Portal, AZ - Rodeo, NM

It was all about the Price Canyon Trail, AND legendary trail guru, John Sumner. The plan was to do as much work as possible on the 3 1/2 - 4 mile-or-so trail to the old shrine in the canyon, and maybe even to connect back up to the Crest Trail. The first two miles of the trail was worked on several years ago but some giant logs still remained and brushing and tread work was badly needed in places. John, who is from Texas, brought in additional expert sawyers from New York, California and elsewhere in Arizona. Our own local hikers joined in, as always. John arrived in Price on Tuesday, 13 October, to scout out the trail, looking for a good backpacking campground. By the 14th, five more of us had arrived at the base camp. On the next day, Thursday, the traditional hiking day for the Portal/Rodeo hiking group, 10 local hikers were present. By Friday, the last person to arrive, Zac Ribbing of the US Forest Service, based in Sierra Vista, was the 18th person to show up! Don't try to add up those numbers. People came and went, some were only at the base camp, others backpacked in farther, one slept in Rodeo, some came for “just” one day (thank you, thank you), etc., etc. There is no group picture because we were spread out on the trail during those early days and some folks never even saw others. As I write this, on Saturday, there are still at least nine people working in Price. The last of them will leave on Tuesday, 20 October.

 

Several of the local hikers were responsible for the lower portion of the trail and what a job they did!

There were some big logs to cut along the way. And, by the way, this was all hand sawing.

And some small logs too.

Portal/Rodeo hikers helped all along the way, in various ways.

You may wonder what we were all eating? Every person was responsible for their own food except for Thursday night, 15 October, when 10 of us were at the base camp. We had Mesa Chili, bread & butter, veggies with dip, polenta and two of Al’s famous pies — apple and Chiricahua raspberry. And camaraderie, of course. We managed to stay out of our tents and bedrolls until 8:00 p.m.!

Those of us that live here and walk these trails are so grateful to those who came from other places, just to help us out. And thanks to all of us that DO live here and came out to work. We are regaining another Chiricahua Trail that was lost to us for quite some time. 

Sometimes hard work makes you very happy.

For next week, meet at the Silver Peak Trailhead at 8:00 a.m. AZ, 9:00 a.m. NM. We will probably go high to see what is left of the fall aspens. Another decision may be made, but come prepared to be out for the day with warmer clothes, lunch, water, sunscreen, a hat and whatever else you need.

Happy trails!

Report by Carol

Photos by Carol and Peter