Close the Gap

Paula and I always try to do at least a day of trailwork whenever we ‘summer’ in a new place. With the AZT going right through Flagstaff, it was a no brainer to join a ‘Close the Gap’ work event. There aren’t too many more miles to be built ’round the peaks, and this weekend another new connection was made.

We met at Kelly Tank, a landmark that I’ve always ridden by on the forest road. But now there’s trail to it, connected back to where I followed it just a few weeks ago. A large crew finished that construction work on Saturday.

With that gap closed, Sunday was for rehabbing the ~3 miles of trail north of the tank. This is a pretty classic section of AZT. Back in 2005 I chose the trail, and Lee took the parallel forest road. We were never more than 50 feet apart, but I had to keep hopping over logs, deciphering the trail between the braids of cattle trail and generally fumbling around. Eventually it got sweet and continuous enough that Lee hopped the fence and joined me, only for us to lose the trail shortly after.

Troy reported riding it this summer while out bikepacking:

Some of the AZ Trail next to FS road 512 is good…. but eventually ya get sick of the rocks and downed-trees and jump the fence for the road.

So, it definitely needed some work, especially given that the road is so obvious and sooooo smooth.

We cut/moved trees and rehabbed tread throughout, but perhaps the best outcome was that of blocking spurious cattle trails. I couldn’t figure out which trail was actually AZT until I walked a mile north, to the next road crossing, then backtracked following the signs. (It’s a good thing to make sure you’re rehabbing the right trail).

Amazingly, much of that section is devoid of rocks, so we ended up carrying handfuls of them fair distances to make cairns.

The result? Hopefully no more bikepackers will look longingly at the smooth road and be tempted to jump fence!

As for going north of the 2-track where we stopped… my memory says the trail completely disappears there, but you make your own route, cruising through trees XC style, and pretty quickly you end up back on the road out into the Babbit Ranch. Follow the GPS track, or due north, ya know?

It was a great way to spend a day out in the forest. Gary Hohner and crew put on a great event — well organized and well run. Another bonus was working with AZT thru-hiker and future AZT 300 racer Jamil Coury. Hope to see you down at Parker Lake sometime soon, Jamil.