Reports on 2017 trail work and other ATA events. For years 2017 and newer, select from the News Category in the right sidebar. For event reports older than 2017, please see the Event Report Archive page.
December 5, 2017 Building on Roger and Joe’s work on Passage 23, a crew installed a sign noting Thicket Spring today. These signs ensure trail users can find important water sources along the AZT, something not always easy with the heavy underbrush in some locations. Thicket Spring, which is proving to be rather reliable, is located fifty yards off the […]
Read moreNovember 15, 2017 The Saddlebrooke Hiking Club hosted their regular third-Wednesday trail maintenance day with Ray Peale and Wendy Lotze leading teams clearing brush and repairing drains near the American Flag Trailhead. Ample summer rains afforded the thorny and prickly desert vegetation plenty of opportunity to grow into the trail corridor, and this team attacked it with vigor, making it […]
Read moreNovember 10-12, 2017 Over Veteran’s Day weekend, the Arizona Backpacking Club and other volunteers were supported by the M&F Jeepers in their maintenance of Passage 17a near Superior. The jeep club donates their time, gas and rubber to transport food, water and tools to the volunteers, who hiked the 9 trail miles in to basecamp. The jeep group also stocked […]
Read moreNovember 7, 2017 One of the Arizona Trail Association’s standing goals is to remove the trail from two-track roads where possible. HAZ maps (well, really any version of the topo maps, but I get mine on HAZ) revealed a low-hanging-fruit option — the old Reavis Trail south from Rogers Trough TH. This half-mile route appears on older topo maps and […]
Read moreNovember 5, 2017 An intimate crew of four worked to complete the 1.6 mile reroute started by the Volunteer Vacation team in October. Approximately ¼ mile of trail needed to be cleared in order to abandon the old trail which primarily followed an eroded forest road. Using a power trimmer, picks, hoes and sheer stubbornness the team scratched the trail […]
Read moreNovember 4, 2017 Volunteers joined Zach McDonald and Wendy Lotze on the Mormon Lake passage to repair tread on the climb out of Double Springs Campground. While it was still roasting down in the desert lands, the pines were cool and comfortable as the group worked on a half mile of trail between the campground and the Lakeview Trail junction. […]
Read moreOctober 21-22, 2017 The Trail Skills Institute Module 4 focuses upon trail layout and re-route design. Once again the class met in the scenic Canelo Hills outside of the gateway community of Patagonia to learn how to layout new trail and use re-routes to fix serious trail issues. Eight participants joined Matt Roberts, Mark Loseth and Zach McDonald to work […]
Read moreOctober 18, 2017 Summer rains bring overgrowth, especially catclaw bushes, on the Oracle Passage of the Arizona National Scenic Trail. Catclaw thorns draw blood when hikers get too close. Sixteen members of the SaddleBrooke Hiking Club mounted an assault on the extensive catclaw bushes threatening hikers on a portion of the Oracle Passage. The battle with the catclaw bushes is […]
Read moreOctober 15, 2017 Summit Hut and the Tucson Backpackers held an event on the passage 12a, clearing brush from the trail near the Control Road parking lot. This portion of trail has been impacted by multiple fires over the last 15 years, and the regrowth of plants like oak, locust and ceanothus is aggressive. Volunteers armed with loppers, saws and […]
Read moreSeptember 30, 2017 Peace Surplus and the ATA teamed up to present an event on the Arizona Trail to celebrate National Public Lands Day near Mormon Lake. Twenty-two volunteers came out to give back to the public lands that they love on the Coconino National Forest. Segment steward Conrad Langley lead one team in rehabilitating a portion of the trail […]
Read moreSeptember 28-30, 2017 Given the access issues, the northern AZT passages receive their love in short, intense bursts. This year that included the annual steward event in June, the logging push on Passage 39 in July and now a three-day gate installation effort that resulted in six AZT super-gates on Passage 42. The Kaibab National Forest and Arizona Trail Association […]
Read moreSeptember 16-17, 2017 Melvin and Marlene Betani lead a group of 10 volunteers on a weekend of repair to the Lakeview Connector trail between the Lakeview Campground and the top of Anderson Mesa. Matt Roberts from ACE came by on Saturday to help find some solutions to erosion on the trail near the top where the grade is steepest and […]
Read moreSeptember 10, 2017 Participants met under the scenic pines of the Mormon Lake passage for classroom and hands-on learning time for Modules 1&2 of the ATA Trail Skills Institute. 10 volunteers were joined by instructors Mark Loseth and Matt Roberts of ACE in learning the basics of trail corridor maintenance and drainage. The class covered terminology, slope recommendations and vegetation […]
Read moreSeptember 9, 2017 The REI “Force of Nature” event brought 23 female volunteers out to help address issues with drainage and erosion issues immediately north and south of the Apache Spring Trailhead. The crew built 9 wide drains and debermed the trail, repaired 3 switchback turns including adding drainage above, below, and on the inslope to protect the turns. They […]
Read moreSeptember 9, 2017 Many thanks to Josh Ellner, Holly Hovious, Rachel Dockendorf and Jennie Slusar for supporting our September work event south of the Grandview Fire Tower. Since this area was burned in a fire last year (about 2 miles of the Arizona Trail) we had many “leaner” and downed trees to remove. We were happy to see that in […]
Read moreOctober 1-7, 2017 Fourteen volunteers traveled from all over the United States to volunteer to participate in the American Hiking Society and ATA’s Volunteer Vacation. The AHS program matches trail volunteers with a wide variety of trail volunteer opportunities throughout the US and beyond. Many of these volunteers had never visited Arizona before, and most of them had not even […]
Read moreSeptember 6, 2017 The USFS Globe Ranger District has long been a strong supporter of the AZT and the ATA. Through the cooperative effort between the District and the ATA, all AZT gates on the district are now the iconic super gates, the last one being, understandably, the most remote. Volunteers replaced the gate on Montana Mountain, located just south […]
Read moreJuly 28, 2017 Twenty-five Arizona Trail Volunteers traveled across the state to the Grand Canyon National Park, North Rim, to clear Passage 39 of 139 downed trees and loads of brush. This was ATA’s first work event allowed in GCNP in as long as anyone could remember, so everyone wanted to demonstrate that we are capable and reliable trail stewards. […]
Read moreJune 24, 2017 The third installment of the 2017 Trail Skills Institute training took place near Happy Jack. The one day trail assessment and maintenance training took place on a section of single track trail that varies between beautiful side hill design, old forest roads and some short but eroded fall line sections. The variance between trail conditions provided an […]
Read moreJuly 22-23, 2017 Twenty three AZT Segment Stewards attended the training and celebration at the Arizona Nordic Village outside of Flagstaff. Thanks to the Babbitt Ranches for hosting the event! Jim McFadden discussed strategies for promoting the Arizona Trail including recruiting business partners with his events in Flagstaff. We also covered the ATA Sign and Gate Inventory and how stewards […]
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