Google Map Wordpress

(Legend: Blue – 2019; Red – 2020; Green – 2021; Yellow – 2023; Purple – 2024;

Gray – not hiked – Click an icon to read more )

491.5

Miles

32

Hiking Days

15.4

Average Miles Per Day

There are 11 designated National Scenic Trails in the United States. These include the famous Pacific Crest Trail in the west and the Appalachian Trail in the east. Also on the list is the Arizona Trail (AZT), running 800 miles in a north-south direction from the Mexican border to Utah. The Arizona Trail traverses through a wide variety of terrain, passing through Saguaro National Park near Tucson, before continuing north into the mountains. The path also travels through the heart of Grand Canyon National Park, taking hikers rim to rim.

Arizona Trail elevation profile

We have always been intrigued by rim to rim hiking through the Grand Canyon, so we put ourselves into the Phantom Ranch lottery (14 months in advance), hoping to stay in the historic accommodations at the bottom of the canyon in May 2019. To our great surprise, we were able to get spots in the hiker dorms on our first choice date.

With that reservation in hand, we hiked the northern 200 miles of the Arizona Trail, beginning in Flagstaff, Arizona, and ending at the Utah border. We had such an amazing time on the trail that we decided to come back in the future to trek other sections.

Watch a short overview of our 2019 trek, focusing on our time in the Grand Canyon:

In 2020, with the world engulfed in the pandemic, our overseas trekking plans were affected. However, since the Arizona Trail is within a day’s drive from our Southern California home, we could easily plan a hike with little notice. So we waited for a window of opportunity that allowed us to trek with little personal interaction. This allowed us to complete another 104-mile section (110 miles total), from Pine to Flagstaff, in October.

We continued our Arizona Trail hiking with a 72-mile section through the Mazatzal Wilderness in May 2021. Located in Arizona’s transition zone between the desert and Colorado Plateau, the wilderness featured a variety of flora as the heat was on with warm temperatures.

In February 2023 we trekked 60 miles in the Sonoran Desert to the Gila River.

We added more miles in 2024 with a 42.5-mile section hike through the Four Peaks Wilderness.

We have now hiked about 65% of the Arizona Trail and will look for other opportunities to complete more miles in the future.

Read more about our journey below:

Use It or Lose It: Preparing Our Gear for Trekking the U.S. West

As we prepare for our Trekking the U.S. West adventure this summer, we have been focused on our gear. Taking into account the lessons we learned from hiking the PCT three years ago, we have strived to review every backpacking item to lighten our load. If we aren’t going to use something extensively, it stays…

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To the Red Cliffs of Utah: Completing the Arizona Trail

When we emerged from our rim-to-rim trek through the Grand Canyon 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 red cliffs of the Utah border and a shuttle pick-up there in…

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Trekking the U.S. West Summary Videos

In 2019 we undertook our latest adventure: hiking in California, Arizona, and Washington in what we called Trekking the U.S. West. During our three treks, we hiked 550 miles. At the conclusion of each hike we made short summary videos.

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