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Sierra Club Service Project

in the Superstition Wilderness

Charlebois Springs (known as "Charlie Boy" by the locals) is one of the few reliable year-around water sources in the Superstition Wilderness, and it is therefore a popular destination or overnight stop for backpackers and equestrians. Although no camping is ever allowed within a quarter mile of water sources to protect these fragile resources and to allow wildlife access to the water, this rule has been widely ignored and broken over the years, and 8 or more inviting campsites (as shown above) have been etched out and enlarged in the shade of the trees adjacent to the various pools of water at the springs. Horses tied to trees have been especially destructive of the area.




Our group was assigned the job of obliterating and revegetating these areas, making them uninhabitable by overnight users. Numerous nice camp areas are available in the open canyon below the springs, and this is where visitors are to stay, walking the short distance to the springs when they need to replenish water containers, or riding their horses up to give them water. Above is the "after" example of one such large campsite area, the same one pictured at the top of this page. We left a trail to hike on, but filled the remaining area with boulders and rocks and hundreds of cacti which we transplanted, all of which we brought down from the mountainside. Signs were also posted informing visitors of the "no camping" rule.

Gordon and I roll a large boulder up to the work area as Peter waits to transplant a prickly pear cactus. As we brought more boulders down from the adjacent mountainside, we naturally had to go farther away to locate more boulders. This was heavy work, but digging up and transplanting cactus was worse, with spines in your body a natural and unavoidable consequence of the work. Several wrapped duct tape around the fingers of their gloves, but many of us were still pulling spines out days after the project had ended!



Jim and Young show one safe way to carry a cactus for transplanting, cleverly using the shovel handle draped through the cactus. Others carried cacti in a tarp, sling style. After transplanting, we watered each cactus, giving it more water than it has probably gotten in quite some time and hopefully increasing its chances for survival.

We also cut back encroaching vegetation ("brushing") along several miles of the Lost Dutchman Trail in both directions from the springs.






The entire, hard-working crew:
Top row (l to r): Paul, Peter, Rita, Gordon, Chuck, Jan, Alan, Jim R., Jim I., and Judy;
Bottom row: Bruce, Steve, and Young.

Chuck's volunteer trail projects:


--1997 project in the Bob Marshall Wilderness of the Flathead National Forest in Montana. --1998 project in the Gallatin National Forest of Montana. --1999 project in Utah's Manti-LaSal National Forest. --2000 project in the Columbia River Gorge in Washington State's Beacon Rock State Park. --2001 project on The Colorado Trail --2001 project in the Hiawatha National Forest of Michigan --2002 Sierra Club trail Service Project in the Superstition Wilderness in Arizona --2002 project for the Cumberland Trail Conference in Tennessee
--2002 project for the Pine Mountain Trail Conference in Kentucky.
--2002 project for the Buffalo National River in Arkansas
--2003 project for the Palmetto Trail in South Carolina
--2003 project for the Mt. Rogers National Recreation Area in Virginia

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E-mail Chuck at CMorHiker@aol.com