Written by Sage Bradford, Wild Stew Field Crew Member.
This week, half of the Wild Stew Field Crew returned to the Hackberry Trail in the Superstition Wilderness. Wild Arizona began working on this trail with the Tonto National Forest back in January as part of the process to elevate the Hackberry Trail from a social trail to an official system trail—it is a long-established user-developed trail that winds through the western Superstition Mountains, however since it has not been an official Forest Service system trail and was not built to proper standards, the hike is precarious in places, traveling steeply up and down fall lines. At points, the trail is a trench. Often, the trail braids into multiple paths, making it unclear where to go next.
The first several days of hitch, the crew re-visited some of the work previously completed in January. While the bulk of our steps held up, some weak areas revealed themselves following rainstorms and heavy usage by hikers and equestrians. Additionally, our drains were already quite full with sediment. The crew worked to improve our previous structures, taking on the mindset of “bigger and better”. Larger structures were built, with the hope that these would be more sustainable. During the first few days of hitch, the crew was gifted with some much needed rain. After such a dry winter, the rain was a serious blessing. Rain brought flowing water to Hackberry Creek. It cooled us sweaty trailworkers. It made the tread softer and easier to dig in. And perhaps best of all, rain helped us conceptualize how to better get water off the trail. We watched our drains and steps at work in real time!
After our January structures were re-worked, the crew pushed farther into Hackberry, building more steps, closing off more braided sections of trail, better defining creek crossings, and generally working to make the trail more sustainable as much as possible. After eight days, the crew had built 22 new steps, 7 runs of media lunas as part of renaturalizing some eroded sections of braided trail that we closed off, 7 drains, and 7 cairns. We also de-bermed tread to improve drainage, and improved the walking surface across bedrock in several locations.
Lost Dutchman State Park graciously let Wild Arizona stay at their campground again for this hitch. In the evenings, the crew witnessed beautiful Sonoran desert sunsets and stars. Twice, the crew journeyed to the nearby town of Apache Junction for dinner. Our co-executive director, Lynne, also came to visit the crew.
For me, this marked my last hitch at Wild Arizona. I’m off to New Mexico to begin my thru-hike of the Continental Divide Trail. While I’m excited for my adventure ahead, I will certainly miss working at Wild Arizona. I am leaving Wild Arizona full of gratitude for all the gorgeous trails and land I got to tend and care for, and for all the wonderful people I got to work alongside. Being on the Wild Stew Field Crew has been a delight.
Sunshine & Snowstorms 
on the Highline Trail