Volunteer Opportunities

Due to fire and its after-effects over the past 20+ years, the trails in the Chiricahuas have been significantly impacted in places, with long-term maintenance issues that need to be constantly dealt with, from erosion to deadfall, vegetation overgrowth to simple lack of use. Coupled with constant budget cuts, the Forest Service unfortunately often lacks the resources to keep our trails maintained, and so relies on members of the public like yourself to contribute time and effort to preventing the trail system from disappearing. If you enjoy the use of our trails, please consider volunteering to help maintain them. Anyone and everyone can help to make a difference. As opportunities become available, they will be listed below.

Wild Arizona

Regularly hosting volunteer events across the state, Wild Arizona’s Wild Stew program is an excellent way to get started with trailwork and other stewardship opportunities. Visit their website to browse and sign up for upcoming events.

Apps

Baftr

If you work or volunteer in trail maintenance, Baftr is an iPhone app designed by the creator of Chiricahua Trails to help with taking, keeping track of, and exporting before and after photos of project work. It’s also great for documenting landscaping, construction and other types of projects!

Hiking Groups

Portal/Rodeo Hiking Group

A local hiking group that meets each Thursday to hike in the Chiricahuas and neighboring areas. Upcoming hikes are announced on the website, and visitors to the area are welcome to participate.

Southern Arizona Hiking Club

A Tucson-based club which hikes all of Southern Arizona, including the Chiricahuas. See their website for more information, including membership fees.

Maps

Interactive Hiking Maps

A set of interactive maps documenting hikes in and around the Chiricahuas, with photographs and video positioned along the routes.

National Forest Store

Two official Forest Service maps, Coronado N. F. (Douglas Ranger District) and North Chiricahua Mtns & Chiricahua Nat’l Monument, can be purchased here for $10 each. The former does not contain topographic contour lines while the latter does. The former also contains land ownership coloration for the surrounding area. The latter covers the entire Chiricahua range except for the extreme northern and southern edges, despite the name suggesting it is only for the northern portion of the range. Both are printed on a waterproof plastic material. Neither are fully up-to-date or accurate.

The USGS Store

USGS topographic quad maps for the entire United States may be purchased or downloaded here. In the Chiricahuas, these maps can be out of date and missing details.

Forest Service Topographic Maps

The Forest Service provides their own topographic quad maps, available as downloads only. These contain springs, trails, boundaries, trailhead locations, and other points of interest that may be missing from the USGS equivalents, but still contain some errors.

Books

Hiking Trails and Wilderness Routes of the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona, by Cachor Taylor

This 1977 book is the only comprehensive hiking guide to the Chiricahua Mountains in book form. It is out of print but used copies can occasionally be found online.

A Portal to Paradise, by Alden Hayes

A must-read for anyone wanting to learn about the history of the immediate area. While it does not contain much directly related to hiking, it provides historical perspective for many of the locations you may encounter along trails.

The Devil Played Hell in Paradise, by Kimrod Murphy

An account of settlers and human activity in and around the Chiricahua Mountains, this book makes reference to and provides history on a number of named locations, as well as recording the locations of the ruins of many building sites.

Other

Coronado National Forest Hiking Trails

While not a definitive list, this official Forest Service site may contain additional useful information, especially for trails which have not yet been surveyed on this site. Note that some of the trails listed are not within the Chiricahuas.