hot shot crews & strike teams have operations based at the park now & they always have a pumpkin pool there full of water which can be used by the helicopters to fight the fire."

The park is nestled in the natural beauty of the red rock canyon walls with Oak Creek tumbling over the smooth red rocks of the canyon at 4,000' elevation. In the 1920's the ingenious, imaginative Pendley family suspended a flume system 500' from the canyon floor & dug lengthy ditches to bring water to the apple orchards which offered 13 varieties of apples for sale.

Slide Rock was named for a stretch of slippery creek bottom adjacent to the historic Pendley homestead & is located on National Forest land jointly managed by Arizona State Parks & the U.S. Forest Service. The park was dedicated in October 1987, & placed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 23, 1991. The site was once the 43-acre Pendley apple farm Frank L. Pendley, acquired under the Homestead Act in 1910. As one of the few homesteads left intact in the canyon today, Slide Rock State Park is an excellent example of early agricultural development.

The Slide Rock 775-square-foot "Brown house" was built in 1927, as well as the 4,026-square-foot Pendley homestead house, & the 6,696-square-foot apple packing barn. The 3 tiny historic tourist cabins were built in 1933. There are also maintenance buildings, 2 ranger residences, a general store, a contact station, restroom buildings & an historic pump house at Slide Rock State Park.

Recently volunteers spent thousands of hours renovating the historic apple packing shed & were able to get the historic apple sorter repaired & up & running again. "We have a metal roof on the historic Pendley apple shed so it isn't in as much fire danger, but the old Pendley home & all the other buildings could be impacted by falling embers coming onto the park," continued Ayotte.

Approximately 2500 people a day visit this State Park in the summer & enjoy the cool Oak Creek with their families with a total of about 175,000 visitors coming to the park each year. Fire restrictions are in place in all of Arizona's 27 State Parks so call before you leave to camp. For more information about the State Parks department & this fire see the website at www.azstateparks.com or call (602) 542-4174.