Performing Trail Maintenance with Phoenix Parks and Recreation, Part 1...

Volunteering with Phoenix Parks and Recreation

Volunteering with City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation

The last time I went hiking was WAAAAAAY back in May of this year. On a Saturday morning, I drove down to the Phoenix Mountain Preserve from the Sun City/Peoria, AZ area. For my hiking adventure that day, I partially hiked the infamous Piestewa Peak Summit Trail #300 before moving on to the Freedom Trail #302. While the length of the hike was short, less than five miles, it was still challenging. Despite the achievement of hiking halfway to the top of the Piestewa Peak Summit Trail #300, a distance of about 0.6 miles, there was an emptiness about the hike. This is a hike that I am still planning on blogging about here on Blogger, so I won't go into too much detail about the hike for this specific post. The emptiness about the hike was that I was hiking by myself. After that hike, the daily temperatures in the Phoenix area took a dramatic upswing during the summer months. Daily temperatures routinely reached over 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Trails across the Phoenix area were closed on a daily basis due to the high desert temperatures. If you wanted to get out and go hiking, you had to be out on the trail as early as 5:00 AM, when most of the parks open. As a result, I just wasn't able to get out and do the hiking that I wanted to do.

As the temperatures continued to climb during the summer months, I was looking for ways to get back into hiking. Back in late February/early March of this year, I went on an introductory hike with the Sun City Hikers, a hiking club based in Sun City, AZ. I wasn't very happy during the introductory hike. Club members at the hike repeatedly stated that Sun City Hikers was meant for retirees living in Sun City. If you weren't retired and over a certain age, then they would have preferred that you didn't join their club. Moreover, I just didn't find anyone particularly friendly or interesting at the introductory hike. As a result, I didn't join Sun City Hikers. 

As I have mentioned in previous posts on my blog, I tried meeting people while attending classes given by REI, such as the sunset kayaking trip at Lake Pleasant, the Kayaking 101 class also at Lake Pleasant (read about my trip here), the Map Reading class at Papago Park near downtown Phoenix (the subject of a future post), and the nighttime hike at Phoenix Mountain Preserve. Those classes with REI were also a mixed bag. The only people that I met in those classes that were friendly and interesting to be with were the guides and instructors. Most of the participants in the classes just weren't very interesting or friendly. What's interesting is that I attended the class with the intent of meeting people. Just like my experience with Sun City Hikers. 

Furthermore, I was looking at doing some camping and backpacking in areas outside of Phoenix. I even attended a couple of classes about backpacking and camping at the REI in Paradise Valley. To do those activities, I would have to spend a lot of money on buying new equipment. Although I have saved up a lot of money, I am not prepared to potentially spend several thousands of dollars on new equipment, such as a new backpack, a new sleeping bag, a new tent, and so on. Plus, I have no experience backpacking alone out in the wild.

Then one day, it hit me. The answer to my problem of not having anyone to go hiking with was to be a park steward with the City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation. In another post that I have yet to write, when I went hiking in the Deem Hills in northern Phoenix back in December 2023, I met a volunteer park steward with the City of Phoenix. He explained to me that he was an unpaid volunteer with Phoenix Parks and Recreation. I remember him saying that he would go and hike various trails maintained by the City of Phoenix in order to check their condition and pass along any important notes to Phoenix Parks and Recreation.

Thus, becoming a volunteer park steward seemed to be a way out of my conundrum. I went to the Phoenix Parks and Recreation webpage, located the volunteer section, and submitted the required information. After a one-hour online meeting with an official from Phoenix Parks and Recreation, I was officially entered into the volunteer park steward program.

Volunteer Trail Maintenance Opportunities

After attending the online meeting, I was then able to log into the Volunteer Phoenix website to start looking for volunteer opportunities with Phoenix Parks and Recreation. After getting busy with other things, I eventually logged into the Volunteer Phoenix website and started to look for volunteer opportunities. While in college, I spent one weekend in southwest New Mexico doing trail maintenance. It was hard work using tools like a pick, a shovel, and a tool known as a MacLeod, but it was fun being in the mountains away from school. I only did the work once. As a result, I started looking through the Volunteer Phoenix website for trail maintenance opportunities. Eventually, I signed up for two trail maintenance opportunities. Both trail maintenance opportunities were located at the Phoenix Mountain Preserve.

Trail Maintenance on the Irregular Trail at Dreamy Draw

For my first trail maintenance volunteer assignment, I worked on a trail known as the Irregular Trail.

The trail maintenance was scheduled for Friday, November 1st, with a start time at 6:00 AM. The trail maintenance had a scheduled end time of 10:00 AM. During the summer months, trail maintenance typically starts as early as 5:30 AM.

Due to the early start time, I set the alarm on my cell phone to wake me up at 4:15 AM. Before going to bed, I made sure to pack everything I thought I would need into my Gregory hydration pack, such as a pocket knife, my Black Diamond head lamp, the pair of heavy duty work gloves that I had recently bought at Home Depot, a couple of Clif bars for food to eat, the Trek portable headlight from my bike, and a scarf for my neck. I also made sure to fill up the 3-liter water bladder in my Gregory hydration pack to maximum capacity.

After waking up, getting dressed, and having a small breakfast, I gathered my Gregory hydration pack, my hat, and my hiking boots and then headed to the car. I then entered Dreamy Draw Trailhead into Google Maps on my phone and then clicked on Start. I was in for a BIG shock once I got on the highway. 

I was unprepared for rush hour traffic driving eastbound on Highway 101 at 5:00 AM on a Friday morning. Not only were all of the traffic lanes crowded, but traffic was also moving at a high rate of speed. As I was struggling to maintain my car at 65 MPH, the speed limit, in the center lane of traffic, there were cars and trucks passing me that were easily exceeding the speed limit by a large margin. Once I headed south on Highway 51, the traffic did not let up. Not one bit. 

It came as a great relief when I took the offramp for Northern Avenue and then made the left turn to enter the Dreamy Draw Trailhead area. When I parked my car, there were only two or three other cars in the parking lot. It was quite a contrast from the last time I was at Dreamy Draw, when the parking lot was crowded. 

Dreamy Draw Trailhead at 5:30 AM.

After finishing my coffee, I took off my running shoes and put on my hiking boots. I then put on my Gregory hydration pack on my back and then headed up to the trailhead. 

Once at the trailhead, I met the other people that were going to work on the Irregular Trail. The first person I met was Ranger Brian. At first, his appearance seemed to be a little rough around the edges. However, he was quite friendly and happy to have volunteers assist him with trail maintenance. It was obvious to me that he had been a park ranger with the Phoenix Parks and Recreation for quite some time. The other three people I met were wearing their yellow Park Steward t-shirts. Heidi appeared to be a retiree. It emerged that she spent a lot of her time doing volunteer work for Phoenix Parks and Recreation. Mason said that he used to work for Honeywell as an aerospace engineer. I never found out what Zach did, but he was super friendly and easy going. 

As we left the Dreamy Draw Trailhead, Ranger Brian said that we were going to do some trail maintenance on sections of the Irregular Trail. As the sun started to rise above the horizon, I instantly recognized what trails we had taken. These were all trails that I had hiked on during my previous visits to the Dreamy Draw area. From the Dreamy Draw trailhead, we took the Connector Trail to the Dreamy Draw Nature Trail. After hiking a short distance, we then went on to the Perl Charles Memorial (1A) Trail. After hiking for approximately 30 minutes, we arrived at the Irregular Trail.             

Location of Irregular Trail at Phoenix Mountain Preserve

Hidden behind a bush just off the trail were the trail maintenance tools. There was a collection of picks (also known as a Mattock), McLeod fire tools, and leaf rakes. It had been some time since I had used either a pick or a McLeod during the one time I did trail maintenance work in college. The Mattock and the McLeod are the standard tools for trail maintenance as well as for fighting forest fires. 

The Mattock tool, or pick, is used to smash down large rocks as well as to quickly dig holes. The Mattock can also be used as a lever to move really big rocks. Ranger Brian, Mason, and Zach primarily used the Mattock to smash large rocks into smaller rocks. 

Mattock (Pick) Tool 

The McLeod fire tool has two edges. One edge has teeth and is very similar to a rake. This edge is used to scrape away small rocks and other pieces of debris, such as pieces of wood. The second edge of the McLeod fire tool is similar to a garden hoe. This edge is used to cut objects like tree roots and so on.   

McLeod Fire Tool

Ranger Brian explained two of the primary reasons for performing trail maintenance on the Irregular Trail. First, water runoff from when it rains will erode the trail. It doesn't rain very often at the Phoenix Mountain Preserve; however, when it does rain, it's usually a significant amount. Thus, part of our purpose that day was to make some adjustments to the trail so that water runoff would have less of an impact on the trail. Second, despite having a clearly marked trail, hikers will occasionally stray off the trail, widening the trail. It happens. Sometimes the trail may have a rocky area, and hikers will walk around the rocky area, creating a new part of the trail. According to Ranger Brian, this is known as trail creep. Thus, there were parts of the Irregular Trail where we had to either narrow or expand the width of the trail. 

Ranger Brian is an expert on trail maintenance. He knew all of the various techniques to implement in any given situation. I believe he said that he had been doing trail maintenance for close to twenty years. He also said that while he teaches a class on trail maintenance for volunteers at Phoenix Parks and Recreation, he believed that getting out and doing the work was the best teacher. 

After we picked up the tools, Ranger Brian then identified a couple of spots on the Irregular Trail that needed maintenance. Since they already had a lot of experience performing trail maintenance, Mason and Zach went off on their own. I worked with Heidi and Ranger Brian. The workflow was simple. Ranger Brian would use the Mattock to smash large rocks into smaller rocks. Heidi and I would then come in with our McLeod tools and remove the smaller rocks. We would also use the McLeod tools to reshape the trail. Sometimes we had to move rocks around with our hands. We also would use the McLeod tools to rebuild and adjust the edge of the trail. Heidi and I also used the McLeod tools to create a drainage ditch for water runoff. As a final step, we would then use the leaf rakes to smooth out the trail before moving on to the next area.  

Trail maintenance was physically demanding work. Before you do it, you want to make sure that you are in relatively good physical shape. Still, it was gratifying to see the amount of trail maintenance we had accomplished in only a couple of hours. At about 9:45 AM or so, Ranger Brian had decided that we were finished for the day. We had all of the trail maintenance tools behind a bush and hiked back to the Dreamy Draw trailhead.  

Since I was so busy with assisting Ranger Brian, Heidi, Mason, and Zach with trail maintenance, I completely forgot to take any photos. Ranger Brian took several photos while we worked. I imagine that the photos were for the Phoenix Parks and Recreation social media sites on Instagram and Twitter/X. So far, I have yet to see online any of the photos that Ranger Brian took. However, since I have hiked in the area for the Irregular Trail on a couple of previous occasions, I do have photos of the area right here on my blog. You can see the photos here and here. It's a beautiful area to hike in. You do have to enjoy being in the desert, however. 

On the Way Back to Sun City...

Once the group made it back to the Dreamy Draw trailhead, we talked to Ranger Brian for a little bit before other people in the group had to leave. Ranger Brian had other things to do for work. Mason and Zach had to go home and get ready to go into work for the day. That was a surprise. I don't remember what Heidi was planning to do. The parking lot at Dreamy Draw trailhead was now full of cars. The temperature was now in the upper 60s/lower 70s. After I walked back to my car, I took off my hiking boots and put on my New Balance running shoes. I looked at my watch and noticed that it was only 10:30 AM. I then made a decision to visit Waffle House on the way back to Sun City. 

I left the Dreamy Draw trailhead parking lot and drove north on Highway 51. After a couple of miles, I then took the exit for Shea Blvd. I then drove north on Tatum Blvd and headed over to the REI store in Paradise Valley. After wandering around REI for 20 minutes or so, I got back in my car and drove north on Tatum Blvd once again. I then drove west on Bell Road. After driving several miles, I could see the exits for Interstate 17. I then suddenly saw the signage for Waffle House on my right. Since it wasn't very busy for a Friday morning, I was able to find a parking spot with minimal effort. 

Waffle House Restaurant in northern Phoenix, AZ. 

As soon as I sat down at the counter, I ordered a cup of Waffle House coffee. I then proceeded to order the All-Star Special with a side of ham. Of course, I had to order the Classic Waffle. All I can say is that the food was GLORIOUS!!! The background music was something of a disappointment as it consisted of random hit songs from the '80s that you have probably heard ad nauseum. Instead, I was hoping that they would play all of the songs about eating at Waffle House. Oh well, you can't have everything. 

Cup of Waffle House Coffee.

Waffle House Menu.

All-Star Special Breakfast at Waffle House.

Classic Waffle from Waffle House.

A couple of days after eating at Waffle House, I wrote a post on Twitter/X and uploaded some photos to my post. Interestingly, someone from Waffle House HQ actually gave my post a like. Nice!!! 

 

  

Organizing My Photos on Google Photos...

Trying to Organize My Photos

As I mentioned in a previous post here on my blog, I am trying to make a push to write posts on the remaining hikes I that I have YETto write about.

The whole process of organizing my photos into collections on Google Photos is A LOT like herding cats. I have 2,182 photos on my phone that I have taken myself. While I am sure that other people may have more photos on their phone, to me, it's A LOT.

Herding Cats (Source: https://www.taggg.com/blog/a-cat-herders-guide-to-booking-remote-meetings)

Fortunately, it's just a matter of creating a collection title and then assigning photos to that specific collection.

With so many photos to go through, a lot of scanning is involved. Yes, I am using the Month and Year slider on the right margin of Google Photos to easily scroll through all of my photos.

What surprised me was that I have large amounts of photos on my Google Photos page that are STILL waiting to be organized into collections. For example, I was recently surprised that I didn't have the photos that I took at this year's Polish Festival assigned to a collection. That was easily remedied.

As a result, I am going to have to improve my workflows IOT make it easier to write posts about hiking, for example.

Here are some ideas:

• Buy a new camera. This is a no-brainer, really. My LG Stylo 6 cell phone needs to be replaced. There are now numerous cracks on the viewing surface of my phone. The only thing that keeps the glass in place is the protective sticky plastic cover I put on it when I bought the phone. Since I started working at events at the Arizona Financial Theatre and at State Farm Stadium, my cell phone has been accidentally dropped numerous times. Additionally, the cell phone battery no longer holds a full charge like it used to. Plus, there is a time lag of several seconds when opening certain apps, such as the camera app. Most importantly, a couple of years ago, LG announced that they were no longer manufacturing consumer cell phones. It came as a great shock. It's only a matter of time before LG stops supporting the cell phones that are currently in use. I believe that LG will stop sending out software updates for their cell phones sometime in 2025.
• Create a new collection in Google Photos either before or shortly after going hiking. This one says it all. When organizing, it really helps to be pro-active.
• Upload photos that I have taken with my cell phone to Google Photos shortly after my hike. Preferably the same day as the hike. The sooner the better.
• Put new photos into assigned collection in Google Photos as soon as possible. Again, the sooner the better.
• Transfer photos from my phone to my portable hard drive for archiving. This will free up storage on my cell phone. Since the photos would be uploaded to Google Photos, the photos could be deleted. However, I do have hoarding tendencies, so I probably wouldn't do that.
• Create a new, empty post on my blog for my completed hike. Again, I will be trying to work ahead.
• Download anything else I would need for my new post, such as a map from the AllTrails website.
• Assign a date to work on the actual post. I am absolutely horrible at doing this. For whatever reason, I hate being constrained. Not too sure why, but that's how I am. That has to change.
• Come up with a plan or structure for the post. This can be difficult as I have to play around with all of the elements of a post to figure out what it is I want to do. Still, it helps to have a basic idea on how the finished post will look like and what areas I want to explore. It is really easy to go on a tangent when writing a blog post.
• Work on post until it is complete. That's self-explanatory. Once I have all of the cats herded together, I can usually churn out a blog post rather quickly.

Those are just some ideas that I have at the moment. I am sure that if I really thought about it, I could come up with others.

Anyway, I think that I have all of my hiking photos organized into collections in Google Photos.

It's time to start cranking out some blog posts.

It's also time to start hiking again. There is a lot to explore.

Identifying Hiking Posts Left to Write...

More Hiking Posts to Come

In a recent post, I wrote about still having a couple of hiking trips that I would like to add to my blog here at Blogger.

Now that the extremely hot weather that Maricopa County experiences during the Summer months is starting to recede, it's time to add these remaining hiking trips to my blog before I start going hiking again.

More to follow.

Update About SeaSucker Talon Bike Rack...

Received Replacement Bike Rack

Back in September, I was notified via email by SeaSucker that the Talon bike rack that I had bought from REI over the summer had a design flaw.

As a result, the email explained that SeaSucker would send me a replacement Talon bike rack, with a re-designed replacement part, free of charge.

This is a true story.

I will have more about this in the very near future.

More to follow.

Future Posts About Hiking...

Future Posts About Hiking

As I mentioned in a recent post, I have been trying to organize all of the photos that I took while hiking at various locations throughout Maricopa County.

Some hiking trips have more photos than others, while some hiking trips barely have any photos.

Anyway, like most things that I write about on my blog, my initial ideas for a post, or series of posts, radically changes after I begin work on it.

In addition, real life always seems to find a way to intrude on what I am trying to do.

It's all too easy to get sidetracked.

As a result, I have a couple more hiking posts that I would like to add to my blog, so that people can see the photos that I have taken.

After organizing my photos into collections in Google Photos, I need to make sure that I have all of the maps and other graphics for each remaining post.

It's just a simple matter of grabbing some screenshots of maps from somewhere on the internet.

Once all of that is done, I can then start writing the remaining posts.

I figure I can complete a new post about hiking probably once per day.

Then, if I really wanted to be ambitious, I could go back and make some improvements on the hiking posts that I have already published to the internet.

Just some ideas that I have.

Once interesting bit of criticism that I have received was the amount of time that I have spent on my blog, especially on a couple rather lengthy posts.

I don't mind. I actually like working on my blog. I also enjoy trying to figure out how to use HTML.

Stay tuned for more future posts about hiking.

Types of Firewalls...

It's a Long Slog

For the past few weeks, I have been S-L-O-W-L-Y working my way through the Network Support and Security online class from Cisco Networking Academy.

To be sure, it has been a L-O-N-G slog.

The course contains only three modules:

• Module 1: Network Support
• Module 2: Cybersecurity Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Attacks
• Module 3: Network Security

Like all online classes from Cisco Networking Academy, each module contains several sub-modules. Each sub-module contains numerous definitions, charts, graphics, videos, pull-down menus, lists, and whatnot. If you are trying to take notes as you read each sub-module, it can be a time-consuming process.

When I started the Network Support and Security online course, my initial thought that it would be a quick and easy course to complete.

Boy, I was wrong.

Types of Firewalls

Sub-module 3.5.2 "Types of Firewalls" gives a basic introduction to four different types of firewalls.

The types of firewalls analyzed by the sub-module are:

• Packet Filtering (Stateless) Firewall

Packet Filtering (Stateless) Firewall 

• Packet filtering firewalls are usually part of a router firewall, which permits or denies traffic based on Layer 3 and Layer 4 information.
• Source IP address 
• Destination IP address
• Protocol
• Source port number
• Destination port number
• Synchronize/Start (SYN) packet receipt
• Packet filtering firewalls are stateless firewalls that use a simple policy table look-up that filters traffic based on specific criteria. 
• There are several advantages of using a packet filtering firewall:
• Packet filters implement simple "permit or deny" rule sets. 
• Packet filters have a low impact on network performance. 
• Packet filters are easy to implement and are supported by most routers.
• Packet filters provide an initial degree of security at the Network layer. 
• Packet filters perform almost all the tasks of a high-end firewall at a much lower cost.  
• There are several disadvantages of using a packet filtering firewall: 
• Packet filters are susceptible to IP spoofing. Threat actors can send arbitrary packets that meet Access Control List (ACL) criteria and pass through the filter. 
• Packet filters do not reliably filter fragmented packets. 
• Because fragmented IP packets carry the TCP header in the first fragment and packet filters filter on TCP header information, all fragments after the first fragment are passed unconditionally. 
• Decisions to use packet filters assume that the filter of the first fragment accurately enforces the policy. 
• Packet filters use complex ACLs, which can be difficult to implement and maintain. 
• Packet filters cannot dynamically filter certain services. 
• Packet filters are stateless. They examine each packet individually rather than in the context of the state of a connection. 
• Packet filters do not represent a complete firewall solution, but they are an important element of a firewall security policy. 

• Stateful Firewall

Stateful Firewall

• Stateful firewalls are the most versatile and most common firewall technologies in use. 
• Stateful firewalls provide stateful packet filtering by using connection information maintained in a state table. 
• Stateful filtering is a firewall architecture that is classified at the Network layer. 
• Stateful firewalls also analyze traffic at OSI Layer 4 (Transport) and Layer 5 (Session).
• There are several benefits to using a stateful firewall in a network: 
• Stateful firewalls are often used as a primary means of defense by filtering unwanted, unnecessary, or undesirable traffic. 
• Stateful firewalls strengthen packet filtering by providing more stringent control over security. 
• Stateful firewalls improve performance over packet filters or proxy servers. 
• Stateful firewalls defend against spoofing and DoS attacks by determining whether packets belong to an existing connection or are from an unauthorized source. 
• Stateful firewalls provide more log information than a packet filtering firewall. 
• Stateful firewalls also present some limitations: 
• Stateful firewalls cannot prevent Application layer attacks because they do not examine the actual contents of the HTTP connection. 
• Not all protocols are stateful. For example, UDP and ICMP do not generate connection information for a state table, and, therefore, do not garner as much support for filtering. 
• It is difficult to track connections that use dynamic port negotiation. 
• Some applications open multiple connections. 
• This requires a whole new range of ports that must be opened to allow this second connection. 
• Stateful firewalls do not support user authentication. 

• Application Gateway Firewall

Application Gateway Firewall

• An application gateway firewall (proxy firewall) filters information at Layers 3, 4, 5, and 7 of the OSI reference model. 
• Most of the firewall control and filtering is done in software. 
• When a client needs to access a remote server, it connects to a proxy server. 
• The proxy server connects to the remote server on behalf of the client. 
• Therefore, the server only sees a connection from the proxy server. 

• Next Generation Firewall

Next Generation Firewall

• Next generation firewalls (NGFW) go beyond stateful firewalls by providing the following: 
• Integrated intrusion prevention. 
• Application awareness and control to see and block risky apps. 
• Upgrade paths to include future information needs. 
• Techniques to address evolving security threats. 

Additional types of firewalls include:

• Host-Based (Personal and Server) Firewall - a PC or server with firewall software running on it. 
• Transparent Firewall - filters IP traffic between a pair of bridged interfaces. 
• Hybrid Firewall - a combination of the various firewall types. 

I will come back to this post after I complete Module 3.5 Firewalls and Host-Based Intrusion Prevention.

There is a lot of good information about firewalls.

Additionally, I found some really good information and graphics about the different types of firewalls over at Palo Alto Networks' webpage.

As always, more to follow.

Lack of Activity on My Blog...

Explaining the Lack of Activity

There has been a significant lack of activity here on my blog.

As per usual, I have been really busy with all kinds of activity.

Here is a list of things that I have been working on:

• I have been working concerts at the Arizona Financial Theatre in downtown Phoenix, AZ.
• I have been working at football games at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, AZ.
• I have started riding my bike again.
• I have been focusing a lot of time and energy working on the Network Support and Security online class from Cisco Networking Academy.
• I have been working out at the gym quite a bit.
• I have been organizing my photos into collections over on Google Photos.
• I have been trying to come up with a list of blogging post ideas to write about.
• I even flirted with the idea of moving my blog here at Blogger on to another platform.

I even fell into the bottomless pit that is Twitter/X.

I spent a lot of energy on two very long posts. Moreover, I was underwhelmed by the reaction I got to those two posts. Disappointment aside, I am writing this blog for myself. If other people are interested, then that's great.

Lack of interest in my blog isn't going to deter me. It just means that my blog has yet to find an audience. That will come as I write more posts.