Gilbert Jiménez knows his way around Sentinel Peak.
He has hiked on the little mountain on Tucson's west side and helped maintain its trails for more than 70 years.
Now - in recognition of his long devotion to the peak that's also known as "A" Mountain - a trail there is to be renamed in his honor.
The Sentinel Ridge Trail will be renamed the Gilbert Escandón Jiménez Trail in a ceremony Wednesday.
"I used to hike it with my dad and grandfather when I was 15 years old," Jiménez said. "I'm 87 now. I don't hike too much anymore, but I still like that mountain."
Tucson City Councilwoman Regina Romero, the Southern Arizona Hiking Club and the Menlo Park Neighborhood Association led efforts to collect 500 signatures to initiate the renaming, which was approved by the council this month.
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The hiking club has played a prominent role in Jiménez's life.
He's been a member for five decades and was a popular, wide-ranging trail guide for the club in his younger years.
"I used to arrange trips to places like Yosemite (National Park) and Switzerland" in addition to guiding hikers on countless trails around Southern Arizona, Jiménez said.
The trail to be renamed in his honor starts at a lower parking lot along the road leading up 2,897-foot Sentinel Peak.
"The trail is about two and a quarter miles," Jiménez said, noting that it's not normally a crowded route. "Surprisingly, I think there were more people out there in the older days than now. It seems that people nowadays don't like to walk or hike as much as they did then."
Romero said her staff "really hustled to make this happen."
Jiménez "is just an exemplary person - very well deserving of the trail being named after him," she said. "He has done volunteer trail maintenance up there for years. … He cares about the environment, the Menlo Park Neighborhood and his community."
Did you know?
Sentinel Peak's alternate name of "A" Mountain dates to 1915. That year, University of Arizona students, inspired by football victories, began construction of a huge "A" on the peak. It was finished and whitewashed the following year and remains on the peak today.
Source: "A Photographic History of the University of Arizona," by Phyllis Ball.
if you go
• What: Dedication of the Gilbert Escandón Jiménez Trail on Sentinel Peak.
• When: 1 p.m. Wednesday
• Where: The dedication will be at the trailhead. To get there, follow West Congress Street west of Grande Avenue and turn left onto Cuesta Avenue. Follow Cuesta as it becomes the road leading up Sentinel Peak. The trailhead is along the road at the first parking lot on the right.
Contact reporter Doug Kreutz at dkreutz@azstarnet.com or at 573-4192. On Twitter: @DouglasKreutz
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