Project: Backway to Crown King Cleanup
Location: Arizona
Description: On October 25, 2025, industry partners and off-road enthusiasts came together for a major cleanup and restoration effort on the Backway to Crown King Trail. The event united 60 volunteers who dedicated their time and effort to improving access, protecting trails, and supporting the local community.
Over the course of the day, volunteers successfully:
- Removed 3 abandoned vehicles
- Collected and disposed of 10 tires
- Cleared 4,500 pounds of trash
- Improved 27 miles of trail
Crown King is a small mountain town with limited resources to maintain the surrounding trails. The cleanup sent a strong message of support to the community and demonstrated the positive impact that collaboration between enthusiasts and industry can achieve.
This project was made possible thanks to the generous support of Kenda Tires, whose donation and ongoing dedication to giving back to trails played a key role in making the event a success.
Together, these contributions and the hard work of volunteers resulted in a cleaner, safer, and more sustainable trail system, showing what can be accomplished when the off-road community unites for a common cause.
Thank you to the partners who made this possible:
- Kenda Tires
- Prescott National Forest
- Bureau of Land Management
- The Town of Crown King
- Wild West Offroad Recovery
- The Mill
- Tonto Recreation Alliance
- The Gambler 500
- Sons of Smokey
- AZ Rental Solutions
- Sherpa Equipment Co.
- Dometic
- Roam Adventure Co.
- Baja Design
- ADD/DV8
- onX Offroad
- Canyon Coolers
“Wild West Off-Road Recovery was honored to be invited by Tread Lightly! to support the Backway to Crown King cleanup. As business members, we were proud to remove three abandoned vehicles from the trail, helping restore access and protect this iconic route for responsible recreation. We’re grateful for Tread Lightly!’s leadership and partnership. We eagerly look forward to many more stewardship
projects together.”- Carl Girard from Wild West Off-Road Recovery (Owner/Operator)
“What an amazing impact! It was incredible to see so many folks come together to clean such an accessible and beautiful place for the folks of Phoenix and Prescott. Taking care of areas like this is what will allow continued access for the hobbies we love so much. Being that it is so well trafficked, it is no surprise that there was a decent amount of trash, but I hope that cleaning it up will cause people to think twice before dumping, littering, or leaving it worse than they found it. Huge shout-out to Tread Lightly! and Kenda for organizing and making this effort a reality.”-Alex Fleming-Sherpa Equipment Company
“I think it was the perfect combination of recreation and stewardship. Something that we should all be practicing every time we stepped out on the trail, it doesn’t always have to be a big cleanup just take a little bit with you each time and we can keep our trails open.”-Tate Morgan, Gambler 500/Sons of Smokey
“These things time and time again are their own reward. Everyone out there had hearts bigger than their paychecks, bigger than any organizational issues, bigger than any interpersonal issues. The Lake Pleasant area is targeted for extensive development in the near future, and setting the tone now will only serve to protect that trail now and in the future. Service to others has always been our highest calling. Seeing great brands such as Kenda and others support this, seeing various conservation partners rally together is a reminder that we can make a difference.”-Jason Costello, Canyon Coolers
Want to get involved in your own Tread Lightly! project? Find upcoming activities, events and grant opportunities at treadlightly.org.
