Big Learning, Little Rincons
Download 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 morePassage 13 – Oracle
January 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 moreBe Alert at Junctions
Trail 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 moreTrekking Arizona: Hiking Arizona’s National Scenic Trail
VisitArizona.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 moreSupermoon lights the way for night time bike ride through the desert
WENY 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 moreExplore Arizona’s Public Lands
Arizona 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 moreNational Trails Training Partnership
American 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 morePassage 22 – Saddle Mountain
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 moreCitizen Hiker
Phoenix 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 moreUse Caution
The 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 moreNo Equestrians on Northern End
The 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 moreVolunteers Rebuild Battered Highline Trail into a Much Better Hike
azcentral.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 morePassage 13 – Oracle
November 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 morePassage 17 – Alamo Canyon
November 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 morePassage 18 – Reavis Canyon
November 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 morePassage 28 – Happy Jack
November 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 morePassage 29 – Mormon Lake
November 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 moreHIKING ARIZONA: Borderland hiking at Miller Peak
The 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 moreTrail Skills Institute – Canelo Hills West
October 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 morePassage 13 – Oracle
October 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 moreGranite Gear’s Grounds Keepers Remove Over 10,000 Pounds Of Trash
SGB 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 moreEyes Out For Cairns
The 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 morePassage 12 – Oracle Ridge
October 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 moreOracle State Park: Hiking trails and a gracious family home
azcentral.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 moreLocal coffee roaster adds Arizona Trail Blend
CopperArea.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 […]
Read moreIce Age, Arizona Trail get REI Force of Nature Grants
Pathways Across America As part of its commitment to create access to the outdoors for all, Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI) has invested $1 million in organizations across the country that are creating opportunities to connect women and girls to nature. [To read the rest of this article, click here.]
Read moreTackling the Arizona Trail
The Herald Review With a passion for the outdoors, Rep. Martha McSally is launching an initiative to promote Arizona’s natural beauty and diverse landscape across the state. On Saturday, she led an entourage of hikers from the Coronado National Memorial parking down the Arizona Trail to its starting point at the Arizona/Mexico border, highlighting the trail while calling attention to […]
Read moreU.S. Rep. McSally to Become First Member of Congress to Hike 800-mile Arizona Trail
MarthMcSally.com U.S. Representative McSally (AZ-02) will become the first member of Congress to hike the 800-mile Arizona Trail, which spans from the U.S. – Mexico Border in Cochise County to Utah. Planning to hike it in segments in the months ahead, today she led members of Cochise County on a 3.6-mile kick off hike at the start of the Arizona […]
Read morePassage 29 – Mormon Lake
September 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 morePassage 42 – Kaibab Plateau North
September 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 […]
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