[Music]
Welcome to Mysteries of the Superstition Mountains today's episode is about Salt River rescues by
Deputy Bradshaw of Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. All right so there's a part of the river
we call it there's we call it Pirates Island there's actually a space kind of
at the beginning of the river where the actual River splits around a quite a large island and
then comes back and converges together and so on the south side of Pirates Island there was
a big flood and it brought in a bunch of debris and it it narrowed the river right
there and made a some pretty rough Rapids so we had a lot of we had a lot of experience
or a lot of calls I should say or rescues in that area last summer because because
of how that how the you know how that storm changed the Dynamics of the river
so I've been riding down there quite a bit with the horses just knowing that it was kind of a high
area for problems to to come about and as I was down there I was riding our horse named whisper
which is our Appaloosa and a couple ladies well a lady came up to me and said she's gotten thrown
off of her tube and her group had gone past and she you know she didn't she was lost she didn't
know what to do and there's really no way uh if you understand kind of how that Pirate's Island
is to without a something to float on you know you could you kind of could walk or Swim but a
lot of people are kind of afraid to do that so and I said oh just just jump on the horse and
and then grab right here and just stand up just stand up and I can ride you around and cross the
river did I hurt your hand back to a relatively area where you it's safe and you can either then
and we'll try and find your group or whatever so she got on the back of the horse with me
and we're riding around and about that time two other females came up to me and it's like we we
uh we lost our group and I think they were too afraid to go over the rappers or something like
that and so they had just voluntarily got off but their group uh because the river was so Swift We
went down river and around the corner and now they didn't know how to catch up to them and
so I was like well I only got room for one person okay let's all just go this way we might have to
swim a little bit but but I said what if the two of you just follow us so I went around through
the desert through the trail that I knew came back out to the river around the bend and uh that first
lady I think right around that time I was able to find her group that's your group right ma'am
oh that's your okay or her group were waiting for her on that side of the river so I was able
to you know give them and she was kind of elderly too but uh so that made me feel good that I was
able to help her out because her group was kind of worried about her but then these other two
ladies they couldn't see their group they thought they'd gone down river but they were just both
so scared to cross the river and I was all like it I said I can kind of walk with you I
said it's not that deep it it can be a little Swift and uh and they were just kind of like
can you just ride us across you know and so I said sure one at a time so take one at a time
come on hurry let's go to the rescue he's good if he falls down just jump away from him but he's
never fell down before so but anything can happen Okay but it's not deep so put your foot in there
try and grab right here and just stand up the first gals he got got on she jumped on back and
uh rotor across the river and
we made it we made it whisper was just a champion he's a super strong you know the
extra weight back there didn't affect him at all he just you know and and it's uh if you've ever
crossed a river with horses you'd be it could be a little nerve-wracking you know that water
is kind of pushing on those horses but like say our horses are so good because they just are on
that River all the time so he got across there and we were able to find that their group and
and uh let that lady off and then I crossed back across the river and got the other gal and she
got on back of the horse and we rode across and and were able to get her back and a trip I won't
about that time too there was another lady that was up around the corner I kind of rode back over
there and she's just kind of standing in the middle of the river there and no tube no no
flotation device or anything I'm like you okay ma'am and she saw she saw oh my tube flipped
over and I or my tube popped or something to that nature and I was like all right well jump on okay
so you want to put your left foot in that Stirrup but he's not gonna bite no no he's good he already
rescued a couple ladies and then can you reach up all the way up here and grab grab the horn
okay now just stand straight up stand up stand up stand up stand up you know because
we're kind of in the middle of the river and there's just no good way to you know
to safely get these people out of there besides that so I just rode down the river a little bit
and luckily her husband died crazy is this yeah that's him right there okay
all right we're gonna make our way over there it's gonna be a little deep but and uh just around the
corner and I was able to you know let let her off and thank you here hand him your bag right here
there you go then just put your put your foot back in there ma'am okay
and just kind of help her down Bud okay thank you so much there you go all right thank you
brother thank you so much you're welcome so these horses you know they uh I really
feel like they gave back to the taxpayers of Maricopa County who who pay for their
them being taken care of and their well-being and we we pride ourselves on taking good care of our
horses and using them for the betterment of the public so I hope you enjoyed some of these stories
where we use the horses and on the lower Salt River to to help out the public and rescue people
and say just kind of adding to a little bit of the Mystique of the Superstition Mountains we really
love all the people that come out and recreate in the lower Salt River and in the Superstition
Wilderness and we invite everyone to come out we just want to encourage everyone please be safe
bring plenty of water plan ahead you know know what you're getting into make sure that you're you
know you're not if you're not planning on being out there at night you've got plenty of daylight
to accomplish your activities and just come on out and have fun we are out there to help and
rescue you if you need it but just encourage you to have fun and and and enjoy enjoy the outdoors
thank you for watching this episode of mysteries of the Superstition Mountains [Music]