Some hikes are meant for clearing the mind.
As Billy Chapel aka Kevin Costner’s character in For the Love of The Game would say – Clear the Mechanism.
Everything disappears, or at least melds into the background, and the focus is on what you need it to be, while also enjoying the surroundings.
Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial State Park provides the opposite effect. It fills the mind.
Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial State Park is not the type of hike where you can clear your mind and just mindlessly walk along an Arizona trail. There is just too much to contemplate, read and reflect about during this unique excursion.
This hike is the most emotional hike I have ever been on, and it is pretty soul-shaking. I didn’t take many steps without thinking about the men who perished on June 30, 2013 while helping slow the Yarnell Hill Fire... a fire that ultimately killed 19 of the 20 men who made up the nation’s first municipal Hot Shot crew.
Most hikes are about the distance and/or elevation you covered, but the focus on the Granite Mountain hike eventually turns toward the distance the Hot Shots couldn’t cover. It is right there in front of you as you make your way down the trail to the perish site. Their safety house was achingly close. It seems so simple that they could have made up that distance somehow.
Instead because of several variables, mainly a shift in the wind, brought the fire straight toward them and all they could do was deploy their individual fire shelters and hope it would be enough. Unfortunately, it was not on that dreadful day.
So, as you make your way through the picturesque 7.3 -mile out-and-back hike your mind wanders.
What were their final thoughts? They knew the risks of the job but were they at peace with that in those final moments. What could have been done differently throughout the day to prevent final fatal outcome?
At the same time, once you leave the parking lot along Highway 89 for the trailhead the trek through the Weaver Mountains is one of reflection that lets you get to know the 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hot Shots with plaques along the way. It starts with Superintendent Eric Marsh with nice passages by what reads like it was submitted by family members. Visitors leave trinkets, patches, American flags, painted rocks and so many other unique items on the way to observation deck.
Reality really starts to set in from the observation deck, where there is a detailed timeline about the Yarnell Fire and how the fatal day played out, as the 19 crosses at the fatality site can be seen. From there it is very clear just how close – approximately 1/3 of a mile – the Hotshots were to the ranch house, which is believed to be the safety zone they were trying to reach.
It’s heart-wrenching.
The first time I went I couldn’t hold back the tears anymore and broke out in a cold sweat. It’s hard to fathom all of the pain and how many generations of family it affected that day. If you lived here at the time, you probably remember how hard it was to hear the news and the sadness that enveloped the state, especially the Prescott area where most of the men were either born or found their way to in order to work for the company.
As you make the ¾ of a mile descent, which is called the Journey Trail, from the observation deck to the fatality site the emotions are hard to fight back. The 19 metal crosses, each one labeled by name and placed where their bodies where found, start coming into focus, their names start resonating, remembering their faces and some tidbits, many of whom who played high school sports in Arizona, about them from the plaques and I even started seeing (maybe because I’ve seen the movie Only The Brave at least 10 times) them scrambling to clear the area of brush, trees and anything else to protect themselves as much as possible before deploying their shelters.
Then once you get to actual site you start to feel a little sense of solace partly because the fatality site is so well done and how they are honored.
The 19 gabions, wire boxes filled with rocks, that surround the crosses labeled for each individual and connected by what look to be, and represent their bond, unbreakable. People leave more items like fire and police department patches, hats, t-shirts, firefighter gloves, tools, Copenhagen, baseballs, pocketknives and even money. People leave just about anything else that can. Some of it might have a deeper meaning or maybe just something the visitor happened to have handy and felt the need to leave something behind because the moment left such an indelible impression.
It's just hard to walk around the oval area that surrounds the fatality site without leaving a piece of yourself there – just as the 19 men did in an attempt to keep the fire from tearing through the Glen Ilah subdivision in Yarnell.
There seems to be this inner need to do your part. To give something up.
They gave their lives.
Honor them anyway you can.
For some that might just be saying prayer for them and their families. First time I went a man played Taps on this phone when he was down by the flagpole, which hangs at half-mast. Others are so moved they leave something personal behind.
I can’t imagine what it would be like for a family member or friend to visit the site. Soul shaking devastation doesn’t seem like it would a strong enough description.
At some point the time to depart and the time to hit the trail again comes around. Each time I’ve gone it has to led to some great conversation; being grateful for what you have and having those in your life who you love and love you back even more.
It’s a great time to reflect, especially in this time and day.
The country is more split than ever before, and we are fighting our way through a pandemic which has changed some of the way we do things. It’s hard right now, going on eight months. Really hard.
And yet there are first responders doing what they do. Some are putting their lives on the line every day. Just like the Granite Mountain Hot Shots did whenever they were dispatched to take on a wildfire.
So, again this hike is like no other.
It is somewhat difficult and can be a great educational tool for kids as they learn some Arizona history. It is located right off the highway, which is well marked with signs. There are memorial plaques and benches.
The emotions begin to rev up as soon you park (there are only 12 parking spots but there is a shuttle available from a different location) and see the statute of the firefighter near the trailhead and continues throughout the hike as you read about the men before feeling it in your soul at the fatality site.
It’s a hike that needs to be done at least once.
Carve out the day. Bring some food, Kleenex and maybe something you don’t mind leaving behind.
And most of all, bring an appreciation for the sacrifice that was made by 19 men.
Jason P. Skoda can be reached at Jason@arizonavarsity.com with story ideas and comments.
For more information about the Granite Mountain Hot Shots Memorial State Park go here.
