A trail that will lead visitors to the site where 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots died fighting the 2013 Yarnell Hill Fire is now nearly complete.
Arizona State Parks officials reported this week that the Yarnell park that will honor the fallen Hotshots is expected to be finished and open to the public by late November. A dedication ceremony for family members and involved officials is being scheduled for the morning of Nov. 29, and the park and trail will be open to the public later that day. Skip Varney, project manager for the memorial park, told the board that a 2.85-mile trail from the trailhead to the ridge overlooking the fatality site has been built, complete with benches, interpretive signs, and an observation deck. Plaques honoring each of the 19 fallen Hotshots are being placed every 600 feet along the trail.