Exploring Parker Strip

PARKER'S PLAYGROUND

feel like a kite bobbing and weaving with wind whipping my face. But a kite doesn't clutch at its rope with white knuckles, so I'm just a blob dangling from a multicolored parachute 180 feet above the Colorado River at Parker. My teen-age daughter, Jessica, takes the first turn at parasailing behind Rich Ferber's River Parasail boat. I watch her wave at boaters below and squeal in delight as Ferber brings the parasail down. She dips her toes in the cool Colorado River, then Ferber jerks her back up high above the water, and I can't wait to try it.

As I perch on the seat, securely shrouded in life jacket and safety harness, Ferber reassures me he's never had an accident. Then he guns the boat's engine, and I go airborne, screaming mightily. When I pry my eyes open, I'm awestruck at the contrasts below me-blue rippling river, bordered by dark-green alfalfa fields, followed by sandcolored desert and stark mountains the hue of burned toast. With that view, I forget I'm at the end of my rope, literally, and get brave enough to wave twice before Ferber reels me in like a giant catfish.

Parker, a friendly town of about 3,500 citizens, rolls like a green carpet along the east bank of the Colorado River in southwestern Arizona. At 450 feet elevation, mild weather makes it popular with winter visitors, while water activities draw a younger crowd during hot summer months.

The Colorado River attracts water-skiers, speedboat and personal watercraft racing enthusiasts, plus those enjoying more leisurely tubing and swimming. The region offers year-round activities, and I've brought my husband, Richard, and daughter, Jessica, along to enjoy the fun.

Talk about Parker and you're really discussing Parker Strip, the 17 miles between Headgate Rock Dam and Parker Dam. Before tourists discovered the region, native people roamed the area, and then came miners searching for gold. The town of Parker roared into existence in 1871, named after Ely S. Parker, a Union Civil War general and Commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1865.

Riverboats plied the Colorado from the mid1800s to early 1900s, but when the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway laid a spur line to the Colorado River in 1905, Parker picked up and moved 4 miles north to its present location where railroad construction crews were building a railroad stop and planning a town to go with it.

During World War II, Japanese-Americans were interned at nearby Poston. Gen. George S. Patton also trained troops for desert combat at Camp Bouse. Today, more than 85,000 acres of verdant crops flourish, including melons, lettuce, alfalfa and cotton. Agriculture, along with tourism from the 1 million annual visitors, helps drive Parker's economy.

Surprisingly, Parker Dam is the deepest dam in the world, but only one-quarter of the dam's 320 feet is above ground. Builders drilled 235 feet into the river bottom to bedrock, ensuring the dam's stability. Built between 1934 and 1938, Parker Dam backs up 27-mile-long Lake Havasu. From there, a billion gallons of water a day is sent 250miles across the desert to Southern California. Crossing the gravity-arch Parker Dam on State Route 95, we see that the spillway actually consists of five 50-by-50-foot gates. Rising 63 feet above the top of the dam, the five gate-hoist structures hold equipment resembling giant bicycle chains that pull open the floodgates when needed.California and Arizona were feuding over water when the dam was built, so Governor Ben Moeur sent the Arizona National Guard to protect Arizona's rights. A few members of the guard tried crossing over to California to check things out, but their two boats became entangled and they needed rescuing by the Californians. The U.S. Supreme Court eventually ordered the guardsmen home.

After our parasailing adventure, Ferber takes us on a boat tour to see all the other water activities the river provides. Fishing, whether from boat or shore, remains popular. To us, just the novelty of a large river flowing peacefully through the arid desert is wonderfully relaxing.

We're staying at Branson's Resort, a combination motel and recreational-vehicle park built along the river, where you can tie up a boat or fish from its docks. Nearby, the scenic 18-hole Emerald Canyon Golf Course follows natural land contours around the rocky outcroppings and is a very challenging course. Don Rolapp, Parkerarea tourism director, has arranged for us to meet Branson's Resort owner Jeanne Branson. At 84 years old, Branson has an abundance of energy, and since she knows Parker inside and out, she promptly takes us in tow. Always ambitious, she was, at age 13, a wild-animal trainer. Also a pilot, she operated a fly-in lodge in Canada's Northwest Territory. Branson still holds several world fishing records and is heading to the Arctic to hunt musk ox this summer.

Under her direction, we stop at Havasu Springs Resort. Along with a golf course, motel, RV park and restaurant, she points out a free boat launch and fishing area with a handicap ramp. Branson believes everyone should enjoy the river, so she put in the first free launch ramp 60 years ago. As we look around, she asks, "How can you beat this weather, this air? Just look at it." I have to agree the shimmering blue water, cinnamon cliffs and dazzling clear sky make a pretty scene.

West of Parker Dam at the Mark Wilmer Pumping Plant, a Central Arizona Project facility on the shore of Lake Havasu, water from the lake is lifted up 824 feet and sent through the 7-mile long Buckskin Mountains Tunnel. Rising 2,900 feet, 488 billion gallons of water yearly flow through the system bringing Colorado River water to cities as far away as Phoenix and Tucson.

When we comment on the number of birds, Branson takes us straight to the Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge, stretching along the river as it flows into Lake Havasu. The refuge's thick trees, brush and cattail marshes provide a wintering water habitat for migrating birds. The Bill Williams River floodplain, more than a mile wide, is home to an abundance of wildlife, includ-ing desert bighorn sheep, along with a large variety of birds. We'd heard the coyotes yipping the night before, and Branson says wild burros often "serenade."

She tells us that Ken Coughlin's Nellie E. Saloon, located 5 miles east of Parker on a rough dirt road, is a must-see. Only open on weekends from "High Noon to Sundown," according to the sign, we arrive for lunch and find several hundred people already eating hamburgers, hot dogs and chili and listening to a country band. The diverse crowd includes children, a four-wheel-drive club, winter visitors and plenty of locals.

Coughlin opened for business in 1983 under the shade of a three-sided structure and hauled water in an old fire truck. He's been busy since then constructing everything on the place him-self. In 1997, he added a few luxuries like a well, solar electricity and an evaporative cooler. Even with coolers, the heat closes the Nellie E. Saloon from June through September.

A large yellow and white tomcat is stretched out across the top of the piano like a ruler surveying his kingdom. Coughlin says, "That's Mr. Nell. He just wandered in here out of the desert one day, and now he rules the roost." Obviously accustomed to adoring subjects, Mr. Nell yawns as I give him a friendly chin scratching.

On our drive back to Parker, we pass a steady line of cars heading to the Nellie E. Saloon. Coughlin will be frying hamburgers until dark, and Mr. Nell will get plenty of attention today.

We want to see more of the desert's spectacular geological formations, so the next morning Rich Lane of Colorado River Buggy Expeditions picks us up in his eight-passenger yellow dune buggy. Lane offers customized tours, and we opt for a two-hour trip to Gray Eagle Mine, an old gold mine. This gives us a chance to explore the area and view 30 million years of geology.

With the Mojave Desert mainly on the western side of the Colorado River and the Sonoran Desert on the eastern side, this is a transitional zone with plants from both areas. Joshua trees, an indicator plant for the Mojave Desert, mingles with saguaro cacti from the Sonoran Desert. Paloverde, mesquite and ironwood trees grow alongside cholla, prickly pear cacti and ocotillo. There are hundreds of miles of off-road trails,

but riding with Lane is definitely more comfortable and, besides, he also changes flat tires. To reach the Gray Eagle mine area, we travel northeast of Parker through the Buckskin Mountains where numerous mine shafts dot the wildly eroded volcanic terrain. Looking at the jagged barrier mountains, I realize what a hardy breed those early prospectors must have been. Lane doesn't allow us to inspect any of the dangerous "glory holes," a wise practice for anyone. Javelinas, coyotes, bobcats and bighorn sheep roam the region, but we don't spot any since most desert animals are nocturnal and avoid the daytime heat. Lane has his own method of missing the heat. "I only offer rides from Labor Day to Memorial Day. Summer temperatures on the desert floor can reach more than 120 degrees, and that heat can be dangerous to travel in if you don't have air conditioning," he tells us. Parker has three great parks, Buckskin Mountain State Park, La Paz County Park and Patria Flats Day Use Park, all great places to enjoy the river, camp, picnic or hike. Buckskin Mountain offers a full campground in its River Island Unit, with a boat ramp and a beach. Several hiking trails lead to great views of the river. An ever-changing activity calendar advertises interesting programs, hikes and adventures. Bordering the Colorado River is the Colorado River Indian Reservation, unique because four tribes the Mojave, Chemehuevi, Navajo and Hopi-occupy the land while maintaining their own separate lifestyles and traditions. Together they form a community known as the Colorado River Indian Tribes, or CRIT. The CRIT Museum and Library includes items and history from all four tribes. All the farmland from Parker downriver to Blythe, California, is owned by the tribes and leased out. The tribes operate the BlueWater Resort and Casino, also in Parker. The CRIT Education Department is developing the 'Ahakhav Tribal Preserve to help restore the river's native habitat. We walk a multipurpose trail that wanders through the preserve's thick vegetation to Deer Lake, a hunting and fishing area. Birds and wildlife abound in this brushy region. Canoes can be rented to explore the preserve's Colorado River backwater areas. Jessica wants to try the canoes, but it's too late in the afternoon. As if to prove my point, turkey vultures soar down to roost for the night in a dead tree. With the sun setting, we reluctantly end our walk. From high-flying parasailing to roosting turkey vultures, Parker offers an array of things to do - river fun to cool you off, craggy mountain hiking to warm you up, history, wildlife and bird-watching to please the nature lover, and jet-boat racing to get the fun-lover's blood pumping. All