Arizona Trail 2010 - Part 9, North Rim to Utah/Arizona Border

Looking back towards the Grand Canyon National park for the last time. The Grand Canyon was certainly the highlight of the AZT and I intend to return at a later date.

Arizona Trail 2010 - Part 8, Grand Canyon Village to Grand Canyon North Rim

Your first real view of the Grand Canyon is special and cannot be put into words. It's immense in every direction and stunningly beautiful. I just sat and gazed for a long, long time. Everybody should visit the Grand Canyon at least once in their lives.

Arizona Trail 2010 - Part 7, Flagstaff to Grand Canyon Village

In Flagstaff I met up with Rob Hausam who would be hiking this section with me. I first met Rob on the 2007 TGO Challenge and had the pleasure of finishing that hike with him. Rob had been very helpful on the AZT by boxing up food packages and posting them ahead for me. Thanks Rob!

Arizona Trail 2010 - Part 6, Pine to Flagstaff

After a relaxing day in Pine it was back to the trail and my first and only rain shower in 6 weeks. Fortunately it didn't last long and soon we are back to normal. Todays section takes you along the Highline Trail and onto the Mogollon Rim.

Arizona trail 2010 - Part 5, Superior to Pine

After leaving Superior you climb into the Superstition Mountains which was designated a wilderness area in 1964. It looked like it might finally rain, but didn't! Soon the clouds shifted and normal service resumed.

Arizona Trail 2010 - Part 4, Oracle to Superior

Leaving Oracle the pack felt heavy with a fresh load of food and enough water to cover 60 km. This is a long dry section and to save carrying too much water I decided it best to hike the 97 km to the Gila river over 2 long days. The hiking was easy but the heat intense and with no natural protection the umbrella came in very handy. The first day is spent hiking down Pipeline Road which, not surprisingly, is a service road for a pipeline! It's long, straight, hot, dusty and boring. The peak in the background is Antelope Peak and it will be many hours before you get there, however, it WILL tease and taunt you all day. But... even a boring section like this has much to offer...

Arizona Trail 2010 - Part 3, Vail to Oracle

Vail was a quick resupply stop and I was soon ready to press on towards Oracle. To rejoin the official AZT required a road walk to the La Posta Quemada ranch.

Arizona Trail 2010 - Part 2, Patagonia to Vail

The route out of Patagonia is probably the least interesting of the whole hike with a long road walk right to the end of the dusty track. I carried an umbrella for shade and found it really useful on sections like this, as long as it wasn't too windy.

Arizona Trail 2010 - Part 1, US Border to Patagonia

Back in 2010 I hiked the Arizona Trail. This was an incredible experience and my favourite thru-hike to date. On a long hike it can be tough to keep motivated and you can find yourself becoming numb to all the surrounding beauty. Variety keeps you stimulated and the Arizona Trail certainly has plenty of that.

The Arizona Trail (AZT) starts at the US/Mexico border and ends 1300 km later on the Utah border. It passes through some of the best of what Arizona has to offer, and deserts, snow covered mountains, forests and the mother of all canyons, the Grand Canyon, will be climbed or crossed. Add to this the heat, snakes, plant life that eats kit and lack of water, then you have a challenging trail. The AZT is normally  thru-hiked in spring or autumn because of the scarcity of water and the intense summer heat. In winter you would be faced with deep snow on the mountains and around the Grand Canyon making hiking difficult or impossible. Out of the two spring is the most popular and generally has more reliable water from the winter snow melt and also the desert will be in full bloom. My hike started 4th April and finished 6 weeks later on the 20th May. More details of the trail can be found on the AZT website. I would also throughly recommend reading Chris Townsend's book on hiking the AZT which I found accurate and inspirational.

Part 1