flagstaff, arizona

community clean-up on oct 30th, 2021

after a week of brisk walking across the stunningly beautiful desert of the navajo nation in northeast arizona, a snowcapped peak – mount humphreys – appears on the horizon to the west. flagstaff, the next destination, lies just at its base. dramatically jagged buttes give way to smoothed-over calderas – what remains of volcanic eruptions thousands of years ago – and, with altitude, the low plains transition to juniper bushes and then alpine forest of yellow pine.

chauncey and noah arrive to a bustling college town full of halloween festivities. on saturday morning, they convene at thorpe park to co-host a clean-up event with the Clean Flagstaff Project. around 20 volunteers attend, including a few friends who make the trip up from phoenix in the valley. we focus our attention on the disc golf course, which was once an open camping site, and is now littered with old bits of broken glass. together we clean up over 58 pounds of glass. afterward, we linger in the perfect fall weather for a debrief circle and cookout.