Trailblazing – Resident Volunteers Expand Our Trails

Living in the Estrella community not only affords a multitude of outdoor recreational opportunities, it provides ways for residents to truly get involved in building their community.  Residents can take a scenic stroll, trail run or mountain bike excursion on more than 20 miles of trails nestled inside the community, and may even see resident volunteers hard at work.

Several new trails are now in place thanks to Estrella’s Trails Committee. The Trails Committee is a volunteer group of residents who plan and build the trails as a service to enhance their community. The committee works to ensure the trails meet regulation standards and physically install the trails themselves using rakes, pick-axes, pry-bars and shovels to clear pathways entirely by hand!  In an effort to keep the disturbance to the surrounding desert landscape to a minimum, no power-tools, bob-cats or tractors have been used.

Estrella’s community trails, which are available only to residents, include: The D-Votion Trail which runs from the Corgett Wash on the north side of Elliot Road across the hills to San Gabriel. Market Trail runs from San Gabriel up the hill behind Safeway, all the way to Cotton Lane. And Mulligan Trail - named because the golf course is on the other side of the ridge - runs along San Miguel from Golf Course Drive to Westar Drive.

Currently, the Trails Committee is working with Maricopa County Parks and Recreation to tie the Estrella Mountain Regional Park trailhead into the community trail system. The new trail will include a 12 mile loop around Estrella that leads into the regional park. Residents will be on the honor system to pay the $2 park entrance fee. The new trail will run from Foothills Community Park eastward into Estrella Mountain Regional Park and is currently slated to open in December 2012.

Getting close to moving into your new home at Estrella?  We invite you to come out and experience one of the many trails in the community. Who knows, your next door neighbor may have had a hand in building one of the trails you choose to enjoy.