About Coconino County

About Coconino County

Encompassing 18,661 square miles, Coconino County, Arizona, is the second largest county in the U.S. but one of the least populated. Our county includes Grand Canyon National Park, the Navajo, Havasupai, Hualapai and Hopi Indian Reservations, and the largest contiguous ponderosa pine forest in the world. Elevations range from 2,000 feet above sea level along the Colorado River to 12,633 feet at the summit of Mt. Humphreys in Flagstaff.

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Some PSAR: The Highpointers Are in Town

Mission-wise, things have been quiet for the last couple of weeks, since Labor Day weekend. But our SAR team has had some PSAR to do in the meantime. PSAR stands for preventative search and rescue, which basically involves walking heavily used trails and stationing ourselves in high-visibility areas to answer questions, make sure folks are prepared for what they're doing or setting out to do, and sometimes disseminating informational brochures or just saying a friendly hello to passers by.

This week, the Highpointers are in town for their "konvention" on Humphrey's Peak. Until one of our SAR general meetings a couple of months ago, I hadn't heard of this club with a membership that has an age range of something like five years to 90. The club's purpose, as quoted from their website, is to "promote climbing to the highest point in each of the fifty (50) states; provide a forum for education about the highpoints; aid in the preservation and conservation of the highpoints and their environs; provide a vehicle through which persons with this common goal can meet and correspond with one another; maintain positive relationships with owners of highpoints on private property; assist in the care and maintenance of highpoints; and support public and private efforts to maintain the integrity of and access to state highpoints." Got all that? I've even heard that some club members try to hit high points in all counties as well.

Anyhow, with something like 350 more people than usual hiking Humphreys and other popular Flagstaff trails this week, our SAR team did some planning, parked a command trailer up at the Snowbowl ski area at the Humphreys trailhead, and made ourselves noticeable and available on the mountain, hiking (and riding horses) around with our SAR shirts and radios on. Our goal was not only to do some PSAR but to have team members in the area in case an incident were to occur. It's now Friday morning, the final full day of the Highpointers event and, so far, all is well.

I think the Highpointers Club is pretty cool. And being a list-maker and a goal-oriented girl myself, this makes me go, "Hmm..."

And thank you, Renee from Tidewater Search & Rescue for telling me about a book written by a Highpointer. She tells me it's a fun and easy read, by two men who completed the 50-state quest. It's called, To The Top: Reaching for America's 50 State Summits.