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While visiting the Madrona Ranger Station last weekend I encountered an NPS memorial to Mr. Quilter and immediately began wondering what could have happened to him (http://hikearizona.com/phoZOOM.php?ZIP=77770). A friend who works with parks forwarded me a newsletter that gave a few details:

John “Jake” Quilter, 26, March 8,
while hiking in the Rincon Mountains.

Jake was a trail crew member and a
first-year seasonal employee at Saguaro
NP. He had worked trail crew assign-
ments at Grand Teton NP, Grand
Canyon NP and Olympic NP.
The crew that Jake was with were
beginning a project to rehabilitate a fire-
damaged trail. His death, which
was not witnessed, occurred on the Man-
ning Camp Trail near the mountain’s
6,700-foot elevation. Jake had hiked out
ahead of his group and was found by
another crew member lying on the trail.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Very nice, glad to hear about this. I have always loved the Rincons. Great way to honor Mr. Quilter as well.

jeffmacewen wrote:While visiting the Madrona Ranger Station last weekend I encountered an NPS memorial to Mr. Quilter and immediately began wondering what could have happened to him (http://hikearizona.com/phoZOOM.php?ZIP=77770).

Just a note: The Memorial to Jake has been moved to the Quilter/Hope Camp trail junction.

The Saguaro Nat’l Park Trails Supervisor wrote me,
“Jake Quilter's Memorial will be relocated to its proper place at the Quilter Trail Head!”


Directions: From Loma Alta Trailhead 32.13294° N, 110.68700° W. Follow the Hope Camp Trail east for 2.3 miles to the Quilter Trailhead 32.139321° N, 110.654096° W



As The AZT Steward for this Segment (9a, the last 1+ year) I had often wondered who Jake Quilter was. This pass spring 2013 while thru-hiking the AZ Trail I got to learn about Jake. Hiking the San Francisco Peaks Passage north of Flagstaff I was passed by two ladies on Mt bikes. Seeing my pack one asked “Are you thru-hiking the trail?”, “Yes”, I replied, and they stopped to talk. I proceeded to tell them my story of training for the hike, volunteering on AZT work projects then becoming a trail Steward. The odd thing was instead of saying the proper segment name “Hope Camp” I said “Quilter Trail Steward” (The Quilter trail is actually about 90% of the Segment).

They responded “we knew Jake Quilter, we worked with Jake, He was an amazing guy!” I set my pack down “you have got to tell me this story”. It was a cold morning on the AZT up high near the Snow Bowl trail junction, but for a good 30 minutes I listened to their first hand accounts: “a good stone mason, great musician/guitarist, he had a great sense of humor". I consider our chance meeting one of the highlights of my hike across Arizona.

pops c wrote:

jeffmacewen wrote:While visiting the Madrona Ranger Station last weekend I encountered an NPS memorial to Mr. Quilter and immediately began wondering what could have happened to him (http://hikearizona.com/phoZOOM.php?ZIP=77770).

Just a note: The Memorial to Jake has been moved to the Quilter/Hope Camp trail junction.

The Saguaro Nat’l Park Trails Supervisor wrote me,
“Jake Quilter's Memorial will be relocated to its proper place at the Quilter Trail Head!”


Directions: From Loma Alta Trailhead 32.13294° N, 110.68700° W. Follow the Hope Camp Trail east for 2.3 miles to the Quilter Trailhead 32.139321° N, 110.654096° W



As The AZT Steward for this Segment (9a, the last 1+ year) I had often wondered who Jake Quilter was. This pass spring 2013 while thru-hiking the AZ Trail I got to learn about Jake. Hiking the San Francisco Peaks Passage north of Flagstaff I was passed by two ladies on Mt bikes. Seeing my pack one asked “Are you thru-hiking the trail?”, “Yes”, I replied, and they stopped to talk. I proceeded to tell them my story of training for the hike, volunteering on AZT work projects then becoming a trail Steward. The odd thing was instead of saying the proper segment name “Hope Camp” I said “Quilter Trail Steward” (The Quilter trail is actually about 90% of the Segment).

They responded “we knew Jake Quilter, we worked with Jake, He was an amazing guy!” I set my pack down “you have got to tell me this story”. It was a cold morning on the AZT up high near the Snow Bowl trail junction, but for a good 30 minutes I listened to their first hand accounts: “a good stone mason, great musician/guitarist, he had a great sense of humor". I consider our chance meeting one of the highlights of my hike across Arizona.

Thanks for posting! Good to here about the Memorial, and great trail story as well!

I stumbled onto this post tonight. Jake was one of my best friends throughout school and up until this tragic event. When I say he was a great guy I say that remembering something I believe I heard Casey say at his memorial. “Who had anything they could say bad about Jake? Nobody could say anything bad about Jake because of what a standup friend he was. To this day, I tell my youngest children about my friend Jake and about how Casey said that and how it really resonated with me. I tell my young children every morning when I drop them off at school, “be a friend” and think of Jake every time I do. The good truly do die young.