News

Tumacácori National Historical Park’s popular Anza Trail Hikers’ Shuttle will return this season, following a two-year break due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hikers can take advantage of this shuttle to walk the four-mile stretch of the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail between Tumacácori and the Tubac Presidio State Historic Park, catching a free ride back to their starting point. Participants hiking park-to-park will tally up nearly 13,000 steps and can earn their “I Hike for ...

During the end of September to early October along a 120-mile stretch of the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail (Anza Trail) groups of people embark on a pilgrimage to the city of Magdalena de Kino in Sonora. This transnational event embodies both the identity and heritage of the people who reside in the Sonora Desert. In partnership with the Border Community Alliance, National Park Service, and the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail; the documentary Pilgrimage to Magdalena ...

Ironwood Tree Experience (ITE) has connected young people to the natural and cultural landscapes found in their Sonoran Desert community since 2005. ITE’s mission is to create healthy and resilient communities by making it possible for young people to engage with the natural world and be stewards of the environment. Through exploration of the natural environment, sharing place based stories, and collaborating with diverse community members, youth fall in love with the place the live and discover ...

It's a new year, and our group is on our first outing of 2022, hiking in the cool winter months which offer us surprisingly pleasant temperatures. Perhaps though, the weather is no surprise at all for this region of the Sonoran Desert which makes it an incredible location to migrate to in the winter months. Migration is the focus of our conversation as we begin our saunter on the Anza trail near the historic site. We find an open area to sit and reflect on this space together. We are a group of nine ...

  Many of the folks who enjoy the sights and the sites along the Anza trail are well-versed in the well-documented history of southwestern North America, which spans at least the 18th to 21st centuries. It’s hard to fathom sometimes, but the events of the late 18th century resonate with, and affect, things here in the 21st. It’s a bit like the ripples in a pond when you throw a stone in; the waves radiate out from that single event and carry on for some distance. We find ourselves now, ...

  Being a planning intern at the Anza Trail has been a revealing experience in learning about different places along the trail that have so much potential for reshaping narratives of place. Learning remotely about these places makes me want to visit them, and through the development of Story Maps, I’m pretty sure that other people will feel the same way and want to look into these spots. One of my favorite sites in this project is the San Gabriel Valley. The development of urban trail ...

Trail Boss for the southernmost section of the Juan Bautista de Anza Trail National Historic Trail, Roy Dickover, faces unusual challenges as he and his crew prepare for late summer Trail maintenance this year. Almost 17 inches of rain fell during July and August in the Upper Santa Cruz River basin, an area just north of the Mexican border. The rain caused major flooding and replenished soil moisture levels, which were so low in June that even some of the trees were dying. The Anza Trail here follows ...

One of the on-going restoration programs we have here at the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains is SHRUBs (Students Helping Restore Unique Biomes)! SHRUBs goal is to aid students in understanding that restoration of habitat promotes the health of our local ecosystem. Our unique Mediterranean Ecosystem has over 12 different vegetation communities, however they have all been impacted by human activities. As SHRUBs these students are helping to restore our ...

This week we are highlighting our LHIP intern Chris! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hello all, I am Chris Para Mccomas a senior a UC Berkeley from the Downtown Los Angeles area, and my major is American Studies with an emphasis in urban community structures, population, and influence, with a minor in journalism. My hobbies include photography, skateboarding, art, music, food, ...

The Latino Heritage Internship Program (LHIP), is a National Park Service-funded internship program designed to connect young professionals of LatinX descent to environmental and heritage conservation opportunities. We at the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail are fortunate this summer to have Eduardo Alessio Piaggio as one of our LHIP representatives. Eduardo is 23 year old graduate student at San Francisco State University pursuing a Master’s in Geographic Information Science. Read ...