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Cave Creek residents have been meeting to develop the trail up Black Mountain from Schoolhouse Road, but failed to come up with a consensus on how to accommodate vehicular traffic while, at the same time, keeping hikers safely to the side of the road.The matter will now be addressed by town council.
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Boulders booted from Black Mountain
by Jason Stone

CAVE CREEK – Cave Creek residents have made it clear they want two things when developing the trail up Black Mountain: They want it low‑key and they don’t want a dime spent on it.

And that might be putting the Cave Creek Town Council between the proverbial rock and a hard place. The town council will now be responsible for coming up with a solution since stakeholders have not been able to come to a consensus at two public meetings held this summer.

“People don’t want to advertise this trail to the world. That’s what we’ve been told,” said Leslie Dornfeld, of HDR, the Nebraska‑based architecture firm hired by the town to come up with a plan to improve the trail.

The trail is too narrow for hikers and vehicles. Nearby homeowners want a separate trail to move hikers safely off the road, but with little space and no money to work with, no one can agree upon a solution.

Dornfeld, who is HDR’s liaison to the town, originally suggested putting small boulders along a narrow strip on the side of the trail.

But homeowners argued at the July 27 meeting that the road is too narrow and unsafe to add anything to it.

“It’s not safe up there now,” said Black Mountain homeowner Tony Schindler, “I don’t know what you need to do, but you can’t put anything (boulders) in the road. That will just make it worse.”

Schindler said hikers and other motorists make navigating the trail more difficult and dangerous.

The town this spring opened an easement allowing public hiking along the trail at Schoolhouse Road.

Schindler said he knows there is nothing he can do about outdoors enthusiasts hiking along the easement right in front of his property.

Despite their inability to agree upon a comprehensive improvement plan, stakeholders agreed on adding a parking lot.

The parking lot, if approved by the town council, would be situated near Mark Way about one third of a mile from the trail head.

The town council has yet to set a date to discuss the matter.

Reach the reporter at jason@thedesertadvocate.com.

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