I’m heading out for a section of AZT on Monday, starting up at Mt Peely. Plan to head SoBo and leave my rental car at end point. Wondering if there are any services that could get me a ride back to Scottsdale (or anywhere I could catch an Uber I guess) tomorrow evening so I can leave my car there.

If there are no options, I’ll plan on leaving car around lost Dutchman, which may give me a more scenic superstitions finish, but adds on a good amount of mileage, so wanted to see if there’s a way I can shuttle from picketpost. Suppose I could also shuttle when I do finish, but seems better to have car there…

 Hi everyone,

I’m going to hike a section of the AZT in spring and am very excited for it! During my research I’ve seen a few blogs /vlogs where hikers have had problems with mice really going to town on their kit, eating up their shoes and tents etc overnight! Is this a common problem? Any tips for keeping them at bay? Thanks!

I am looking for a long backpacking/short through hike to do this December and have been looking at the Arizona Trail. What sections are best for the winter months and might have good water sources not much snow and still be rad? Not too concerned with too much elevation gain, as a PNW boy I prefer that to blazing heat! Also are permits ever an issue? Thanks in advance!

I switched to CCF after my X-Lite sprung a leak and found that I sleep just fine on foam. I have been using a Nemo Switchback (R-value 2.0) with a GG Thinlight 1/8" foam pad on top of it (R-value 0.5). Right now the Switchback is full length but I plan to cut it down to 8 panels, and leave the GG Thinlight the full length. I know the R-value for this system is only 2.5, but I have read in various places that foam pads tend to provide more warmth than their R-value would indicate, compared to inflatables.

Is this system going to provide enough warmth for a typical March NOBO thru hike? Has anyone else used just a Switchback or Z-Lite Sol for the AZT and can comment?

I'm considering if this year is the year to do this trail. I think I have commitments right through the end of March.

I have done the first 900 miles (up to Mammoth) of the PCT as an attempted thru. I feel like I have the experience I need. The solitude and the lack of a hiker bubble appeals to me.

Greetings from Scotland.

With a Spring 2025 NOBO in mind I'll probably take my Notch Li and I use an air mat (at 60+ the ground gets no softer) and would prefer for it to survive puncture free...

What are people using as footprints? I hear spiky things might be plentiful?

I've done the PCT (all but Washington) and don't remember ground being bad in SoCal desert sections where I used the thicker polycryo...?

Thanks.

Planning to section hike nov 1st to the 16th and aiming to do between 200-300 miles ish. Want to start before saguaro and go north but without the complications of getting to the southern terminus and without starting too far north where I'd start to hit bad weather/higher elevation

Any thoughts on best place to Uber to from Tuscon to start the trail without missing anything super cool/scenic in the southern half before saguaro?

Also thoughts on water situation at this time of year? Will obviously do my own research and have farout (experienced thru hiker) but just looking for feedback and tips for a November hike from this group as a second round of resources/feedback to go off as well

Planning on starting the AZT in mid march, possibly the 19th. Anyone else planning on hiking nobo around the same time as me?

Just curious as a '23 SOBO who lives out East. Last year was on the dry side but not very hot by late Oct.

Hi folks,

Planning a section hike and am curious to know whether Uber would likely take us to the Loma Alta trailhead? We've looked into shuttles, and it's kind of pricey but may be a safer bet. Thanks in advance!

So I've sort of kept this bottled up for a while but I feel like it'll be therapeutic to say it out loud. Downvote if you want; I do realize this is my personal opinion, not some sort of objective fact.

Here it is: the northern AZT is very poorly thought out.

It starts with a poorly-chosen route up the Rim. The Washington trail follows an awful set of telephone lines up a dry, rocky trail while See Canyon and Tonto to the east are both verdant green and follow perennial rivers. A pointed decision was apparently made to miss Fossil Springs by traveling a little bit further west. Then the trail stays east, missing West Clear Creek, Wet Beaver Creek, Sedona (WTF!!!). And what does it do instead? A careless beeline to Flagstaff where the highlight is, of all lame things I would never hike outside the AZT, Mormon Lake.

Even when there's a cool landmark, it gets avoided. The southern AZT takes you over the Sky Islands (Mount Lemmon is a big highlight but gracious they're all awesome). Northern AZT goes around the San Francisco peaks, skipping the Weatherford Trail, Lockett Meadow, Inner Basin, and the highest peak in Arizona! Walnut Canyon is treated more like an obstacle than a beautiful canyon replete with astounding evidence of Arizona's indigenous history. It's like the AZT designers don't think there's anything worth doing or seeing north of the rim except the Grand Canyon. And after that? They skip the Vermillion Cliffs and one of the world's longest and deepest slot canyons. Instead, the trail ends at some random campground.

I understand some of the considerations. Going cool places like Sedona adds miles. Going into Walnut Canyon or up Humphrey's Peak adds difficulty. Buckskin Gulch can be temperamental and add logistical challenges and potential safety issues. But with the lovely treatment southern Arizona gets, it's bizarre to me that the northern AZT is so bad that it's talked about as "get it over with" mileage, essentially punctuated by the Grand Canyon. When people say "I want to come to Arizona for a section hike", nobody talks up the northern sections outside the GC.

It's still a wonderful thru hiking experience. The north can be a testament to the beauty of vastness at times, quietness and solitude at others. But fuck if it isn't poorly designed when you consider the opportunities it avoided.

Edit: The point I'd make for people being argumentative and defensive in the comments is not about my rant's half-baked ideas. It's that the northern AZT is widely considered boring. This is a serious problem, and problems deserve solutions not excuses. Underneath all my complaining, I know we all love this state and we love this trail and that's why I wish it could leverage our state's beauty to become a more beautiful experience. It is not okay to ask people – many of them out-of-staters who don't know better – to invest 800+ miles of their time on a trail that bills itself as a "scenic route" representing Arizona ... only for them to realize they need to re-hike northern Arizona if they want to lay eyes on its celebrated landmarks.

What I do fully, fully, fully respect is peoples' positive experiences. You can't deny that, boring trail sections or not, people are still having profound, fun, challenging, life-changing experiences on the northern half of the Arizona Trail. So happy trails to all of you!

Hey everyone! My name is Treven Hooker. I work for the Arizona Trail Association and run an internship program for youth. This is a free internship program that trains youth between the ages of 14-18 to be ethical naturalists, land stewards, and prepares them for environmental careers. If y'all know of any youth in and around Tucson who could benefit from this opp please encourage them and their parents or guardians to email me. My email is at the top of the flyer!

https://preview.redd.it/hls1j2nmi0ud1.png?width=1088&format=png&auto=webp&s=aff30c51e9325cbaaab6d6565cc116fc7d446b89

I'm planning on section hiking passages 8-11 the first week of November. Almost all of my backpacking has been in Alaska and I have never backpacked in the desert before so I'm hoping to get some advice. I'm excited to try cowboy camping but I'm wondering if I could leave my tent behind, or would that be insane? Same goes for rain gear, is it crazy to leave that behind too?

Just seeking anybodies wisdom, experience, or knowledge about getting to Payson and back to Sunflower if I want to resupply instead of packing it all the way to Pine from Roosevelt. How hard is hitching? There aren't any shuttle type services are there?

Hi guys, for the last 4 months I have been hiking the appalachian trail southbound. Due to hurricane Helen I am not going to finish this year. I still have two more months budgeted for thru hiking and I am looking into the Arizona trail. The AT has been my only thru hike I have attempted so far. I want to know if october is a reasonable time of year to start the Arizona trail and what gear I might need to swap out. Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated.

Hey all! Coming from an off trail navigation-heavy background, typically use gaia. Sounds like farout is the move for the az trail as far as up to date info plus a map. I’ve downloaded the app/paid/messed around a bit but haven’t quite figured it out yet - how frequently will we have/not have service on the trail? Is the offline functionality of farout still pretty good? Also seems like navigation is reasonably straightforward on the trail and the need for a map/navigation largely goes with access to water-is this correct? I usually rely on both gaia and paper maps, but am wondering if I can just use farout on my thru hike, or if multiple navigation resources are necessary or even helpful. Would love to hear any tidbits folks have! Thanks so much!

I’m planning on getting on trail at Pine/Strawberry in a couple of weeks to restart a previous thru that ended there. I’ll be flying into Sky Harbor and am looking for a shuttle from there to the trailhead. Can anyone recommend a shuttle service or trail angel that may be able to help with this?

Hi everyone,

I'm starting my SOBO thru hike on Oct. 2nd. Studying the fire closures from aztrail.org (full link below) and Farout, I'm wondering how to deal with the active closures. Hoping I'm not making a giant fool of myself because I understood something wrong!

I made an overview of the relevant closures that I found on Current Closures, Restrictions, and Reroutes – Explore the Arizona Trail (aztrail.org) and on Farout (by filtering for the "warning" sign), added the mile markers etc. You can find it here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DCNDcK2X61q2njMExi9dh8W2VsaW8_JBfvkL1uy4Q40/edit?usp=sharing

Questions:

1. I noticed that none of these are listed in the closures sticky thread 2024 Passage Closure Sticky Thread : r/arizonatrail (reddit.com). Am I getting something wrong or is the thread just not up-to-date?

2. The Black and Sandstone fires seem relatively contained (90 and 98%, respectively, both as of about a month ago). Also, they're pretty far south. Does anyone have an educated guess whether we can hope for the trail to be re-opened by ~mid/late October?

3. Is the Resupply option at Roosevelt lake affected by the Black Fire, i.e. will there be people operating the visitor's center (I know I can just give them a call but since I'm starting a thread anyway...).

4. The West Fire seems persistent - I'm guessing the trail will stay closed until I'm coming through. I see two possible courses of action. Opinions and what is preferable (or other suggestions)?

   • Hitch to Pine from Hwy 87 (Nobo mile 495.7), missing 39.4 miles of trail
   • Take Rim Road 300 (Nobo mile 480.4) and walk to Hwy 87 near Baker Lake, then hitch to Pine.

5. Are there any closures I missed?

Hi! My partner and I plan to start out Sobo thru hikes this Saturday or Sunday (21st or 22nd), we are currently in Salt Lake and curious if anyone might be heading the same way over the weekend? Either from SLC or St George. Very happy to split gas! Happy hiking.

Hello everyone! I am planning to hike the AZ trail SOBO in the next two weeks and would like to do roughly 4 resupply boxes. I do plan on mostly resupplying in town. Based on previous experiences where have you encountered the most difficulty with food options or cost? Thank you in advance!

Looking for a backpacking tent that I can use on the AZT this coming spring. I am thinking about a bivvy, but I'm hoping to find something versatile that I can use on weekend backpacks here in the east.

Really having a hard time deciding if I should bring a wind jacket and/or top baselayer. Trying to keep things minimal. I've got an EE torrid and a Frog togs at the moment but that's it. Starting SOBO somewhere around 10/9. Should I really prioritize a fleece, merino baselayer, or a low weight wind layer as well?

Or maybe I'll just be fine with what I've got.

Curious what articles of clothing anybody has brought on trail. Only one primary outfit plus the rain and puffy gear? What kind of materials are good and lightweight. I've heard cotton is the worst because it's heavy and once it's wet, it's wet for a long time. I'm planning a northbound this spring.

Edit: I have backpacked before. I'm from AZ and have experience in the desert and the mountains. I just enjoy getting opinions, and I want to upgrade my gear for the much longer trail. Been using mostly all cotton clothing for me shorter trips, plus a 3.5 pound tent and some other heavier gear.

Hey everyone! I’ll be starting on Oct 2nd with my brother. Anyone else starting that day that wants to split a shuttle? Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I've got some gear questions for my upcoming SOBO thru hike (start date: Around Oct. 1st). First of all, here's my preliminary lighterpack: https://lighterpack.com/r/76gxz5

Insulation: Usually, I'm a fleece-only kind of guy, so I only bring a fleece (Senchi 90 or Patagonia R1) and a rain jacket but no wind breaker or puffy. On this trip, however, I'm bringing a wind breaker since I won't have a rain jacket (my Gatewood Cape is my only rain protection). A wind breaker works in a pinch as active insulation, so I could also bring my puffy (EE Torrid) instead of the fleece which might be nice because of the colder nighttime temperatures. What are your guys' experiences? Is it cold enough to warrant active insulation or is a puffy more useful? I'm imagining it will be quite cold in the mornings but then warm up pretty quickly which has me leaning towards the puffy. I'm contemplating the puffy because I feel like my quilt might be a tad cold (cold sleeper here).

Sleeping Pad: I was gonna try out the Z-Lite Sol with a full length 1/8" pad underneath so that I don't have to worry about puncturing the X-Lite that I usually bring. Will that combo be warm enough?

Wind pants: I'm bringing long pants (OR Ferrosi) to forgo the sunscreen and Merino tights to sleep in. No rain pants, no wind pants. Am I gonna want wind protection for the legs? I feel like tights+long pants should probably be enough, right?

Water filtration system: I was gonna go with a Sawyer squeeze and CNOC bags, aswell as micropur forte for the occasional yucky source. I was gonna bring a foldable cup as a scoop. Is there anything else I need? Like are there deeper cisterns or anything that would require me to be able to lower my scoop on a string?

Any other comments you guys have?

Hi all. Going SOBO this fall and in the process of booking a shuttle from Kanab to the start of the trail. Going to be driving, however, and have some friends who can picking up the car in Kanab 2-3 week after we start the trail. Curious if anyone has experience leaving a car in Kanab for a few weeks, and if so, where did you leave it and how was it? My impression is that Kanab is a pretty safe town, but just want to make sure I do some thorough research before leaving my car somewhere. Been chatting with the shuttle service about some options, but just want to get a second opinion. Thanks so much everyone!

Hi everyone,

I'll be doing a SOBO thru hike of the AZT starting probably around Oct. 1st. Since I like to cover big-ish distances (25-30 mile days), I'm expecting to do a fair share of hiking in the dark every day (roughly 2hrs/day). I'm not super worried about the rattlers at night because they tend to give you a warning if you come too close but I've never dealt with scorpions before. Is there anything I need to be careful about? Especially when setting up my (cowboy) camp, do I need to somehow make sure there's no scorpions?

Sorry for the newbie questions, I'm just clueless.