The Tonto National Forest recently ordered two AZT gates and the usual gang installed them today.  These are number 70 and 71!

It was a multi-day effort though, given the logistics of getting the materials to the remote locations.  One gate went a mile west of Cross F trailhead, and the other was south of Sunflower, neither of which were vehicle accessible.  The first day was spent picking the gates up in Globe and getting them to the Sunflower area.  Then Roger and Richard spent two very long days with the tracked crawler moving gates, water and concrete to the locations.  The crawler is an incredibly useful and helpful tool, but it is slow.

Day four was the grand finale, with the usual suspects traveling from Tucson to join in the fun.  The crew assembled in Fountain Hills and caravanned to the Cross F TH, then walked in the three-quarter mile with hand tools.  The heavy tools and materials were already on site, thanks to Richard and Roger’s previous efforts.  Installation went smoothly, the big unknown is how much rock to be dug up, and there wasn’t much.  As soon as the holes were dug, Roger and Richard started to the next location with the generator and hammers on the crawler.  The rest of the crew finished the installation and hauled the tools back to the vehicles, then headed to the Bushnell Tanks area for the next one.  With optimum timing, Roger and Richard and the power equipment caught up with the group as everyone headed south off the highway.

Gate two for the day went equally smooth.  The crew removed the old gate and started digging the holes for the new one.  The power equipment arrived and everyone got with it.  The longest task was the cross-country commute from the vehicles.

All done and everyone heading home well before dark; another great day on the Arizona Trail!

Thanks to Pablo!, Roger, Richard, Gordon, Mike, Tom, David, Scott, Bill, Lee and John.

 

First gate of the day all done, about 3/4 mile from Cross F trailhead.

 

Everyone gittin after gate number 2.

 

Thanks one and all!

 

Number two for the day all done.