Wednesday October 25, 36.2km/22.5mi

Brush Spring (364.1/5190ft) to Unnamed Saddle (386.6/6950ft) (AZ)

We left camp at 6am and immediately had a long climb up to a ridge. Since the pre-dawn temperatures were cool, it was a nice way to warm up. And the view from the top wasn’t bad either.

The trail was a little more brushy today, with scrub oak and cats claw growing everywhere.

We traversed another ridge, and I saw a rocky outcropping that was in the sun, so I decided to take a break there. I had an almost 360 view too.

TopShelf and Beer Goddess caught up, and we all went up another climb. This one was on a newer section of trail, so it was less brushy.

And then of course we went right back downhill again. The views were great today, but you really had to work for them.

Then for over an hour, we traversed a hillside, while slowly climbing. It reminded me of the southern PCT, since I could see the trail for miles in either direction.

I noticed that at these lower elevations, the yucca plants grow everywhere.

Some of them grow a little too close to the trail, which keeps me alert since they have pointy ends. At the top of that long gradual climb, there was the best view of the day. Looking Southwest:

To the north, I could see Humphrey’s peak, which we had passed by over a week ago…but I forgot to get a photo of that one. I continued on another mile to a spring, where we all met up for lunch. The water was clear and cold, but tasted like an old iron pipe.

After lunch, the afternoon brought a whole new set of views, as the terrain was becoming more cliff-y.

And the clouds casting shadows over the landscape was interesting to see.

After stopping at another spring, we continued up yet another climb. This one was in the hot sun, but fortunately there was a nice breeze to help keep things cool.

We made steady progress up the climb, stopping to take plenty of photos along the way.

We passed under Mazatzal Peak, the highest mountain in this area.

It was pretty cool to see it from a few different sides. It looked steep!

Late in the afternoon we arrived at Bear Spring, where we stopped to get water. It was very nice clear water, but unfortunately it was a quarter-mile off trail. I dropped my pack and jogged the side trail, so it went faster.

TopShelf getting water from the cute little spring.

After we returned to the main trail, we still had over two miles of hiking to get to camp, and only 30 minutes of daylight. We finished the last 15 minutes of the day hiking with headlamps. We camped in a very mediocre site, at a windy saddle. It’s probably my least favorite spot so far, but it works.

Tuesday October 24, 35.7km/22.2mi

Pine Ridge (341.9/5860ft) to Brush Spring (364.1/5190ft) (AZ)

We woke up before dawn to start hiking at 6am, and we hiked with headlamps for about 15 minutes in the darkness.

Slowly getting lighter…

And half an hour later we saw the sunrise!

The day warmed up quickly, and an hour after we started we entered the Mazatzal Wilderness. I love seeing these signs.

It definitely felt like a lower elevation desert, now that I have been seeing prickly pear cactus all the time.

Around mid-morning a few puffy clouds moved in, and kept the temperatures nice and cool.

The clouds also made the photos look a lot more interesting too.

This was one of the biggest specimens of prickly pair cacti that I had ever seen.

We stopped for lunch at a spring, where three other hikers were also taking a break. They soon took off, and the three of us enjoyed a quiet lunch by the trickling spring. We stayed less than an hour since all of us were looking forward to the river, just over 3 miles away. After lunch I spent an hour walking across a grassy plateau before descending to the river.

As soon as I arrived at the East Verde River, I promptly took a swim.

It had been over a week since I had a shower, and it felt really good to swim in the cool water and rinse off all the sweat. TopShelf and Beer Goddess joined a few minutes later.

After spending almost an hour enjoying the river, we packed up and started the long steady climb. We spent the rest of the afternoon slowly making our way up a 3,000 ft climb to a ridge.

As the sun’s angle got lower in the sky, it made really neat patterns of shade and sun on the rippled hillsides.

As usual we hiked until sunset, spending the last few minutes of our day hiking in twilight amongst the Manzanita bushes.

We quickly set up our tents before going to get water, to take advantage of the quickly waning daylight.

I haven’t been able to get many photos of our campsites on this trail, since it’s usually dark by the time we get our tents setup. Our next task was to find the spring, which was a few hundred meters down a rough trail. There were some nice pools of water hidden amongst the rocks, and it was a little tricky to get down into.

A few minutes later, I was back at camp and making dinner while watching the waxing moon rise above our campsite.

We were all pretty tired from today, as this section of trail in the Mazatzal mountains has quite a bit more elevation gain.

Monday October 23, 18.5km/11.5mi

Red Rock Spring (332.6/6020ft) to Pine Ridge (341.9/5860ft) (AZ) +2.2mi Pine roadwalk

We woke up very early, and hiked out at 6am, with the plan to make it to a diner in town at 8am. It was pretty dark for a few minutes.

It slowly got brighter, and we were able to turn off our headlamps.

I love watching a sunrise slowly spill light over the valleys and mountains.

After 5 miles, we arrived at the road to Pine. It was a short 1 mile roadwalk, too short to hitch.

The Early Bird Cafe was highly recommended, and it didn’t disappoint. I ordered something called the “Big Bird breakfast” and it was probably around 2000 calories.

We spent an hour eating breakfast and charging our phones, and then we walked a little further into the main part of town, to the laundromat and grocery store. Along the way there were some friendly welcoming signs.

And a funny bumper sticker too!

We stationed ourselves in the town park, at a pavilion with shade and outlets. We took turns grocery shopping, so the other person could watch over all our stuff at the pavilion.

I spent over 30 minutes shopping, as the little store was kinda disorganized. I brought back my haul, and spread it out on the table to make sure I didn’t forget anything.

After the grocery trips, we went across the street to the laundromat to wash our socks and underwear in the sink. At that point we ran into Beer Goddess again, and the 3 of us went to “THAT brewery” on the edge of town.

A few beer samplers and pulled pork sandwiches later, and it was time to leave. We headed out at 4pm, and it was a short walk back to the trail. After the chaos of town, it always feels relaxing to be back in the forest.

We only walked a couple of hours, slowly climbing back up into the mountains.

The fall colors had definitely arrived to this little gully.

The sun set just before 6pm, and we were close to our planned campsite.

When we arrived at the spot, Beer Goddess was already there, ha! We all think alike for camping. Even though we hiked only 10 miles, it felt like a tiring day.

Sunday October 22, 38.1km/23.7mi

Near road FS123 (308.9/7120ft) to Red Rock Spring (332.6/6020ft) (AZ)

I left camp at 6:30 just before sunrise, and it was surprisingly not that cold.

I hiked along a ridge line for a little while, and just as I was leaving the ridge I saw this weird pipe.

Right after that I dropped down into a small valley next to a stream, where it was very cold. I tried to get water from the stagnant little stream but it smelled like motor oil, so I dumped it out. TopShelf showed up 15 minutes later, and we hiked together out of the cold little valley. Once we were back up on the plateau again it was reasonably warm.

I noticed the geology had changed from volcanic rock to sandstone, and then these little flowers started appearing everywhere.

We came to the edge of the Colorado Plateau, which in this area is called the Mogollon Rim.

The rest of the trail will be at lower elevations with a warmer climate and different flora. We visited this little cabin at the edge of the rim, I think it was called the General Springs cabin.

Right after the cabin, the trail started dropping down, down, down in elevation.

After a little while I noticed the plants had started to change, and now we were seeing scrub oak and manzanita everywhere.

And we started seeing more lizards too.

After a couple of hours we had dropped down almost 2,000 ft, and the view back up to the rim was pretty spectacular.

By late morning we were down in a different climate zone, and plants definitely looked different here.

The geology had changed too, and there were even some slickrock benches to walk on.

We stopped for lunch and a shady spot by a dried up creek, and I experimented with my solar panel to see how well it would charge in this stronger sun at these lower elevations. We didn’t stay long as we still had quite a few miles to cover, though we did stop briefly to check out this handmade seat next to the trail.

The afternoon flew by, and we hiked on some nice new rebuilt sections of trail as we weaved through the canyons.

I came across another snake, this one was exceptionally stubborn and did not move from the trail.

Occasionally we passed by a cool rock formation like this one.

When we hiked down into one of the small canyons, we were surprised to hear the sound of water. Apparently a pipe had sprung a leak and was spraying high pressure water all over the little gully.

I stood under the water, it felt good to take a cold shower in the hot weather. Feeling refreshed, we continued on the trail which was uneventful the rest of the day.

As the sun started going down, the shadows on the rim behind us looked pretty cool.

One of the little gullies we passed through was full of maples that were turning bright red colors.

About 10 minutes before we arrived to camp, the sun went behind the mountains and it got dark.

We camped at a nice little spot at a dried-up spring, and listened to the crickets and other warm weather insects around us. It was one of my favorite campsites so far.

Saturday October 21, 38.5km/23.9mi

Jct to Daves Tank (285.0/6970ft) to Near road FS123 (308.9/7120ft) (AZ)

We slept great in our little spot amongst the ponderosas, which kept us pretty warm. As soon as I stepped out into the nearby meadow, it felt pretty cold.

I followed a meandering trail for an hour, as the sun rose and slowly warmed the world around me.

I stopped for a break at “Foot in Tree” tank, a rather hilarious name. I filled a water bottle, and then TopShelf caught up a few minutes later.

We walked together for a bit, and then we spent the morning leapfrogging each other, until our lunch break. We stopped by a road and ate, and I had my usual wrap with cheese. Another group of 3 hikers was already there too, since this spot is where the main route splits from a temporary fire detour. We had all heard that the fire was mostly out, and the route would be reopened, but couldn’t verify that without a phone signal. The group of 3 took the detour, and we continued on the main trail. After we saw that the signs and caution-tape had been removed, we felt confident the trail was reopened. At the next road crossing, there was a water cache, and it had some beer too!

TopShelf posing in front of our break spot and water/beer cache.

We continued on the trail, and the air became a little smokey.

We talked to a couple of wildfire workers, who were doing fire surveillance , and they said the fire was basically out, but might be a little smokey for the next mile. Sure enough, a mile later at the top of a climb, the smoke disappeared.

There was still the occasional smoldering log, which was fun to see.

And the rest of the afternoon was uneventful walking.

At the other end of the fire zone, they hadn’t been thru the area to remove the signs yet.

We hiked down into a small ravine, which had a gravel wash at the bottom.

After a short but steep climb back up the other side, we were once again in a ponderosa pine forest.

The last hour of the day was easy and relaxing hiking in a quiet forest.

The sun went down, and we spent the last 15 minutes hiking in twilight.

Finally at 6:15 we arrived at our camp spot, just as it became completely dark. What an interesting and unpredictable day.

Friday October 20, 41.5km/25.8mi

Wallace Spring (259.2/7370ft) to Jct to Daves Tank (285.0/6970ft) (AZ)

I left camp at 6:30 like usual and TopShelf was not far behind me. The morning hiking is my favorite part of the day, especially when the forest is glowing orange from the sunrise.

Just another relaxing morning hiking among the ponderosa pines.

For part of the morning the trail seemed to follow an old railroad bed, which was used by logging companies in the 1800s. The railroad tracks had long ago been removed.

TopShelf and I met up at a water source a couple hours after leaving camp, and we also met another hiker, Beer Goddess. I already knew her, we had hiked part of the PCT together in 2015 and also crossed paths a few more times since then on various trails. It was fun to walk and reminisce as we hiked through an easy trail.

Later in the morning we entered the final part of the Coconino National Forest, which is the Mogollon Rim area.

The three of us stopped for lunch at the same spot, and had a fun conversation about different trails in the US. After lunch it was pretty uneventful hiking, but the air did become a little more smokey as we continued. Eventually we came to our final water source for the day and there were already three other northbound hikers gathered there. It was a little challenging getting water from the murky pond, and each of us celebrated our triumphant return without getting our feet wet.

The view of the pond and the terrain to the south.

As we were packing up to leave, two more hikers showed up and now there were eight people gathered here… it was quite a large crowd.

We had a couple more hours of hiking to do, so we took off around 4pm to make our final miles for the day.

Some other hiker with a clever and twisted sense of humor arranged some old cow bones to spell out AZT….haha!

A little while later I stumbled across a few of these very large critters, which I tend to avoid if I can. Tarantula!

Topshelf and I reunited just before 6pm, and then hiked on another mile and a half into the darkness. It was a little more challenging than usual to find a campsite that was flat and non-rocky. Eventually we found a spot, arriving at our site at 6:45, the latest we have hiked into the night (except for the Grand Canyon day). Long day!

Thursday October 19, 36.4km/22.6miMarshall Lake Trailhead (236.6/7150ft) to Wallace Spring (259.2/7370ft) (AZ)I was awake at 6:30am, and wasn’t in a hurry to leave since I knew TopShelf had to catch up. I finally rolled out of camp at 7:15 and saw the “lake” that I had camped near.Marshall Lake was little more than a damp marsh! I hiked another mile and came across a familiar sight, the Lowell Observatory.I realized that I had been here before, on a car trip a few years ago, and camped nearby. A little further down the trail, and I saw Prime Lake, an intermittent lake that attracts tons of migrating birds every fall. It was very loud, I could tell it was a popular avian social scene.The rest of the morning was an uneventful hike along the top of Anderson Mesa, with occasional views down to Lake Mary.The soil was very rocky and volcanic, which makes for a rough trail. But it was flat and easy hiking.We’ve come 243 miles since leaving Utah!I stopped at Horse Lake to refill my water, and after 20 minutes TopShelf caught up.By the time we left the lake, I could see smoke from the prescribed burn taking place just to the west of us.We hiked on for another hour, and the smoke cloud was growing quickly.When we got down to highway 3, we stopped for lunch. The trail was closed beyond this point, so it seemed like a good spot to take a break.After lunch we roadwalked for 30 minutes on a detour, getting a close up view of the prescribed burn.Yup, it looked pretty smokey down there.While I was distracted by all the exciting scenery, I almost stepped on a snake on the road.Finally we left the road and had to bushwhack a little bit back to the trail, and even crawl under a fence.We saw the very end of the burn area, which was definitely still smoky.We walked for a little while before taking a break, to put some space between us and the smoke. Finally the forest seemed back to normal.It was uneventful hiking for the rest of the afternoon.Towards the end of the day, we walked through a closed campground. It had a funny old sign from the 1970s.And we crossed the first flowing water I’ve seen on this entire trail so far.Nearby there was a trail register, which we signed, and it was also fun seeing all the other people ahead of us on the trail.We hiked uphill another mile to get to a camping spot that was a little warmer. We passed by this random boulder which had some graffiti on it, apparently it’s famous.As usual, we got to our planned campsite just before dark at 6pm. It seems to be getting dark so early these days!

Wednesday October 18, 18.8km/11.7mi

Flagstaff Urban Trail Jct (229.2/6620ft) to Marshall Lake Trailhead (236.6/7150ft) (AZ) + 4.3mi Urban Trail

We were awake at 7am in the hotel room, and I walked over to the Fry’s to get groceries. It’s supposed to be a 15-minute walk but I got delayed by a long train.

Fry’s is basically Arizona’s version of Kroger, so it was easy to find everything in the store since it was laid out just like every other store.

I went straight back to the hotel room where I organized my food, and then TopShelf went to the grocery store while I took a shower.

I checked out of the hotel room at 11am and walked next door to the McDonald’s where I ordered way too many chicken McNuggets. And fries, and a McFlurry, and…

I was joined at my table by another AZT SoBo hiker named Survivorman, whom I had met a week ago at the North Rim. We talked about everything relating to the trail, and TopShelf joined us an hour later. The two of us said goodbye to Survivorman, and we walked out of town at 1pm. It was entertaining seeing some of Arizona culture, for example they consider this a pumpkin patch.

A few minutes later we walked through a tunnel under the I-40 freeway, and then instantly in the woods.

I think there is an airport near the trail here, as we kept seeing planes fly overhead.

The trail followed a wide valley South away from the city.

Pretty soon our “Flagstaff urban route” rejoined the main Arizona Trail.

I stopped for a short break, and then spent the next couple hours trying to catch up to TopShelf. Eventually I became suspicious that I hadn’t caught up yet, and then I checked my phone messages and saw “oops! I took a wrong turn, I’m behind you”. Ha! I kept him, since we had a set distance to hike every day. The ponderosa pine Forest made the afternoon go by quickly.

Just before 6pm I got to our planned campsite, and it was surrounded by cows. Hi cows!

I quickly setup my tent before it got dark, and messaged TopShelf that we had a nice campsite under the pines. After some phone messaging, I learned that she stopped a couple miles short of our planned campsite and would catch up tomorrow. It feels weird to be camping alone (cows don’t count).

Tuesday October 17, 18.7km/11.6mi

Old Weatherford Rd (197.2/7740ft) to Flagstaff Urban Trail Jct (198.3/7810ft) (AZ) + 10.5mi Urban Trail

We left camp at 7:15, and walked the quick mile to the junction where there is an option to hike around Flagstaff or through it.

We had decided earlier to hike through Flagstaff, which makes the resupplying easier. The trail was pretty easy and we saw a few mountain bikers.

At one of the trail junctions, topShelf saw a small cave, so we decided to stop briefly to explore it.

We scrambled up some steep slabby rock, and into a small cave!

It made me a little claustrophobic when I had to duck down to walk through it, but it was pretty neat. It connected thru, and there was an exit out the backside.

We left the cave and went a little ways down the trail when I saw a snake! It was just a little one and it was very quick to leave the trail.

We hiked another hour, eventually making it into the outskirts of Flagstaff, where we walked along a neighborhood road for a mile.

We diverted to a small shopping center for a Safeway grocery store, but ended up skipping the Safeway and going to a cafe for an early lunch instead.

The food was pretty darn good, and after an hour we were pretty full. We still had another hour to hike to get to the main part of town.

The Flagstaff Urban Trail system was pretty impressive, it was well signed, well maintained, and had some pretty epic views.

Eventually we dropped down to a big road, which was actually historic route 66, and then crossed some big railroad tracks.

We checked into our motel 6 just before 3pm, which was a modern but very small hotel room.

I dropped off my stuff in the room and immediately headed back out to the post office to get a package. Gossamer Gear had shipped the wrong size hipbelt when they mailed me a new backpack, and I had to go pick up the new one they shipped me. After I got back we went to REI, since TopShelf needed new shoes. After that we walked downtown to dinner. Flagstaff is full of little pieces of artwork scattered throughout the city.

We went to a wonderful little place called Asia Station. So good!

We finished dinner at 8:30 and it was cold & dark outside, so I decided to use my free Lyft credit to get a ride back to the hotel, rather than walking for 30 minutes. Fun day!

Monday October 16, 33.5km/20.8mi

Borrego Trick Tank (176.4/7440ft) to Old Weatherford Rd (197.2/7740ft) (AZ)

We woke up to another dry sunny morning. I left camp at 7am and topShelf wasn’t quite ready but planned to leave within 10 minutes. I walked thru the ponderosa pine forest for an hour, enjoying the morning light.

I took a break at a water cache, which had no water but had a little beanie baby.

I wrote in my journal, and TopShelf caught up and we continued on thru the forest.

It was cool to see Humphrey’s Peak getting very close now.

We slowly climbed in elevation all morning and the temperatures remained cool.

And a random spot in the forest, I passed by this little roughly made shelter. Strange.

By late in the morning we were at an elevation of over 8,000 ft and the Aspen forests reappeared.

Yup, it’s definitely autumn here.

Just before lunch time I stopped at a junction to a water source. A few passing dayhikers had told me that it was dry, so I decided to wait for topShelf here, to meet up and continue on. We’ve come pretty far from Utah!

The view of Humphrey’s peak in the autumn.

Half an hour later we were reunited, and we found a lunch spot in the shade nearby. After lunch it was just a blissful stroll through a bright yellow aspen forest.

At one point the forest opened up, and I could see a controlled burn happening in the distance.

It seemed like it was making quite a bit of smoke.

The amazing views continued for a while.

We stopped at a pond water source, and we saw another hiker come over to the pond also. He looked fast and after talking to him, we learned his name was Right-On and he was hiking the AZT in 21 days unsupported. Amazing! The three of us hiked together all afternoon all the way until our camp spot. It was exciting to talk with him about all the different hikes and we forgot to stop and take breaks, or even photos. I only got one more photo of the Aspens.

When we stopped at our planned camp spot, he still had another four or five miles to go, and it was already 5:30pm. He and TopShelf had hiked the PCT together in 2014 (small world) so I got a photo of them together.

He said goodbye, and we wished him luck for the rest of his speed hike attempt. While we were setting up camp, I tried to get a photo of the sunset, which was made extra red by the smoke.

It was a pretty easy day today, and tomorrow we have only 11-ish miles to get to town.