Friday October 27, 36.2km/22.5mi

Sycamore Creek (410.9/3320ft) to Black Bear Saddle (433.4/5570ft) (AZ)

We left camp at the usual time, just after 6am. It was a long gradual uphill all morning, hiking up the Boulder Creek drainage.

At these elevations there’s very little shade, but fortunately it was quite cool in the early morning.

After a couple of hours, I reached the top of the ridge and took a break at a trail junction.

For the next 11 miles the trail followed a rough dirt road. It was easy walking and it was nice to be able to look around at the views.

In the far distance I could see Roosevelt Lake, which will be our destination tomorrow night.

I stopped to refill my water at a spring, where I also took a break. TopShelf caught up and we hiked together until lunch, where we had an amazing spot under a shade tree at the top of a hill. After lunch there was another hour of walking on the dirt road and we could see our upcoming objective, the Four Peaks.

From every angle that I saw, it looked like there were only three peaks but I’m told there’s a fourth one hiding somewhere. It was a nice relaxing walk on the dirt road.

Roosevelt Lake was getting ever closer, and I was daydreaming of taking a swim tomorrow.

In mid-afternoon we reached the Pigeon trailhead, where we left the road and stopped at a spring a few minutes later.

At the spring we caught up to a hiking duo of two older gentlemen, who were doing a long section of the trail together. They were fun to talk to, and were also locals in Tucson, so they knew quite a bit about the area.

After we left the spring, I was excited to enter another wilderness. Four Peaks Wilderness!

As the sun got lower in the sky, the hillsides revealed all their bumpy little ridges.

We traversed along the hillside for a few miles, where we had pretty sweet views of the four peaks area.

And of course the lake too.

TopShelf and I caught up to Beer Goddess, who was originally planning on going further tonight, but she decided to join us camping, and so we hiked the last mile together.

There is very limited camping in this area because of the steep rocky terrain, so we all crammed our tents in a small area at Black Bear saddle.

We actually arrived to camp before sunset today, but it was complicated to figure out how to set up the tents in such a small space, so it was after dark by the time we were able to get photos of camp.

Thursday October 26, 39.1km/24.3mi

Unnamed Saddle (386.6/6950ft) to Sycamore Creek (410.9/3320ft) (AZ)

The wind had died down overnight, but we woke up to a cold foggy ridge. I had never seen fog in the desert before and I think it’s quite unusual to experience. We left camp at 6am and took tons of sunrise photos.

As the orb of the sun rose above the distant mountains, it was also being shrouded by a low cloud layer, which gave it a really unique appearance.

It kinda looked like Mt Doom and Mordor from the Lord of the Rings movies.

Later in the morning the cloud layer lifted and we descended down….

And even further down…

We stopped at a spring, and this sign at the junction indicated we were almost halfway done with this trail.

We took a long break at the spring, and then spent the rest of the morning following dry washes up and down different canyons.

At one point I stopped to deal with a blister that was starting to develop on my foot, and Beer Goddess caught up and helped me tape it. Hiking friends are great! We stopped for lunch an hour later at a nice little spot on an old dirt road, and I took advantage of the sun to charge my battery. Pretty soon after lunch, we crossed the 400 mile mark which is also the halfway point of this trail.

I got one more photo of the mountains before the final part of our descent into the valley.

Once we had descended all the way down to the valley, some clouds moved in and kept the temperatures nice and cool for us.

Down at these low elevations of 3,500 ft, barrel cactuses seem to grow everywhere.

I managed to catch a neat sunset photo, when the mountains to our west started glowing orange.

Just before dark we came up to highway 87 which is one of the only paved roads in this entire region.

We crossed under the highway in a massive box culvert.

It took a full minute to walk through since it was pretty long, and it felt a little eerie inside.

The spot we had crossed the highway was labeled on the map as “Sunflower”, which apparently is a defunct tiny little town.

We walked another mile to our planned campsite next to a creek, and it was dark for the last 15 minutes of the hike. Fortunately the moon is 2 days away from being full, and there was plenty of moonlight so we didn’t really need headlamps.

We got to camp at 6:30 and quickly setup and got some water from nearby Sycamore Creek, which was really more like stagnant pools at this point in the season. The three of us setup our tents close together on a small sandy beach, and had some fun conversation during dinner. It was not a difficult day, but with the long descent all of us were feeling a little beat up.

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).