The area now called the Superstition Mountains in Arizona (Hohokam, Pueblos, and Yavapai ancestral land) are shrouded in lore, legend, and myth. The wilderness, which spans more than 150,000 acres, has been rumored to conceal within its unforgiving landscape a cavern full of gold–a hidden treasure which would make its finder rich beyond belief. No one has ever found the gold, but the legend lives on, and explorers continue to search for it to this day. Unperturbed by titles like ‘Haunted Trail’, ‘Buzzard Roost’, and ‘Massacre Grounds’, thousands of hikers and climbers brave the region every year. The area frequently claims the lives of the unlucky, whether by heat exhaustion or alien abduction (if you believe the rumors), which only seems to add to its intrigue and mystique.

Earlier this summer, the Woodbury Fire consumed 123,000 acres of National Forest land, which included 30 miles of the Arizona National Scenic Trail in the Superstition Mountains. The Arizona Trail Association (ATA) completed an assessment of the trail conditions after the blaze died down in the area between Rogers Trough Trailhead and Roosevelt Lake. They found the trail passable but very hard to follow, with numerous blowouts from erosion events, downed trees, and new growth in the middle of the trail tread. With the results of the ATA’s assessment and the region’s busy thru-hiking and outdoor recreation season fast approaching, Tonto National Forest was in need of a trail crew to begin maintenance efforts on the damaged trail. In October, Arizona Conservation Corps (AZCC) responded and deployed crew 132 on the Rogers Trough Trail.

“Be sure someone knows where you are going…” reads the ominous warning at the end of the description for the trail. Of course, the crew was well equipped with all the gear they would need and a detailed project framework. They worked closely with USFS rangers, and checked in daily with AZCC staff using their DeLorme device, which allows them to send and receive messages even without cell service. The hitch went off without a hitch so to speak, but featured the juxtaposition of hardship tempered by deep fulfillment that is so often characterized by life on a trail crew. Conservation work is rarely easy, but the profound satisfaction of being part of something bigger than yourself and giving back to the land that raised you is often revolutionary for participants.

Sam, a member of crew 132, composed a poem about their experience on hitch in the Superstitions. Their words do an excellent job of conveying the challenging nature of trail work and the stark and rugged beauty of living and working on the land.

I could tell you where we went
or I could show you; it coats my skin and my clothes
and the inside of my nose,
thick ash on my face.

The mountain sticks to every part of me
but my shoes.
I climb up the backslope gripping burnt trees
and slide back down.

Every time I come back
it gets a little easier.
Big hard rocks under
tiny hard rocks under
endless reddish-brown dirt.

I slip on a section of trail on the way to lunch
and start laughing.
“It looks like we’re not done yet.”

The last hike back to the rig is the smoothest.
To think that we can work
to make steady the ground we walk on
is more than just
Superstition.

Learn more about the Arizona Trail by visiting the Arizona Trail Association website, and check AZCC’s current open positions on the Conservation Legacy site.