We all know of the disastrous impacts of the Covid 19 Pandemic. To any of our readers who may have been personally impacted by this horrible disease, we at SRRTF send our thoughts and condolences.

While the human toll is foremost on our hearts and minds, there have been other collateral impacts. You may have seen the increase in traffic on our roads and trails as people use the national forest for meeting, recreation and exercise during these challenging times. In particular, forest trails offer a place for health and solace. “The importance of our trails is more obvious to people during this pandemic” stated SRRTF President Kevin Adams, “as is the need to maintain them.”

Local Forest Service staff report that forest use near Sedona fluctuated in response to the pandemic. Initially, trailhead use dropped by more than 20% in March and April as the effects of the pandemic shutdowns spread across the nation. After the initial and dramatic drop, trail use gradually increased as shutdown restrictions lifted, far surpassing 2019 numbers.

Sales of Red Rock passes, an indication of trailhead use and cultural site visits, have been rising since July. Autumn numbers in 2020 are already 20% ahead of 2019. Chris Johansson, Forest Service Recreation Manager, applauds the publics “back to nature” activities, but also wonders “what the overall increase means for future trail maintenance.”

Use at some trail locations, such as the swimming sites along the Bell Trail near Beaver Creek and Oak Creek, show far greater increases, more than tripling over the summer. In fact, on one extremely hot day, more than 1200 people were counted visiting a popular swimming hole on the Bell Trail. Likewise, summer heat caught some people unprepared. Forest Service temporarily closed the Bell Trail after 12 heat related emergency rescues in one day.  

Johansson described the evolution of forest management to address the pandemic while trying to maintain forest access. The initial closures of some forest sites, including campgrounds, gave way to limited access with protective measures in place. He said that USFS was finding ways “to allow healthy and safe forest access, as this is so important to so many.”

Dispersed camping in the forest south of Sedona also jumped in popularity. Forest Service Protection Officer Francisca Adrian observed that “every possible dispersed camping spot has been full in the spring and fall”. Observations by the Forest Service indicate that many people are choosing to car camp as a way to quarantine and as a “get away” while other travel options are closed or limited. Adrian added that, “Many were “smoke refugees” from California.”

While our trails provide solace for many, the increased use by locals and visitors alike have boosted the need for their maintenance. please consider a donation to the Sedona Red Rock Trail Fund.  Your donation will go directly to hire crews and support volunteers who maintain the trails for our future use!

• Prepared by:

  Forrest Saville: Trails, OHV and Wilderness Coordinator

  Kyle Robb: Trail Crew Supervisor

  The Red Rock District includes more than 400 miles of trails with nearly 300 miles in close proximity of the city of Sedona and the Village of Oak Creek. Trail maintenance is vital to providing a great recreational experience for the nearly three million people using local trails each year. For many local businesses and residents, the trail system is essential to their quality of life. The Forest Service, in collaboration with numerous volunteers, non-profit groups, and local governments, is dedicated to maintaining and enhancing trails throughout the district in a sustainable and safe manner that is uniquely tailored to the Sedona and Verde Valley area.

  A special THANK YOU to all of our partners and volunteer groups including the Sedona Red Rock Trail Fund, Sedona Chamber of Commerce, Friends of the Forest, Verde Valley Cyclists Coalition, City of Sedona, Beaver Creek Trails Coalition, American Conservation Experience, Arizona Conservation Corps, Cornville Community Association, Yavapai County, Coconino County, and local businesses.

  Accomplishments:

  During the 2020 Trail Season, the Red Rock Trail Crew with help from the American Conservation Experience, Friends of the Forest, Verde Valley Cyclists Coalition and many other individual volunteers completed extensive maintenance and improvement of non- motorized trails in the Red Rock Ranger District.

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• ·      411 total miles of trail on the Red Rock Ranger District

• ·      284 miles in the Sedona/Village of Oak area

• ·      322 miles of trail maintenance completed

• ·      11.7 miles of new trail constructed

• ·      11.3 miles of trail naturalized

• ·      8 trail reroutes completed

• ·      402 feet of retaining walls built

• ·      661 feet of rock armoring constructed

• ·      79 rock stairs installed

• ·      526 drainage structures maintained

• ·      101 new drain structures installed

• ·      134 trail signs installed

• ·      74 old carins removed

• ·      26 carins built

• ·      4,092 total volunteer hours donated to district trail work

• ·      10,240 total hours of work by youth conservation corps (ACE and AZCC)

• ·      19,363 total hours dedicated to trail patrolling and providing information to the public

• ·      50 public trail work events with an average of 24 volunteers attending each event

• ·      $110,484 total value of volunteer labor provided by volunteers during the trail season

Red Rock Trail Crew

The Red Rock Trail Crew, consisting of Forrest Saville as Coordinator, Kyle Robb as Supervisor and a 10 person crew, spends 50% of the time working with volunteers, youth corps and the local community. The other 50% of the time the crew works towards accomplishing the backlog of deferred maintenance (322 miles maintained!!) and dozens of projects. Some projects goals that were met this 2019-2020 season were building rock check steps on Courthouse Butte Loop to aid in the erosion issues, giving Adobe Jack new carin baskets and signs to make the junctions more comprehensive and the crew completed the remaining trails in the new Western Gateway System. We are fortunate to have more than half of our Red Rock Trail Crew return every year because of the community involvement and extensive project work (and scenery) that Sedona has to offer.

Forrest Saville providing orientation to the new crew members

BEFORE: This picture illustrates the kind of erosion that can happen on trails in the Sedona area.  AFTER: This trail received heavy maintenance to help protect it for years to come.

Rain or shine our volunteers continue to show up and work hard!

2019-2020 Projects Completed

Western Gateway

Western Gateway was completed with the additions of 7 new trails consisting of 12 new miles. Of the 28 miles within Gateway, all are open to hiking, biking and equestrians.  

Rover trail is a new 1 mile long segment provides a new connecting point to Dry Creek.

Stirrup trail is now a 2.5 mile segment of easy trail to ride and hike right out of the Cultural Park trailhead.

Lasso and Bolo are new connector trails to provide easy routes for shorter hikes/rides within Western Gateway.
Axis is a 4.5 mile trail that spans north to south. Over 4 weeks of work and 1000 hours from volunteers and corps crews were needed to build this moderate trail for all users.
Ground Control had over 200 hours of volunteers and corps crews working hard to open this scenic trail.

Bottom Out was constructed in 250 hours by ACE, volunteers and the Red Rock Trail Crew. This was the last trail built in Western Gateway. This trail provides a “black diamond” experience in the Western Gateway system.  

Many volunteers and crew members helped move material to build a retaining wall.

V-V Heritage Site

Construction started with a crew of 8 people for four weeks building 200 feet of rock walls and 15 rock stair steps. All of this work not only provided viewing nodes but it stabilized the landscape to prevent from further erosion and decay of the archeological site.

The finished viewing pad at the heritage site.
Over 20,000 lbs. of material were used to construct this project.

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO CAME OUT AND HELPED THIS SEASON!!!!

Click here to get the details on how the Western Gateway came to be.

I would like to thank everyone who helped out raising money at the SRRTF booth this past weekend at the bike festival. During the three day period, $6,754.00 was raised just from the SRRTF crew engaging with the festival on goers. We will also have revenue from the efforts of the VVCC festival booth, online revenue and various vendors making donations.

My sincere THANK YOU to Dan Blaettler, Bonnie Miller, Deb Gens, Lela Montefort, Marilyn Paul, Stephanie Giesbrecht and Liz Sweeney for volunteering your time at the booth.

Woohoo! Bonnie's running the donation on the card reader.