Buffalo Park in Flagstaff welcomes runners
NATRA LLC, with kind permission
NEIL WEINTRAUB Special for the Daily Sun
As extreme fire hazard led to the closure of the Coconino National Forest around Flagstaff, I have answered countless emails and phone calls over the past few days and watched the runners’ high fears rise on social media. The closure simply means not entering the national forest for any reason; there are hefty fines for this.
For those new to Flagstaff in the past 15 years, rest assured that we runners weathered the last full forest closure in 2006, all at risk, like the San Francisco Peaks.
During both closings, we kept our Northern Arizona Trail Runners Association’s Saturday group runs fresh and lively thanks to the myriad of urban trails in Flagstaff, and of course, we took advantage of Flagstaff’s premier open space, Buffalo Park.
Where are we running During the pandemic, the sidewalks (and streets) of Northern Arizona University were virtually empty at all times of the day, making the campus a wonderful getaway for me. I call it the “NAU Perimeter Loop” bounded by San Francisco Street to the east, Pine Knoll Drive to the south, East McConnell Drive and South Knoles Drive to the west, with Dupont Avenue to the north, a relatively flat one 3.4 inch miles.
During the recent closings, I discovered a new appreciation for paved sections of the Flagstaff Urban Trail System. The more I ran this past winter, the more I appreciated the thought leaders behind the interconnected, paved paths of the FUTS.
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