Trails Inspire

*Update 7/19/2017 – Tusayan Community Trails Surveys available until August 1st at http://bit.ly/TusayanTrails and a public meeting will be held on Thursday, August 3rd from 6-8 pm at Tusayan Town Hall, 845 Mustang Drive.

I am thrilled to announce that Trails Inspire has been contracted with the Town of Tusayan to do a study to develop a Master Plan for a community trails system! Tusayan is the Gateway Community to the Arizona Trail and Grand Canyon, just two miles from the entrance to one of the Wonders of the World.

The town is surrounded by the Kaibab National Forest and has gorgeous stands of Ponderosa Pines and meadows, historic sites, dark skies for photography and astronomy, and lots of dispersed camping.

Recently, I went on a trip to meet with landowners, business owners, community stakeholders, the Kaibab National Forest and Grand Canyon National Park to get a feel for what the community’s needs are. There will be a public survey and a scoping meeting in the near future to help determine what residents and visitors are looking for in regards to recreation and commuter trails.

Tusayan was incorporated in 2010 and services the international Grand Canyon tourist community with hotels, restaurants and shops. The airport is Arizona’s 3rd busiest, quite a feat for a town of only about 600 residents. The town itself has existed since 1920 and the area has been inhabited by Native Americans for millennia.

I look forward to working with the community to develop a trail system that serves both the residents, many of whom are seasonal workers who walk and bike to their jobs, as well as tourists who can use these new trails for recreation in the forest. One of the features I am most excited about is the development of a Grand Canyon History Trail- an interpretive trail that tells the story of human history in the Grand Canyon and surrounding areas.

I will be working with Mark Flint from Southwest Trail Solutions to do the survey and assessment, he is well-known for designing some of the best pieces of the Arizona Trail and a whole network of trails in Pima County. He is an artist when it comes to trail layout.

I so enjoyed my trip, it was very exciting to meet the stakeholders and community and get a better idea of what is needed.  I am looking forward to publishing the questionnaire and analyzing the results at the public meeting.

After my work was done for the day, I headed to the rim of the Grand Canyon for sunset and star gazing. I’ll be posting updates as the project progresses, sign up to be notified when there are new posts on the blog!