| Hikes by Region - Hikes by Difficulty - Winter Hikes - Spring Hikes - Summer Hikes - Fall Hikes - Dog Friendly Hikes | ||
| Notes - Hiking Tips - Recommended Books and Maps - Tucson Hiking Clubs |
According to a Forest Service press release issued 27 July 2004, all trails and recreation areas that were closed because of the Aspen Fire have now been reopened. I will not have a chance to visit these trails and update their descriptions for many months (first child on the way), so please email me a report and/or pictures if you visit any of these trails. This website is a guide to some of the trails around Tucson. The hike descriptions include directions to the trailhead, pictures, detailed trail directions, and summary information such as total distance and elevation change. There is also information about local hiking clubs. The purpose of this website is to do one small thing to try and get more people out in the wilderness by making it a little easier to find information about trails. I believe that in the struggle to preserve the environment the votes that will ultimately decide the issue are the votes that we all cast with our feet, not the votes cast in legislative bodies. A glance at trailhead parking lots as compared to shopping center parking lots shows that Americans overwhelmingly prefer shopping over spending time in the wilderness. While political maneuvering and pro-environment propaganda can win certain tactical battles in the short term, in the long term the only way to effectively protect the environment is to make spending time in the wilderness an important part of the daily lives of the majority of Americans. If the average American preferred to spend an hour walking in the wilderness over spending an hour at the shopping center then urban sprawl would retreat without the need for any protests, lobbying, fundraising, or petitions. People would stop building shopping centers because they would be unpopular and wilderness areas would increase under the pressure of popular demand. Help make wilderness more popular. Please take your friends, and especially your children, for walks on local trails as often as you can. Lets make the wilderness a part of people's daily lives and not just something that they watch on the Discovery Channel, gawk at in National Parks, or read about in magazines. Please send me any comments or questions, and have fun out there! Andy Flach |