May 16, 2019
At mid-day on Saturday (May 11), we emerged from our rim-to-rim trek through the Grand Canyon at the North Kaibab Trailhead. It was cold and windy, and there was too much snow on the ground for us to hike on the Arizona Trail (AZT). We had 76 more trail miles to reach the Utah border and a shuttle pick-up there in 4 1/2 days’ time. So we needed to keep moving to reach our northern terminus appointment at the red cliffs of Utah.
With the snow conditions, we had no choice but to begin a road walk. The North Rim of the canyon was closed for the season and scheduled to open four days later, on May 15. But, even though the road was closed from the town of Jacob Lake to the park, it was still being used by construction workers and park personnel getting in position for the opening. So, as we walked, we encountered four to five cars an hour.
We had park permits for dispersed camping, but with heavy snow on both sides of the road, we wouldn’t be able to get far enough away from the highway to camp legally. Instead, we reasoned that if we left the park, reentering the Kaibab National Forest, we could get away with only going a short distance off the road to pitch our tent, as there were no permits needed to camp there.
To leave the park meant that we needed to complete about 10 miles of hiking from the North Kaibab Trailhead before dark. With our three-mile an hour road walking pace, the distance went by quickly.
After a couple of hours, we happened on a large area of snowmelt. We stopped and filtered enough water to last us through dinner and breakfast the next morning.
Soon after that, we came to the Grand Canyon National Park entrance. We had to climb over a “Road Closed” fence before exiting the park and entering the Kaibab National Forest a few feet away.
It was now late afternoon and the temperature was starting to drop. Finding a campsite among the trees was our highest priority so that we could hide our presence from the highway. As we walked, we scanned both sides of the road for a spot within the trees that looked snow-free and relatively level.
After a few more minutes of looking for an appropriate site, we got discouraged. There was just too much snow on the ground. If we couldn’t find a location soon, we needed to consider hitchhiking to the town of Jacob Lake. We hoped we could spend the night there and hitch back to our location in the morning.
Five minutes later, we saw a campsite possibility off to the right. It required climbing over the snowplow bank by the side of the road and carefully navigating through a snowfield to where the trees began. There, we found a spot that barely worked. It was far enough from the road that no one would see us. And, it was snow-free, but we could only use one of our tent doors since there was a small tree blocking one side.
I set up the tent and sleeping area, while Darren made dinner. As we ate, I used our Garmin InReach to check the weather. The good news was that the chance of rain was significantly less for the remainder of our trek. But the forecast for that night was going to be very cold: 23 degrees F. With the warm meal in our stomachs, we got into the tent. Once inside, we put on every piece of clothing that we had and settled down to sleep.
We waited until the sun came up and warmed the tent in the morning before making any attempt to get up. It was cold at night, but bearable, as we both slept reasonably well after an exhausting 18 miles of hiking. After a quick breakfast, we packed up and were soon back to road walking.
Our water needs continued to be met with another snowmelt by the side of the road. Darren found a small log to balance on as he filtered the water.
At mid-morning we came upon a small store that, although closed, had a young couple outside who were getting ready for the Wednesday season open. We took a break there, and they graciously offered to open the store for us so we could buy some snacks and drinks. I asked them if they knew where hikers were rejoining the AZT, and they suggested looking at the next intersection with the trail, about nine road miles ahead.
We continued to walk, still encountering several cars an hour. After a break for lunch, we neared the AZT intersection with the road. The snow around us was definitely lessening, so we decided to try the trail. After 24 miles of road walking, It felt good to be hiking on a path again. There were a few snow patches to navigate, but they didn’t slow us down significantly.
At the end of the day, we entered a burn area from the 2006 Warm Fire. The high burn severity of the fire had wiped out whole tree canopies. While some plants and aspen trees have returned since then, many other trees were still just burned trunks. We don’t normally camp in burn areas, but the road walking had thrown off our planned camping schedule.
It took quite a while to find a level site that was not under any dead trees that could topple on us. Even so, the ground we set our tent on had a lot of undulation, and we didn’t sleep very well that night. While eating breakfast the next morning, I was surprised to hear many types of birds chirping around us. It was welcome in the midst of so much devastation.
After covering a 19.3-mile distance the previous day, we now had about 41 miles to go to Utah. We encountered some large areas of snow, but they were firm and easy to pass through in the morning. Soon, we left the last snow patch of our trek.
Since we were now back on the trail, the familiar water tank sources returned. At least they were now fewer than 10 miles apart, allowing us to carry much less water.
With our shuttle pick-up now two days away, I needed to confirm our arrival time with them. We had been told there should be cell service in the area we were hiking, so I spent the morning trying my phone at likely locations, such as the tops of hills or with views of the paved road. I had no luck. We stopped to eat lunch at one of the water sources, and I tried to use my phone again. Luckily, I found that if I climbed on a log, I got just enough bars to make the call.
Since emerging from the Grand Canyon, we had been trekking on the Kaibab Plateau, staying over 8,000 feet. After lunch, the trail finally started losing elevation, as we hiked through a series of canyons. In this area was some of the most beautiful forest scenery we had seen since leaving Flagstaff almost two weeks ago. We spent our last night among the forest trees after completing 15.7 miles that day,
Some high desert plants came into view the next morning, including cactus and yuccas.
As we continued to lose elevation, bushes became more prominent. The warmer weather was also a welcome change for us.
Not surprisingly, we ran into a snake as we hiked. It was the first one we had seen the entire trek. Fortunately, it was not a rattlesnake, so we took a moment to view it closely.
Later in the day we crossed a dirt forest road and came to a trailhead map. We had only 10 more miles to go to the Utah border!
Our plan was to complete a 16-mile day and camp about nine miles from the AZT’s northern terminus. We could then hike at a leisurely pace the next day to make our 2:00 pm shuttle pick-up. But before we could start looking for a campsite, we needed to filter the last water of our trek.
The water source was located about 3/10 of a mile off the trail, and the phone app’s directions to it were vague. Instead, we used our location and the app’s map to navigate ourselves through the bushes towards the water icon.
Once we made it to the source, the app directed us to find the third manhole on the hill. It had two loose screws, making it easy to open the lid. We found plenty of water inside. After the final filtering was complete, we retraced our steps back to the trail and continued hiking.
All afternoon we had glimpses of the red cliffs of the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument to the east of us. So we began looking for a site with a view for our final night of camping. Our diligence paid off, and we found a nice, level area for our tent. There were rocks to sit on and admire the cliffs while we ate our dinner that evening.
While we set up camp, rain fell over the cliffs in the distance. A rainbow briefly filled the sky.
With only nine miles to trek on the final day, we were leisurely about breaking camp in the morning. We took our time hiking, stopping to take pictures of the beautiful scenery along the trail.
A vista opened up to the north of us. More red cliffs (adjacent to the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument) vividly came into view.
As a backup to our phone app, we carry paper maps. On the final page, I could see that the Arizona Trail lost about 1,000 feet in its last two miles, as the path traveled down a series of switchbacks.
As we hiked on the switchbacks towards Utah, the views just got better and better. With our slower pace, we could take it all in and enjoy the beauty around us.
The switchbacks ended, and we arrived at the northern terminus of the Arizona Trail at about 12:20 pm, completing our trek from Flagstaff, Arizona!
While waiting for the shuttle to arrive, we took the opportunity to reminisce about our time on the trail. In just 200 miles we experienced pine and aspen forests, plateaus, and high desert terrain. And we encountered bulls while contending with challenging water carries and filtering.
The weather included warm days with no shade, cold nights, wind, rain, hail and even snow. We completed over 20 miles of road walking to stay on schedule. And of course, we trekked rim to rim through the Grand Canyon – a highlight that we wouldn’t soon forget. Our time on the Arizona Trail had been so enjoyable that we immediately began to talk about completing another section hike in the future.
After returning home we made a short video, highlighting our time trekking in the Grand Canyon. Take a look below.
During our 13 days of hiking, we sent location updates twice a day using our Garmin Inreach satellite device. With all the conditions we encountered on the trail, we knew that our family and friends would be encouraged to see our progress.
We will be providing similar updates on our Pacific Crest Trail trek, beginning in late June. Follow us then by checking out our Location Tracker page.