The late Chet Andrews in Scottsdale and Fountain Hills’ own Roy Kinsey have been scrambling around the McDowell Mountains between the two communities for decades.

They long held a dream there would be a trail across the mountains to connect preserve land in both municipalities.

Very soon that will become a reality with a 2.5- mile trail tentatively named in honor of the two men -- The Andrews-Kinsey Trail.

As of this writing neither the Scottsdale nor the Fountain Hills councils have approved the trail name.

However, Scottsdale’s Preserve Commission has voted to recommend approval of the name.

No board or commission in Fountain Hills has considered the name as yet, but its future approval is not seen as problematic.

With characteristic modesty, Kinsey said this is not about him, and without the recognition for Andrews he would decline to have his name on the trail.

“This work reflects on (Andrews),” Kinsey said. “I’m honored to be associated with Chet; in the early days we did a lot together.”

Kinsey’s relationship with the McDowells dates back to the 1970s when soon after he and his wife Bev moved here they rented near the base of the mountains while their home was being built.

After the town incorporated in 1989 there was a greater interest in developing a preserve to assure the long-time enjoyment of the mountains.

Kinsey finds that somewhat ironic as he believes the best views are from the preserve looking back over Fountain Hills and across the lower Verde Valley.

Kinsey said he wanted to be involved in the community, so in 1995 when the new town formed a task force to study the possibility of a preserve in the McDowells, he signed on and was selected to chair the group.

From that day on Kinsey has been the point man for McDowell Mountain preservation in Fountain Hills. He was named to chair the McDowell Mountain Preservation Commission when it was formed to advise the council on preservation issues.

He is also a founder and early head of the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy of Fountain Hills.

With that group he formed a corps of volunteer trail builders known as the Trailblazers. That team to date has enthusiastically carved about seven miles of trails in the Fountain Hills McDowell Mountain Preserve.

“Once we started working, we couldn’t wait to get out there again,” Kinsey said. “Every Saturday a group of guys was ready to work.”

Such work groups actually required little or no organization, according to Kinsey.

“You show up on Saturday morning and there was a bunch of guys ready to go to work,” he said. “It’s contagious -- once you go to work you really want to go anytime you can. We never had any trouble getting volunteers.”

Connection

The connecting trail has been in the works for several years. Kinsey said an early Scottsdale Conservancy head would not support an east/west trail across the mountains. He and Andrews persevered and, working with Scott Hamilton of the City of Scottsdale, the trail is nearly complete.

Bill Craig, who has followed Kinsey around the McDowells and now is part of the town’s MMPC as well as the Sonoran Conservancy and the Trailblazers, said the effort has been a cooperative one.

In Fountain Hills volunteers started at the Western Loop Trail and headed west toward the Scottsdale boundary. About a mile of the trail in Fountain Hills has been cut by hand.

Meanwhile, the City of Scottsdale hired a contractor to start at its Sunrise Trail and head east, cutting the trail with mechanical equipment.

Scottsdale trail standards differ from Fountain Hills in that they are all built to about eight feet wide to accommodate equestrian traffic and mountain bikers.

Fountain Hills trails are about five feet in width and not made for horses, and in some places mountain biking is inadvisable.

Craig said there is a short, difficult stretch remaining that the Scottsdale contractor is working on.

The new trail crosses the McDowell range at around 2,700 to 2,800 feet in elevation.

A dedication of the trail will probably be slated for fall when the weather cools again.

“This pleases me in the community aspect,” Kinsey said. “We want to be good neighbors and providing this trail expresses that.

“The fact is (this trail) reflects the association between Scottsdale and the Town of Fountain Hills in a very positive way.”