Tonto National Forest comprises three million acres of diverse landscape located in Arizona, spanning from Phoenix in the south, the Mogollon Rim to the north and the San Carlos and Fort Apache Indian reservations to the east.

Crew Leaders Joel Marona and Josh Rosner, and Trails Trainer, Keean Ruane recently led a project on a six mile section of the Barnhardt Trail, which leads into the Arizona National Scenic Trail and the Mazatzal Wilderness. Due to the remoteness of this area it has seen very little maintenance in the past but now that the Arizona Trail leads to the Mazatzal Wilderness gaining better access to that trail has become very important.

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The Mazatzal Wilderness is a popular destination for equestrian users that require wider trails, with more brush removed, and fewer large obstacles such as rock ledge steps or off camber slick rock sections.

Two crews worked on this project, one crew starting from the top of a six mile section and the other crew towards the bottom. The main objective was to make the trail accessible to stock animals by brushing and tread widening, with the occasional step being built to accommodate stock animals in places where very large steps were present.

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In the future, ACE will have four more hitches in the backcountry area of this trail. By working on the Barnhardt trail we are hoping to re-establish this trail as one of the main access trails in the Mazatzal Wilderness that can be used by Arizona Trail through hikers for re-ups, day hikers, backpackers and equestrians.

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