This summer hiking season comes with expanded trail closures in the city of Phoenix due to heat, but staff is working to find the best ways get the word out when certain trails are closed.

“We’re not always the most popular ones (on social media),” Phoenix Deputy Parks Jarod Rogers told a parks subcommittee on Monday night about trying to spread the word that trails would be closed.

The goal is to work with often-used GPS and direction services such as Google Maps, Rogers said, to update when trails would be closed so hikers know not to make the trip. He said his department would be talk with the city’s IT staff about how to accomplish automatic updates.

Hikers go on a park ranger-led hike, one of the hiking safety educational efforts by the Phoenix Parks Department. (Courtesy city of P

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