Jon Johnson File Photo/Gila Herald: The highway to the MGIO and Riggs Lake will remain closed for an additional week this year due to above-average snowpack.
Staff Reports
MOUNT GRAHAM – The upper portion of State Route 366 (Swift Trail) leading to Riggs Lake and the Mt. Graham International Observatory will remain closed an additional week this year due to above-average snowpack in the Pinaleño Mountains.
The road is normally seasonally re-opened on April 15, but this year will re-open on Friday, April 21.
“By delaying the opening date from April 15, 2023, to April 21, 2023, we can safely remove the snow and prepare recreation sites,” the U.S. Forest Service stated in a social media post.
Mount Graham received more than 130 inches of snow this year and still has a substantial snowpack.
