What if you could hike — or ride a bike or a horse — the 12 miles from Patagonia to Sonoita and back again, without worrying about the semis and speedy traffic along Rte 82? That is the vision of the Mountain Empire Trails Association (META), and recent events have brought that dream closer to reality. Now it will take community passion and effort to bring it across the finish line.
Phase I
In 2006, two local women, Cornelia O’Connor and Betsy McGee, set their minds to building this trail. They got grant money from the National Park Service and support from the Town of Patagonia and Santa Cruz County to begin the process. Bob Proctor, Zay Hartigan and German Quiroga signed on as manpower to convert the old rail line north of Patagonia into what is now known as the Train Track Trail (TTT). Since then, O’Connor and McGee have moved away, and Proctor, Hartigan and Quiroga have taken up the reins, handling administration and finances, and providing the bulk of the manpower.
Legal access could have presented a major hurdle to building the TTT. Usually, when a rail line is abandoned, the land remains as one parcel. In this case, there were 17 deeds, and landowners had mixed feelings about allowing access through their property. META has benefitted from agreements that the Arizona Trail Association made with HudBay and South32 as it sought to gain access for the Arizona Trail. META was brought into those agreements, and made a further agreement with South32.
Through several years of sweat equity, Phase I is now in place and in use from behind the Patagonia Post Office to Casa Blanca Canyon, comprising approximately five miles. The Roundhouse extension adds two miles and creates a loop back to town. At Casa Blanca Canyon, travelers can access the new AZ Trail connector. There is also access to trails in the Borderlands Wildlife Preserve along the way.
The work was accomplished by the core members of META, with help from fellow Patagonian Tomás Jonsson, members of the local Dirt Bags group, some Friends of Sonoita Creek, and several volunteers from The Nature Conservancy.
Phase II
Now META is looking at running the trail all the way from Patagonia to Sonoita, an additional seven miles. But they won’t have to start from scratch, or use the abandoned rail bed the whole way. META plans to set a trail that follows the swath recently cleared for the project to bring a fiber optic line to the Patagonia Schools and, eventually all businesses and homes in the town of Patagonia. The project was funded by a federal grant to the Town of Patagonia designed to bring high-speed internet to rural schools, and is being carried out by Valley Telecom.
META saw their opportunity when they noticed the route that had been cleared this fall. A trail needs a corridor and a tread. Hartigan said, “The corridor has been cleared and will require maintenance every three to five years to keep it open. Now a tread is needed; that’s the specific path you walk or ride on. If we can find the support to undertake this project, we’ll go in and define the tread. There are also eight to ten creek crossings that the trail has to descend and climb out of. To retain the livestock on the adjoining property, we will build gates at each crossing along the rest of the route.”
To keep travelers from having to cross the highway where the fiber optic does, the group plans to finish the route with its own trail up the south side.
Bob Proctor, who is spearheading the project, says, “Most of the route is pretty good. What it’s really going to take are volunteers to build and maintain these trails.”
German Quiroga, who handles the finances for this shoestring organization, sees the project as a great support to the recent uptick in recreation in the area, especially biking.
“When it’s done, it will be an important addition to our nature-based tourism economy,” he said. “It would be wonderful to get some governmental support for the project. And we are out there now recruiting Rotary Clubs, Tucson Audubon, The Nature Conservancy, the Sky Islands Tourism Association, among others.”
Hartigan hopes to organize work parties, perhaps on Saturdays, when people would have the day off. “There are people who would be happy to pitch in. Hopefully, we can get some bikers to help out.”
Anyone interested in getting involved, whether it be through donation, writing grants, organizing or working on the trails is invited to email Bob Proctor at sonoitacreek@gmail.com