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Local teen helps Pinnacle Peak Park get a makeover while making history

Posted 10/6/20

Victoria Rader, 17, chose the Pinnacle Peak Park as the site for completing her Eagle Scout project fabricating a gabion bench at the end of the trail.

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Local teen helps Pinnacle Peak Park get a makeover while making history

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Victoria Rader, 17, chose the Pinnacle Peak Park as the site for completing her Eagle Scout project fabricating a gabion bench at the end of the trail.

Among the first females in the country to pursue the hallowed title since the Boy Scouts of America extended its program to females in February 2019, Miss Rader joins a few other girls locally and nationally to reportedly meet required qualifications to earn merit badges and more for eligibility to pursue an Eagle Scout project before their 18th birthday.

This October, she awaits final approval from the Scout Review Board to officially determine if she has achieved the prestigious rank of Eagle Scout for her project. She and a few other females have completed their projects within a general time frame noted to be in close proximity of each other.

Miss Rader recently expressed her excitement during a nationally-televised interview about the privilege of being in an inaugural class of females who are doing the same activities, gaining merit badges, and completing the same work as her fellow male troopers.

She described her socially-distanced, outdoors project that she stated was something she also wanted for the community to have something that would last.

The city of Scottsdale was honored that Miss Rader chose Pinnacle Peak Park, which opened in 2002, for her major accomplishment.

Yvonne Massman, the Pinnacle Peak Park natural resources coordinator for six years, was happy to speak about the project that the young lady who even researched a lot about concrete while striving to obtain her Eagle Scout status.

Ms. Massman works at the park office while helping a steady flow of hikers. Aside from answering any questions, including knowing the elevation at the very end of the trail — which is 2,336 feet — while handling the majority of park duties, Ms. Massman took time out of her busy schedule to describe the joys of having the gabion bench.

What was your involvement with working with Miss Rader regarding the bench?

Each Eagle Scout has to have a beneficiary to their project. I manage Pinnacle Peak, so I was the contact source (beneficiary) for this project.

What was your reaction to Ms. Rader selecting that location?

We were honored! Actually, the scoutmaster of her brother’s troop is a captain with the fire department for the city and a friend of mine. We were working together on a training for volunteers and he asked me if I had any project opportunities for her.

Pinnacle Peak (and our general vicinity) have been a location of many other Eagle Scout projects over the years. Victoria was the 95th Eagle to complete a project and work with the staff here. We have a display board on the west side of the park ramada that our non-profit, 501(c)(3) purchased which includes a nameplate with the scout’s name, troop number, month and year of completion.

Victoria was the start of a new column!

How did you facilitate efforts?

Victoria contacted me about a project. I met with her and her parents, showed them an example of another similar type of bench that an Eagle had created for the park, and she took it from there. I needed to sign off on the paperwork after it was presented to the council and then at the completion of the project.

I suggested a few ideas and she took off with the project. I think she may have utilized all skills learned in school from chemistry to physics to business skills and math. I arranged for additional staff and volunteers to help with the logistics of getting the supplies to the site using our $6,000 trail machine that the Friends of Pinnacle Peak purchased for us, that we call, “The Beast.”

Describe the benefits of Ms. Rader’s project?

It enhances the park by giving hikers the opportunity to rest with an amazing view of the West Valley. It also allows this rest to occur before heading back up the hardest part of the trail. Her bench is at the end of Pinnacle Peak trail.

This is a 3.5 mile round-trip hike to her bench, or a 4 mile round trip hike if hikers go a little further to the Jomax Gate. The starting elevation at the trailhead office is 2570 feet, the highpoint on the trail elevation is 2889 feet and the elevation past the bench at the turnaround point 2,336 feet.

What does your job entail as Pinnacle Peak Park natural resources coordinator?

I have worked for the city of Scottsdale since May 1989. I have been associated with the outdoors during my entire 31-career with the city. For most of it, I have organized outings that included day trips, hiking, camping and backpacking trips around the entire state. People would register and pay for these activities the same way as registering for an art or dance class.

In 2004, I relocated my office here to fill the need of an assisted coordinator at this facility. I worked with John Loleit. I became the coordinator when John was relocated to the Brown’s Ranch Trailhead of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve.

Our Natural Resources Department in the city consists of Pinnacle Peak Park and the 30,000 acres with over 225 miles of trails of the preserve. I, with three other full time staff and four part-time staff, help to oversee the 150-acre Pinnacle Peak Park and the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. Pinnacle Peak hosts over 250,000 visitors a year.

What changes, if any, have occurred with the park during the past few months since the pandemic hit?

We were the go-to place for people when the gyms closed and everyone’s life became much more cloistered. While there was no spring break or spring training, as in years past, when our visitor numbers would increase from out of town guests, our visitor numbers remained the same, except they were all locals.