HikeArizona.COM

Hikers, bikers and horse-people have long eyed the Central Arizona Project Canal as a "natural" for a trails system. There might be a dim glimmer of such a possibility. Ace Reporter Peter Corbett describes a $54,000 study underway that might help spark efforts to ultimately put in a trails system along the sprawling $4-billion water system. You will find the article in September 16th's Arizona Republic or online at:

http://www.arizonarepublic.com/arizona/ ... nal16.html

The print version has a great map of the metroplex showing the canal system at a glance. The map appears to be missing from the online version. Anyway, the article was timed to precede a 2 p.m. Friday meeting at which people like you, HAZites that you are, can go and speak up about your preferences and opinions regarding this worthy idea. We put up a simple poll, too.
Well, there it is. Happy Trails

J&S in Rimrock

I've only seen the canals in Mesa, but doesn't this already exist? I've jogged and biked along the canals since I moved here 5 years ago and see people along them all the time. Is the study ($54,000 worth) intended to study if they should pave it and post signs? Seems like a waste of money to me.

Or am I wrong and Mesa is the only place that already has the access roads along the canals open?

I've made good use of the SRP canal banks, which are quite scenic, but the CAP is protected
by ugly 8 foot wire fences, and travels through flat, featureless desert. There has to be a better
way to spend money on hiking trails. There is an interesting website at http://www.cap-az.com/.

Daryl- there are different canals, the ones you (and I) have run along aren't the canals being refered to in article...it was an interesting one in todays paper...they are blocked off in Mesa, you can't access the canal at all....if you head north on Power, just before you head down Bush Highway, you pass over one of the cap canals...

I think it's a fantastic idea...I think AZ needs to do everything and anything to promote our strong points, which include outdoor activity...any help to this state right now would be of great help!

Ahh, that explains it.

The canal I followed, I picked up at Mesa Dr and Brown.

Maybe HAZ needs yet another guide--Guide to Canals of the Valley of the Sun!

All kidding aside, I've always kinda wanted to know which canals are "user friendly" and which canals actually foloow the routes of the original Hohokam ditches. They are, afterall, what put this place on the map (before maps) and which also gave rise to the very name of the place--Phoenix.
At least we think so.

J&S