Saguaro Park trail for wheelchairs damaged by horse rider

An unknown horseback rider, ignoring a sign prohibiting horses on a wheelchair-accessible trail in Saguaro National Park, has damaged the trail’s hardened surface.

The Mica View Trail, a 0.7-mile path in the park’s district east of Tucson, recently had been upgraded from a standard hiking trail to make it suitable for people who use wheelchairs or other equipment to assist with mobility.

The apparent passage of a horse was destructive to parts of the trail surface and makes repairs necessary, said Andy Fisher, chief of interpretation and education for the park.

“It will require going out, digging up the affected surface, and then tamping it back down so that it is tight and compact again,” Fisher said. “It won’t require any new materials, but it does take time to repair damage like this.”

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She said the park’s facilities manager estimated that the repairs will cost the park about $3,500 in labor.

The Mica View Trail, which begins at a trailhead near the eastern end of Broadway, is “the first challenge trail for people of all abilities in the park and it is suitable for wheelchairs and other assistance devices, but only if we can keep the surface in good repair,” Fisher said. “The nature of the material used to harden the surface is prone to damage from horse hooves, simply from the amount of weight on such a small hoof.”

She said repairing the trail and urging equestrians to stay off of it in the future are important measures “so that people of all abilities have a trail that is available for their enjoyment.”

The Cactus Forest Trail, just to the east of the Mica View Trail, remains open to equestrian use and connects the Broadway Trailhead to the Mica View Picnic Area via a short connector trail.