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SONOITA — A mouse scurried out from under the decomposing yucca Lee Allen removed so he and other volunteers could clear a path on a Thursday morning in July.
Slithering out after it was a blacktail rattlesnake, which settled into the limbs of a mesquite tree that shades a newly formed section of the Arizona Trail.
“We knew where he was and he knew where we were,” Allen said.
They kept working and kept an eye on the striking serpent. Luckily, it was little more than an exciting distraction from their trailblazing.
  
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Twice a month volunteers from across Southern Arizona have pitched in with pickaxes, hoes and other tools to build a trail at Las Colonias, a 12-mile stretch named for the Spanish word for the hills, extending from Oak Tree Canyon, west of Highway 83, north to the Lakes Road near Twin Tanks.
Though they would finish only a fraction of a mile of trail, it will eventually be part of the Arizona Trail — an approximately 800-mile trail spanning Arizona, from the U.S.-Mexico border to Utah.
About 46 miles of the trail is steadily being completed, piece by piece, and much by volunteers, said Bernie Stalmann, one of the trail stewards.
Nearly a dozen volunteers, nicknamed the “Summer Crazies,” completed 340 feet of new trail on Thursday in the high desert hills of Las Colinas.
Although the rattler appeared to have moved on, ocotillos, juniper trees, prickly pear cactus, wildflowers and other plant life had perked up after the latest round of monsoon showers.
The average age of the Summer Crazies seems to be about 65, Stalmann joked. But anyone is welcome to join.
Laddie Cox celebrated his 73rd birthday this year and was one of the first people to finish the entire trail at 70 years of age or older.
“Of course, a lot of the trail wasn’t finished. We had to bushwhack,” including in the section he helped build Thursday.
He’s also is a part of the “hit-and-run crew,” which rehabilitates sections of trail after fire and other disasters, which can require backpacking and camping overnight to get to the trail’s remote regions.
Sirena Dufault, a volunteer from Tucson, has hiked about 400 miles of the trail so far, part of which she helped build. She said she also has searched for stones along the trail to form a cairn Thursday morning. The small pyramids help keep hikers and bikers on track.
She began hiking as a way to help her manage the effects of her fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition. She continues hiking the trail to raise awareness about fibromyalgia.
The Summer Crazies usually start their trail work at 6:30 a.m., and it’s great exercise, said Max Frye, a volunteer from Sierra Vista.
“This has more enduring social value than a round of golf,” he said.
He has continued to enjoy Arizona’s natural beauty since he first saw the state during a cross-country cycling trip.
“I was going broke buying film because Arizona is so beautiful,” Frye said. “Every time I saw a cactus I was taking a picture.”
Working on the trail also has inspired Rich Grodzicki to take a few photos.
“I’ve got 2,238. That’s the last count,” he said.
Some of which may be included in an Arizona Trail coffee table book that is being compiled, he said.
The trail isn’t always easy, but Grodzicki expects the section they are completing to be widely used because it’s accessible.
“It’s beautiful,” he said. “Las Colinas is just a beautiful section, period. … It’s something that has to be seen to be believed.”
Arizona is often compared to Ireland, and Grodzicki did as he looked out across the vista.
“It’s the greenest green,” he said.
Choco, the unofficial trail dog, and owner Mike Pratt also kept busy on the trail Thursday.
“The best jobs I have are the ones I don’t get paid for,” he said.
He plans to finish the trail someday, completing each of the sections over time. He’s already gotten his start, and he has seen sections of the trail from “arid desert to alpine.
“I’m a big trail user. Hiking, trail running, mountain biking,” and often with Choco in tow, he said.
While he was living in Flagstaff, he was able to work with Dale Shewalter, the man with the plan for the Arizona Trail.
Shewalter, a Flagstaff schoolteacher, began forming his idea for a north-south state trail in the 1970s and tentatively mapped the trail system in 1985 and gathered support for its creation.
Almost all but a few miles of the trail are within federal or state parks and lands, Cox said.
The Arizona Trail Association hopes to have the trail designated as a National Scenic Trail by Congress, which would give it greater protection and better standing for grant opportunities. Only eight such trails exist in the United States.
In May, the “Arizona National Scenic Trail Act” was introduced to the Senate by Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl and in the House of Representatives by Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, whose district includes Cochise County and part of Santa Cruz County.
“It’s time for the Arizona Trail to join that group,” Cox said. “Write your congressmen.”
Herald/Review reporter Laura Ory can be reached at 515-4683 or by e-mail at laura.ory@svherald.com.
WANT TO VOLUNTEER
To volunteer on the Arizona Trail, e-mail janlee@dakotacom.net. For information on the trail, visit www.aztrail.org.
ARIZONA TRAIL FACTS
• The non-motorized trail extends across the state from Mexico to Utah. The trail’s primary users are hikers, equestrians and mountain bicyclists.
• The trail is made up of 43 passages ranging from 11 to 35 miles in length.
• Since late 2007 more than 750 miles of the trail is open to the public.
• About 94 percent of the approximately 800-mile trail construction is complete.
• The trail inspired the song The Arizona Trail by Jody Sixkiller.
Source: www.aztrail.org
Hereford wrote on Aug 7, 2008 11:13 PM: