Social trail adoption isn’t just for wilderness paths in the Red Rock Ranger District.

On July 8, the Sedona City Council unanimously approved a construction contract with Mulcaire & Son Contracting LLC of Camp Verde for up to $160,724.40 to build the 825-foot Little Horse Shared-Use Path. Construction is expected to begin this month and take 45 days with a reseeding of disturbed areas also occurring.

“There’s no grades that exceed 4% so this will be a nice walking path, 10-foot wide for people to enjoy,” Public Works Associate Engineer Jonathan Hoffman said. “This will connect from the Little Horse parking area to the existing sidewalk, which will provide more connectivity, up to the shared use path of Chapel Road, so that’ll be an easier way for pedestrians and cyclists to connect.”

During its prior meeting on June 24, council approved a $1.9 million construction contract with Doege Development LLC for Phase III of the Dry Creek Road SUP along with final approval of its $103 million budget for Fiscal Year 2025-26, noted by Assistant Director of Public Works Sandy Phillips at the onset of her presentation to council.

“Being on [USFS] land and also within [Arizona Department of Transportation] right-of-way, we had a lot of hurdles on this,” Phillips said. “We had it on our list of projects we would like to bring up to council in FY 25 and we’re very excited that that window is open and we’re here.”

Mulcaire & Son will install a concrete pathway over an unofficial, user-created path on USFS land that connects the Little Horse parking lot to an existing concrete walkway along State Route 179 that ends just south of Sedona United Methodist Church.

“Once it’s built, we [will] add this to our system [but] it’s right now a social trail,” USFS District Ranger Alex Schlueter said about the city’s first SUP on USFS land.

National Environmental Policy Act clearance was required to build on USFS land, and while initial proposals were too costly, city staff found a 10-year old Arizona Department of Transportation Study for State Route 179 construction which expedited the process. Additionally, being within ADOT’s right-of-way, staff has applied for the permit and made adjustments, “if council approves the contract, the permit application can be completed,” the agenda packet reads.

The USFS requested the city’s pathway use red concrete rather than the initially proposed stabilized decomposed granite, communicated to the city on March 18 with the condition that the city assume responsibility for long-term maintenance.

“It’s just a common-sense connection … we see it as a public benefit with minimal drawbacks or impacts,” Schlueter said. “While It took some time to work it into our planning process, we’re glad it’s moving forward. That said, we don’t have any additional trail area.”

“I think that this particular shared use path will do a lot for safety and a lot for esthetics … and it’s really short, how we haven’t gotten any complaints of people falling there [on the existing social trail] is beyond me,” Sedona Mayor Scott Jablow said.

Current amenities at the Little Horse Trailhead include a kiosk, picnic tables, restroom, horse trailer parking and tie-up areas in addition to the vehicle parking. Vice Mayor Holli Ploog requested that USFS “consider shade structures as soon as you can,” at the trailhead as well.

“The general proposal is that all of our shuttle stops [should] have shade structures,” Schlueter said. “Ideally, there’d be shade structures at the Forest Service stops, all the trailheads and then also at all the parking lots on the city property. Obviously, that’s a great public benefit. [But] for us. It’s balancing, using our limited capacity … [and] at this point, we haven’t prioritized that. To be honest, we’re trying to keep up with just maintaining water leaks and that kind of thing in a lot of our developed recreation sites. So things that are more of an aesthetic or benefit, although I would say this has a public safety benefit too, just haven’t risen to that level yet.”

“Previous District Rangers were not as open to entertaining multi-modal concrete pathways within the National Forest, so this partnering is greatly appreciated and a great opportunity to demonstrate our respect and appreciation for the forest,” the agenda packet reads.