The short, popular Desert Ecology Trail at Saguaro National Park East will be closed from Thursday, May 3, through the end of June while improvements are made to improve accessibility for visitors with limited mobility.
Although the quarter-mile loop trail previously had been surfaced and accessible to wheelchair users, the upcoming work is needed to bring the trail up to current standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to park officials.
“The current surface is broken and crumbling asphalt,” said Jeremy Curtis, chief of maintenance at the park. “It has large cracks in it that are not repairable by means of just filling.
“Since the surface does not meet the current standard, we will lay a new surface,” Curtis said. “There is also a section that is too steep of a grade. We will be rerouting that section.”
The trail will be reopened to the public once the work is completed, which is expected by June 29.
Curtis said project costs will cover work on the Desert Ecology Trail and the Desert Discovery Trail at Saguaro Park’s unit west of Tucson.
“The approximate cost is $200,000 for the two trails combined,” he said. “Work will be done by the park trail crew. The Desert Discovery work will be happening later in the summer.”
TRAIL ATTRACTIONS
The Desert Ecology Trail, which begins at the 2.4-mile point on the park’s eight-mile Cactus Forest Drive, winds through prime Sonoran Desert scenery with far-horizon views of the pine-topped Rincon Mountains.
Information panels along the route provide detailed descriptions of plant and animal life, and benches invite brief stops for rest and reflection.
