Written by Viola McGowen, Wild Stew Field Crew Member, and Dexter Kopas, Crew Leader.
This most recent hitch took both of Wild Arizona’s crews north to Payson to work together on phase 2 of the Highline Trail Restoration Initiative. This project has been in progress since early 2022 and we have typically started working on it in early spring rather than winter—however, due to this winter being so dry and mild the work has been able to continue. We did have to brave cold, strong winds, rain and snow for a day, however, while much-needed precipitation passed through the area.
There was much wildlife to see while working on the Highline, both on the trail and at camp. All around our campsite there were javelina tracks when we showed up, and they certainly did not wait very long to introduce themselves, walking through the area during the day and at night. Elk and mule deer were constant companions and sights to see on the drives to and from the worksites, plus turkeys and cows as well. On the rare occasion we would catch the fluffy tail of a fox or coyote, though it never stopped long enough to really show us which it was.
Since we had both of our crews up here together, one crew focused their efforts on the rehabilitation of closed portions of trail in the Roberts Mesa area while Flagline Trails was continuing to build the new realigned portion of trail a few miles west of us. We built rock structures including one rock dams, media lunas and rock mulch rundowns in order to slow down water flow on the old channelized trail, capture sediment, and build up the soil over time to restore the channel into a landscape that will flow water more naturally again rather than erosively flowing down the abandoned portion of trail. A total of 226 rock structures for erosion control were built during this hitch. Once the structures were in place, all that was left was renaturalization of the visible portions of the old trail where it connects to newly built trail by placing logs and rocks, and transplanting vegetation to fill in the space of the old trail to further hide it.
The other crew was toiling away 5+ miles away on the portion of new trail between Perley and Lewis Creek. Our focus here was on drainage crossings that are liable to become muddy after a rain storm, or even blown out completely by rushing waters. The solution? Rock armoring! We painstakingly shaped and fit together local rock slabs into a durable, mountain bike-friendly surface at four drainage crossings, a total of around 200 square feet. In the process we carefully placed some of the biggest rocks we had ever moved, which required a precise hand on the rock bar, with a dash of mental recall to physics class. Though often mindbending, the work was quite satisfying and we were happy to contribute to this biking/hiking/running/riding gem of a trail.
While we had an overall lovely and productive hitch, we were again impacted by decisions made in Washington, DC. On the third day of hitch, there was a surprise firing of the hardworking Forest Service employee who was working with us to ensure a quality trail got built. He was not alone, as all but one recreation employee in the district, and around 3,400 Forest Service employees nationwide have been laid off in the last two weeks. While this certainly makes it harder for us to do a good job working on federal lands (about 90% of work we did last year), our thoughts are for the trash that will pile up, the bathrooms that will go uncleaned, the trails, roads, and visitors centers that will be closed, the fires that will spread with less control, the projects that will be discontinued, and the knowledge that will be lost.
