Route Editor
Route Scout
Two weekends ago when hiking Agua Caliente I had embarked for La Milagrosa. The Pima County Parks and Recreation department maintains a small trail head parking lot at the end of Aveneda de Suzenu. The parking area is off to the right of the road at the dead-end with Horsehead road. When I arrived there at around 1600 that Friday, I found "No Parking M-F 8-6 Without Permit" sings had been installed all over the area. I knew this was wrong and chose to park, anyway. To reach Milagrosa, one must walk down Horsehead road to the FS Boundary. The sides of the road are now plastered with "No Trespassing" sings, and there is even one really offensive one stating how people will be "shot" for looking at the guy's house, or something. When I reached the FS boundary fence, it was plastered with "No Trespassing" and "Private Property" signs. I knew deep down that this had to be wrong, but I left anyway and went to Agua Caliente.
When I called the Forest Service on Monday the next week they told me, emphatically, that there should be no signs on their fence and that the trail system is not closed. When I called Pima County Parks and Rec they were not as shocked as I'd thought they'd be and stated that they would take the signs down, but nothing more, and didn't have any idea when they would get around to it. I called Ray Carroll's office and finally found someone who was upset at the situation and promised action. Can anyone imagine what a huge scandal it would be if I decided that I didn't like people going to Tucson Electric Park because I lived near it and plastered the city-owned parking area with illegal "No Parking" signs?! I hope those signs will actually come down and the people who decided to buy homes next to a trail system that predates modern civilization (judging by the petroglyphs back in there) will get over themselves. I also hope to meet Santa Claus in a few months
.What is happening there is almost exactly the same as what happened to Madrona and other amazing areas in decades past - greedy contributors to urban sprawl build near a scenic area, cooked up a baloney reason to deny public access (vandalism, etc), and then set out to enjoy the area for themselves. These same people once tried to close Horsehead road with an illegal gate, have harassed and intimidated visitors to the area, and continue to try to obfuscate the trail head on the forest service side of the fence. These are our public lands; they belong to *all* of us, not a select few. If you want to help stop this travesty, a few things would be productive:
1) Call your Pima County Board of Supervisor's Rep.
2) Call PC Parks & Rec
3) Hike, Bike, or ride your horse in the area.
***As to #3 - Please be a good ambassador of the hiking/biking/equestrian community; going back there and getting into confrontations with the property owners, or giving them cause to request closure of the area won't help anyone.
