On January 25th, 2018 twenty-six students from Ms. Esparza’s 6th grade class at Sinagua Middle School visited the Wildcat Hill Wastewater Treatment Plant and nearby Picture Canyon. Our goal was to compare and contrast how modern and ancient humans interacted with their environments and how that relates to the adaptation of animals in the natural world. We started our […]
Read moreAmerican Hiker Magazine The Arizona Trail Association is a nonprofit organization that builds, maintains, promotes, protects and sustains the Arizona National Scenic Trail as a unique encounter with the land. Having recently celebrated their 20th anniversary, the ATA has a proud history of working with land managers, trail crews, outdoor clubs and volunteers to build the Arizona Trail. [To read […]
Read moreOn January 19th 2018, 12 students, two teachers, and two parents from Grand Canyon School headed out on bikes to explore the Arizona Trail and nearby connectors from the Town of Tusayan, Arizona. Before the ride we helped students look over their bikes to ensure they were in good working condition before we headed out. Once chains were lubed, tire’s […]
Read moreOn January 18th, 2018 38 students from Flagstaff Junior Academy 5th grade traveled to Picture Canyon near Arizona Trail Passage 32, Elden Mountain. The students did the 3.5 mile hike into the canyon and back. Along the way they learned about the effects of gravity over the change in gradient of the water in the Rio de Flag, looked for […]
Read moreBackpacker Magazine M. John Fayhee March, 2018 It did not take long for word to spread in the small, isolated town in New Mexico that I call home. Whether quaffing a Belgian ale in a brewpub, or sipping a fair-trade latte in the java emporium, or inspecting organic cabbages in the food co-op, members of my dirt-worshipping social circle would […]
Read moreDownload the the Seeds of Stewardship Expedition, which took place on January 11, 2018. Future SoS reports will be shown live on the ATA website. Download SoS Report
Read moreJanuary 17, 2018 Nineteen intrepid SaddleBrooke hikers braved a chilly morning to improve trails in Oracle State Park. A special effort was made to clear the trails of sticker bushes and obstacles for runners participating in the upcoming Oracle Rumble for the benefit the Arizona National Scenic Trail. Lots of excellent work was accomplished in 3 hours, with one group […]
Read moreTrail users should be alert at all trail junctions as signs may be occasionally damaged by bears, wildfires, or winter weather. South to north hikers must go left (not straight) at the Carr Peak Trail junction to follow the AZT.
Read moreVisitArizona.com Roger Naylor Arizona is a big state – the sixth largest in the nation – and one way to get a sense of that expanse is to walk the length of it. The Arizona National Scenic Trail is a lanky route traversing the entire state, stretching from Mexico to Utah. [To read the rest of this article, click here.]
Read moreWENY News Kevin Boughton The super moon Monday night cast a silver spot light for a one-of-a-kind New Year’s Day party in the Arizona desert. Mountain bicyclists gathered at the Gabe Zimmerman Davidson trailhead, east of Vail, to celebrate the new year with a night ride along the Arizona trail, with only the moon to light their way. “It’s New […]
Read moreArizona Highways There are many ways to hike what’s commonly known as the Arizona Trail, which runs for about 800 miles from the Utah state line to the U.S.-Mexico border. Some hikers tackle each of the trail’s 43 segments individually, often taking several years to cover the entire distance. [To read the rest of this article, click here.]
Read moreAmerican Trails Advanced trail training classes like Sustainable Trail Construction with Mechanized Equipment are for individuals looking for specific technical skills. Additional training topics will be added as the TRAILS program develops, and training programs can be created to meet the specific needs of land management agencies and trail organizations. To read the rest of this article, click here.]
Read moreDecember 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 morePhoenix Magazine Tucson hiker Sirena Dufault is passionate about promoting the outdoors as a place for everyone and making it accessible to people of varied skill levels. As founder of Trails Inspire, a consulting business that fosters the connection between trails with communities, Dufault puts her knowledge and experience to work promoting trail use and tourism through her writing, photography […]
Read moreThe AZT along the AZ/Mexico border continues to be impacted by people crossing illegally into the United States. Many new side trails are being created by dispersed foot traffic and AZT users should avoid mistakenly taking these trails intersecting the Arizona Trail (sometimes the AZT is less distinct than these foot paths). Trail users may meet immigrants along this passage, […]
Read moreThe northern end of this passage should not be used by equestrians. It is narrow, steep and rocky in places. The ATA strongly suggests using the Pusch Ridge Wilderness Bypass instead.
Read moreazcentral.com Mare Czinar Paul Paonessa, the project manager for Volunteers for Outdoor Arizona, has a name for the pre-rehabilitated condition of the Highline Trail #31: SOLPOST. The sobriquet, which was coined by Woody Keen, former director of the Professional Trail Builders Association, is an acronym for “Scar on the Land Piece of S–t Trail.” [To read the rest of this […]
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 moreThe Daily Courier Ted Johnson Our borderlands offer some of the best hiking anywhere with rugged canyons and challenging peaks. Miller Peak falls into the latter category. It rises to over 9,000 feet from a trailhead elevation of nearly 6,000 feet. My first attempt at the summit was in the spring of 1968. [To read the rest of this article, […]
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 moreSGB Media Granite Gear’s Grounds Keepers program has come to an end in its inaugural year, resulting in 17 hikers removing a total of 1,117.8 pounds of trash from the Pacific Crest Trail, Appalachian Trail, Pacific Northwest Trail, Arizona Trail, Colorado Trail, Florida Scenic Trail and Superior Hiking Trail. [To read the rest of this article, click here.]
Read moreThe trail traverses long stretches of gently sloping volcanic boulder fields. Cairns mark the way along the low-use trail, which can become rather obscure from grassy overgrowth in the spring. Cairns are the same color as the surrounding rocks, so users must train their eyes to recognize them more by shape than color.
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 moreazcentral.com Roger Naylor This year, Oracle State Park came all the way back from the dead. No other park suffered like Oracle did during the bloodletting of the economic downturn. After the legislature swept $8.6 million from the Arizona State Parks budget during a special session in December 2009, 13 parks were slated for closure. [To read the rest of […]
Read moreCopperArea.com The Arizona Trail has a craft beer named in its honor. But great news for coffee drinkers. It now has its own blend of coffee. Sky Island Roasters located at 1575 W. American Avenue in Oracle introduced its newest blend a few months ago. They partnered with the Arizona Trail Association to produce the AZ Trail Blend, a blend […]
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