Hikers fear loss of beloved secret on Picketpost Mountain due to Telegraph Fire
SUPERIOR, Ariz. - Arizona watched as the Telegraph Fire burned toward the US 60, inching near Superior earlier this week.
Hikers, however, had their eyes set a few miles west at Picketpost Mountain.
"It’s a really challenging hike but a great reward at the top.," said Wendy Rennert with AZ Trailblazers.
At the mountain's summit lies a red mailbox, strikingly out of place while being welcomed by all who make the 4,000-foot high trek.
No postage necessary, no mailman in sight.
These letters are meant to stay there and entertain any who make it this far. A way to tell stories outside of texts and GIFs, using pen and paper.
"People like to leave their mark and say they were there because it’s a challenging hike," Rennert said.
A message on the rusty red metal said the mailbox was run over by a tractor and then hit by a truck back in the 70’. That’s why it was moved there.
"It's just kind of ironic that now we have this fire and who knows if it survives," Rennert said.
Our cameras captured the amazing firefight with pink slurry falling from planes and helicopter water drops. A heroic effort stopped the flames from reaching homes nearby, but the mailbox on the top was in its path as the flames climbed the face of the summit.
"I hope it’s still there," Rennert said. "I mean the contents are probably a little charred, maybe."
Wendy says the AZ Trailblazers will head back in the fall to see what came of the mailbox and the notes inside it.
"That’s sad to see go if it went because you like to see where hikers are from, and what they thought of the hike," she said.
However, no matter what happened to the pages inside, hikers like her will return and will have plenty of new stories to fill the lines.
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