“The dreamer dies, but never dies the dream,
Though Death shall call the whirlwind to his aid,
Enlist men's passions, trick their hearts with hate,
Still shall the Vision live!
Say nevermore,
That dreams are fragile things” ~ Unknown

The next time someone tells you one man can't make a real difference, remind them of Dale Shewalter, the Flagstaff schoolteacher who, in the 1970s, dreamed of a trail stretching the length of Arizona, from Mexico to Utah. But Shewalter, who died in January 2010 at age 59, didn't just dream -- he made the trail happen.

When he died, only 37 miles out of 817 remained incomplete. Sadly and ironically for this former Flagstaff resident, at the time of this death, 10 of those 37 miles were right in his beloved Flagstaff backyard, so to speak. Although the trail was not fully complete by the time of his death, through the efforts of those he enrolled in the possibility of the trail, it has since completed in December 2011, 11 months after his death. Today, the 817-mile route is championed by the nonprofit Arizona Trail Association, which organizes volunteers throughout Arizona for everything from fundraising to trail construction. Donors big and small have constantly come to the aid of the trail when progress seems to have stalled, and state and federal land agencies have maintained their commitment to Shewalter’s legacy and the trail through good financial times and bad.

Dale Shewalter, the father of the Arizona Trail, is gone. But he has bequeathed one of the most precious legacies any single person has ever left to the people of his beloved adopted state, Arizona.