In 2009, the Arizona Trail became a National Scenic trail, finalizing a project to connect many of the trail systems in the state that had been first proposed in 1985.
Traversing Arizona from Mexico to Utah, the Arizona Trail crosses over 800 miles of the Grand Canyon State.
Now, the idea of another huge trail system crossing Arizona is in talks again, as leaders from all over the state have started working on plans for a new Sun Corridor Trail, from Mexico to Las Vegas. Taking its name from the metropolitan area that encompasses Phoenix, its surrounding region and Tucson, the trail begins in Douglas, travels through Tombstone, Tucson, Phoenix, Black Canyon City, Prescott, Jerome, Clarkdale, Cottonwood, Sedona and Flagstaff before heading west to Kingman, Bullhead City and eventually the Nevada border.
Altogether, the trail is expected to encompass roughly 1,200 miles, making it longer than even the Arizona Trail.
Yavapai County District 2 Supervisor Tom Thurman is a co-chairman on the executive board of the Sun Corridor Trail, joining with elected officials and others throughout the state to handle the logistics of connecting all these distant places.
On May 14, Thurman spoke before the Clarkdale Town Council, part of his work to bring the local governments of the Verde Valley along on the ambitious project. Much of the trail is expected to follow existing trails in the area, such as the Jail Trail in Cottonwood and the Lime Kiln Trail that connects Dead Horse Ranch State Park to Sedona. But the corridor also requires new trail construction to connect many of those existing routes.
“There are gaps,” Thurman said. “We don’t know how this is going to work between Jerome and Cottonwood. We’re all working on these gaps, so there will be some of it that will be new trail. We’re just trying to connect all these different existing trail systems together into one.”
The plan is still in early stages — an executive board is meeting of many different stakeholders this week and a fuller public meeting in Phoenix for input from around the state coming in August. Trail advocates hope to be able to bring together numerous jurisdictions around the state, including counties, municipalities and the U.S. Forest Service. They also have discussed hopefully recruiting volunteers and perhaps getting funding from the Arizona Office of Tourism.
“It’s so preliminary but I’ve had people fired up everywhere,” Thurman said.
Thurman sees the project as not only a philanthropic one but one that can benefit areas like the Verde Valley, not just recreationally but also economically. He points to the trails going right through numerous towns, giving opportunities not only to lodging, but also outfitters, especially for people traveling through the state on mountain bikes.
In addition to working on the Sun Corridor Trail, Thurman said that Yavapai County leaders have discussed connecting other trails in the Verde Valley through a circle trail system that could connect Camp Verde and Rimrock to the trail system as part of the Sun Corridor Trail project, though he noted that idea is still even more preliminary than the larger trail project.
“Ecotourism is really a hot topic today,” Thurman said. “It’s spurring some discussion now with [Yavapai County District 3] Supervisor [Randy] Garrison on creating our own circle trail in the Verde Valley. We’ve got a lot of existing trails already, so we’re looking at where you can go from Clarkdale over to the new trail head over by Yavapai College, tie in there and go all the way to Grief Hill and Camp Verde, over to Rimrock, and then Rimrock back over and tie it into Sedona again. So we can have our own circle trail. I think this is some- thing that brings decent dollars.”
