Arizoniques

Little Boats on Big Water

The canoe, that graceful craft born among the tree-lined lakes and clear tumbling streams of the Northeast, is suddenly showing up in places where, just a short while ago, it would have been considered suicidal to take one. Recent developments in materials, equipment, and technique have made this change possible. No longer made of birchbark or aluminum, today's canoe has a skin of resilient spaceage plastic as slippery as it is tough. Inflatable flotation bags have been added to fill the boat's cavernous, water-grabbing interior. Thus equipped, the new canoe bounces off rocks, slides over gravel bars, and is impossible to swamp in the largest of waves, even if it turns over. With the danger of swamping removed, enthusiasts adapted some of the paddling techniques used with another unswampable boat, the kayak. As a result, the once "tippy" canoe has become a familiar sight even among the towering waves and boiling holes of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon.

ARIZONIQUES Edited by Vicky Hay

Nancy McCleskey, who learned big-water canoeing on the Chattooga, made famous by the movie Deliverance, was a member of the first all-open canoe descent of the Grand Canyon in 1985. During that precedent-setting run, she says, "I didn't get a cup of water in my boat." Since then, McCleskey has canoed other large and small rivers in Arizona, including the challenging Salt River, which rises in mountain streams near the Mogollon Rim. But she is no longer a member of an exclusive group when she paddles her open boat through waters once the sole domain of rafts and kayaks. "No matter where I go,"

she says, "I see other canoes now." For more information on big-water canoeing in Arizona, contact the Northern Arizona Paddlers Club, (602) 7742267.

Sacred Flowers

Sabino Canyon is a small oasis set in the foothills of the Catalina Mountains northeast of Tucson. Where the narrow wooded canyon widens as it falls to the Tucson valley, it broadens into an area called Lower Sabino. Here during the Great Depression the Works Projects Administration built a stone dam across the creek, forming an attractive waterfall and a broad pool, now silted up to within a couple of feet of the dam's top.The forests that grow beside the flowing water are home to unusually thick plantations of one of the Southwest's most unusual flowers: the sacred datura. Some people call this relative of deadly nightshade "Indian apple" or "thornapple;" scientists know it as datura meteloides.

From May to October, the sacred datura displays huge brilliant white blooms, often tinged with lilac. They open in late afternoon and close by noon of the following day. The trumpet-shaped blossoms can measure six inches across and eight inches in length.Imagine a meadow as large as your living room filled with oversized white trumpets raised upright above layers of silver-green foliage. In the evening, the flowers float like ghosts in the gauzy twilight; in the morning, the early sun lights the translucent ribbed throat of each flower. Bend over one, and you will catch a light fragrance reminiscent of Easter lilies. But if this lovely plant possesses a ghost-like beauty, it may have something to do with the fact that it carries the same alkaloid toxins as its cousins, deadly nightshade and belladonna. It causes hallucinations and death when eaten. Native Americans once used datura to induce visions during religious rites. Some people develop a rash merely from touching the leaves, and dogs should be kept away from it. Datura is a flower to be admired but not touched. To see the datura colony in Lower Sabino, take the Seven Falls tram and get off at the second stop. Head north along the road to the picnic area, following the path along the west bank of the creek past the dam; then turn right. Or, if you prefer to walk, follow the wide dirt path from the east end of the parking lot until it intersects the road; heading right, follow the pavement, and then bear left at each fork until you reach the picnic area. The walk takes 15 to 20 minutes. -William L. ScurrabJuly 22-August 11, Sedona. The Reading Ranch offers a residential camp for children aged 7 to 17 with reading difficulties. The

August Calendar

Of course, guaranteed to teach kids to read, repeats August 12-25 in Payson. Telephone 622-7685.

August 3-5, Flagstaff. The eighth annual Festival in the Pines brings more than 250 artists and craftspeople to the Coconino County Fairgrounds. Food, music, and kids' entertainment. Telephone 967-4877.

August 10-12, Tombstone. The annual Vigilante Day festivities include shoot-outs and Old West fun. Telephone 457-2211 or 457-3335.

August 11, Prescott. Smoki Ceremonials imitate and interpret Indian ceremonies at the YavapaiCounty Fairgrounds. Telephone 445-1230.

August 18-19, Phoenix. The annual Low Rider Custom Car Show features fancy automobiles, contests, prizes, and entertainment at Civic Plaza. Telephone 262-7272.

August 26, Tucson. The Fiesta de San Agustin honors the city's patron saint with an all-day celebration including music, dance, crafts shows, and special events. Telephone 628-5774.

For a more complete calendar of events, free of charge, write to Arizona Office of Tourism, 1100 W. Washington St., Phoenix 85007. Unless otherwise noted, all telephone numbers are within area code 602.

The Arizona Highways Water Index

Percentage of the Earth's surface covered by water: 80 Percentage of the Earth's water suitable for drinking: 1 Gallons of water used for an average shower: 25 to 50 Gallons of water used by an average tooth-brusher: 2 Gallons of water required to process one barrel of beer: 1,500 Gallons of water required to manufacture a new car: 39,090 Gallons of water an automatic dishwasher requires per load: 12-20 Gallons of water used to wash dishes by hand: 20 Gallons of water the nation's water systems produce daily: 34 billion Annual cost to operate the nation's water systems: $3.5 billion Daily cost the average person pays for drinking water: 27 cents Gallons of water the average Tucsonan uses daily: 155 Gallons of water a birch tree transpires daily: 70 - Jill Ellen Welch Source: Arizona Department of Environmental Quality newsletter, Update.