Explorer Warren Lee Rogers Dies at Age 83 : Discover: The Pacific Crest Trail, which he co-founded, was a lifelong project for him.

Memorial services for explorer Warren Lee Rogers, a discoverer of California trails, are scheduled for May 16 at First United Methodist Church in Santa Ana.

Rogers, one of the co-founders of the Pacific Crest Trail stretching from Mexico to Canada, died April 28. He was 83.

At the time of his death, Rogers was working on getting drinking water sites established along parts of the trail, including one section in the Mojave Desert, his son Donald Lee said. He also wanted a marker placed at the trail’s origin near Mexico outlining for hikers the first 10 days of the Pacific Crest journey.

Lee said it would take a hiker several months to walk the entire trail.

Born in Harbor Springs, Mich., Rogers made his first mountain climb in 1924 as a member of a YMCA camp. He made it to the top of San Gorgonio Mountain (11,485 feet). Hiking became an immediate hobby and he eventually made the Pacific Crest Trail a lifelong project. He was appointed to serve on the trail’s advisory council by the secretary of agriculture.

Rogers founded the Pacific Crest Club in 1971 to bring together those interested in the trail. He was also the editor of the Pacific Crest Trail Quarterly, a newsletter devoted to trail news.

Besides Lee, Rogers is survived by his half-brother Jack B. Stetson of La Habra; Paul Warren Rogers of Santa Ana; and daughter Candice Louise Ivers of Medway, Mass.; along with several grandchildren.

Services will be held at 11 a.m.