The southern terminus of the Arizona Trail is blocked by barbed wire and hikers are warned not to cross

doDepartment of Homeland Security (DHS) contractors have reportedly installed concertina wire blocking access to the southern end of the Arizona Trail, according to the Arizona Trail Association (ATA). The 800-mile National Scenic Trail begins at Border Monument 102, just north of the Mexican border, within the Coronado National Memorial, and ends at the Arizona-Utah border on the Kaibab Plateau.

“If you are among the thousands of AZT hikers who were able to capture a photo of your achievement at Border Monument 102, consider yourself lucky. That now appears to be part of the history of the trail,” the ATA wrote in a instagram post yesterday.

Impacts on hikers

In the same post, the organization also warned that border wall construction projects underway west of the terminal, including blasting to create gravel, are likely to cause “auditory and visual impacts” to hikers in the area.

ATA Executive Director Matthew Nelson told The Trek that the organization received no advance notice of either the concertina wire installation or the explosion and only learned of these activities through reports from hikers and volunteers.

“Under normal circumstances, DHS contacts the land manager, either the Coronado National Forest or the Coronado National Memorial, which is the National Park Service, and then they contact us, but because most of their staff are not working or are furloughed (due to government shutdown) …there is no communication whatsoever.”

A source familiar with the matter confirmed to The Trek that they had observed the concertina wire at the south end of the trail on November 3 and said they believed it had been installed between October 21 and November 3.

Nelson also noted that AZT hikers reported being questioned by Border Patrol agents with dogs, but The Trek did not independently verify these claims.

DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.

A trend towards increasing fortification of borders

Photo: K. Flynn

Border Patrol agents, DHS contractors and the military have reportedly installed new border fortifications and concertina wire at other locations along the Arizona-Mexico border this year, including near Nogales and Yuma.

Meanwhile, the creation of a National Defense Area in neighboring New Mexico has restricted access to the southern end of the Continental Divide Trail, another national scenic trail that begins near the Mexican border.

A simple barbed wire fence has long marked the border in the AZT area, also in front of the terminal. During the previous Trump administration, a short section of steel bollard fencing was also installed.

However, the monument still stands on the U.S. side of the border, and until now, hikers on the Arizona Trail were able to cross the fence to take photos. Now, the ATA is urging hikers not to cross the newly installed concertina wire for safety reasons.

The organization also indicated in a blog post They anticipate additional steel wall construction in the area next August, which could result in trail closures “to protect trail users from construction activities.”

What’s next for AZT?

Nelson says the ATA hopes to build a “proper south terminal” monument in the same style as the north terminal monument shown here. Photo: Passtrek

Nelson said the organization had already been working with the National Park Service on a plan to build a new, more accessible monument north of the fence. «What we would like to do is build a proper southern terminus, similar to what we built at the northern terminus with the Utah border.»

In addition to impacting hikers, critics of border wall construction projects have raised concerns about the projects’ potential to degrade the region’s pristine viewsheds and fragile ecosystems.

“The borderlands have become a militarized zone, even in remote and beautiful areas like the southern end of the Arizona Trail,” Nelson told The Trek via email. «And the gentle rustling of the wind across the grasslands has been torn apart by nearby blasting to make gravel for the concrete foundations for the Great Wall construction project to the west. This landscape is undergoing a massive transformation.»

Featured image courtesy of K. Flynn.

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