I stumbled upon the Railroad Trail during a casual afternoon jog with a friend. The trail is a wonderful 2.6 mile loop that you can connect to right from town. After 1/4 mile, you come to a fork in the road. If you keep right, the trail begins as a straightaway that runs parallel to Highway 82. However, you hardly realize that you’re running alongside the highway due to the towering flats of giant sacaton and pristine mesquite bosques guiding your way through the dusty trail.
It then loops back around onto fallow Native Seeds/SEARCH land where you can spot sunbathing sheep and grazing cattle. As you continue through the farm, you notice the Patagonia Mountains on one side and the Santa Rita Mountains on the other. Towards the end of your time on the trail, you’ll have the protective company of the Sonoita Creek riparian corridor. Sonoita Creek guides you to the end of the loop, where you pick up a familiar part of the trail to where it all began.Â
As you run, walk, or stroll on this trail, you’ll pass through many gates so make sure you slow down enough to shut the gates properly. The signage is sparse. Dogs and mountain biking are allowed.
Directions: From the Visitor’s Center, head north on 3rd Ave and east on Highway 82. Go past the post office and over the bridge. The trailhead is on the right hand side directly passed the bridge. Park along Highway 82.
One hiking trail per month is highlighted in Take A Hike!. Each description will include access point/s and directions, length, terrain, interesting features, and whether open to dogs or horses.
Our goal is to eventually combine the individual descriptions into a loose-leaf book of local trails. Borderlands is partnering with the PRT to make an accompanying GIS generated map to show the relative locations of the trails. In addition to several hard copies, the trail book will be available on both the PRT and BRN websites. The key, of course, is recruiting volunteers to write the trail descriptions. If you have a trail in mind, email it to prteditor@gmail.com.Â