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.

Sunday October 15, 35.6km/22.1mi

Near 500kV powerlines (154.3/6430ft) to Borrego Trick Tank (176.4/7440ft) (AZ)

I was awake at the usual time and left camp at 7am, TopShelf still getting packed up and left a little while behind me.

These desert warnings are cold, so we don’t wait around at camp, we need to start walking to get warm.

All morning the trail remained pretty flat, and weaved through some desert grasslands.

I caught up to Tweaky, who had walked by our campsite while we were still getting packed up. I hiked for a while and then took a long break next to a fence, where she leapfrogged ahead of me. Two other hikers named “One more” and “Headlamp”, from Alaska, also passed me later. Eventually TopShelf came by and I followed behind for a while. An hour later I came to a massive pond, which they hilariously call a “tank” here.

The shoreline was full of cowshit, so there was no way I wanted to drink that water. The other three hikers had stopped to take a break here, but it was too windy for me so I kept going. Pretty soon the trail turned onto a dirt road, which we stayed on for the rest of the morning.

After an hour I left the road and went by a water cache which was unfortunately empty.

I waited for a few minutes to let TopShelf know about the empty water cache, and then we both hiked a mile further to the next water source in a cattle pasture. Hi cows!

This water source was in a metal tank and it was actually very clean, so we filled up all of our bottles.

By now it was around noon, so we found a shady spot under a nearby juniper tree and ate lunch. Tweaky joined us a few minutes later, and then as we were leaving, Lizard had arrived to the water source. Much of the rest of the afternoon was walking on old dirt roads, which climbed over several small passes. I got one last photo behind me, before the view to the north disappeared.

The temperatures had warmed up to almost 80F/27C in the afternoon and it was quite warm on the road.

Humphrey’s Peak was getting ever closer, we will hike by it tomorrow.

Tweaky, TopShelf and I all played Leapfrog all afternoon, since we took breaks at different times. Tweaky just ahead here:

Just before the end of the day we left the road and returned to a trail. We had been steadily climbing all afternoon, so by now the trees had reappeared at this elevation.

We planned to camp near the Borrego trick tank, which was a little difficult (some would say tricky) to find since it was a half mile off the trail and in a maze of old dirt roads. Eventually we found it and came across another hiker from Georgia, who was already there getting water.

We had seen four other southbound hikers today, which seems like a very social trail! It was funny to see all the backpacks lined up against the fence near the water.

After we filled our water bottles, we walked a couple minutes away to a flat spot in the trees to camp. Another easy day!

Saturday October 14, 35.4km/22.0mi

1mi South of Russell Tank (132.3/6970ft) to Near 500kV powerlines (154.3/6430ft) (AZ)

It was a brisk morning so we left camp a little later at 7:15. The trees were pretty tall in this part of the forest so sunlight didn’t get through to warm us.

After a couple miles of walking I was getting warm, and I stopped at a metal water tank to refill my bottles.

As we very gradually descended, the forest started to shift into an open meadow.

Around 9:30 local time, I kept my eyes skyward, looking for the annular solar eclipse that was supposed to happen. We were a few dozen miles too far south, so the sun was only 85% covered. While it didn’t show up too well in photos, it did become noticeably dimmer and colder for about an hour!

We kept walking to stay warm, it felt strange being so cold at almost 10am. In the distance I could see Humphrey’s Peak, which is the tallest point in Arizona, and which we will be hiking by in a couple of days.

Eventually the eclipse diminished and the day warmed up again, and the sun was very bright and hot.

At lunch time we came to the edge of the Kaibab national forest, and entered a ranch.

While I was eating my wrap, this cool little lizard was watching us from across the trail.

After lunch we had an easy afternoon of flat walking through the scrublands. And Humphrey’s Peak was getting closer!

Whenever the trail crossed a little dirt road, the ranch had installed these fancy metal markers to guide the way.

We started seeing a bunch of smoke to the north, in an area we had hiked through the day before. I was hoping this was the result of a prescribed burn, and not a wildfire.

As we hiked further south into the ranch lands, we saw more and more of the wind turbines.

Towards the end of the afternoon we passed by our final water source for the day. Instead of taking the access road to get there, we just walked cross-country in a direct line. We have started calling this “route mode” as opposed to “trail mode”.

The water was a little green (right bottle), but after it was filtered it turned out pretty clear. We met a couple other hikers at the water source, a woman from New Mexico named Tweaky, and a guy from Arizona named Lizard. We hiked a few more miles, watching Humphrey’s Peak get ever closer.

By now most of the trees and bushes had disappeared and so the views were pretty endless.

My shadow started to get pretty long, it was time to start looking for a campsite.

A mile later, after we had passed under some high voltage power lines, we found some flat spots away from the buzzing electricity.

So far the Arizona Trail seems to be a fairly easy and flat trail with endless views.

Friday October 13, 35.6km/22.1mi

Near road FS2709 (110.2/6820ft) to 1mi South of Russell Tank (132.3/6970ft) (AZ)

It was a cold start to the day at 7:15, and I was happy to have a gradual steady uphill to get me warmed up. This section of the trail has these old wooden signs, it’s always a nice reminder to see how far you’ve come.

By 9am the morning had warmed up to a comfortable temperature, and I stripped off a few layers and enjoyed the morning in the ponderosa pine forest.

I almost tripped over some bones in the middle of the trail…I think they might belong to a cow but I’m not sure.

Just before lunchtime I arrived at Grandview Tower, so I decided to take a break and wait a few minutes for TopShelf to catch up and have lunch together.

I had been to this lookout tower a few years ago on a car camping trip, and it’s a pretty nice view above the Coconino rim. Unfortunately this year it was closed off, and no sign to explain why. So after lunch we continued south, heading into a section of forest infected by dwarf mistletoe.

There were quite a few interpretive signs along the first mile of trail explaining how dwarf missile toe interacts with the ponderosa pine Forest. It took us a little while to read most of those, haha. An hour later we started to have some good views from the top of the Coconino rim. Looking north towards the Grand Canyon:

And looking south:

After a nice snack break at a viewpoint, we hiked on a little ways until I was surprised to see this very strange tree.

It was a green, living, seemingly perfectly healthy tree, other than the fact that it was growing at a 45° angle. Bizarre.

Our last water stop for the day was off trail about a half mile, at an old tanker truck with a large basin underneath it.

The water sources on the AZT are so interesting! We made our way back to the trail, and continued another hour into the forest.

As it neared 6pm, it started to get dark so we started looking for a campsite for the night.

We passed by Russell tank, which is really just a large muddy pond. I could tell some people had camped there in the past, but it looked like a cold damp spot, so we continued another mile to a nice flat place under some ponderosa pines.

Thursday October 12, 16.3km/10.1mi

Mather Campground (100.1/7030ft) to Near road FS2709 (110.2/6820ft) (AZ)

We slept in later, recovering from yesterday’s difficult hike. I wandered over to the general store at 8am to grab a breakfast burrito and charge my devices. I was suddenly pretty hungry, so I also got a chocolate milk, orange juice, some ice cream and a yogurt. TopShelf joined me an hour later, and we took turns doing our resupply shopping while the other person watched over the charging phones. I also went next door to the post office to get my new shoes, and by noon we were pretty much ready to leave. I headed back to the campground to get packed up.

After I had a quick shower, we left 1pm and were hiking back toward the trail. We rejoined the Arizona Trail, and in this section it’s also a paved bike path.

We hiked side by side on the wide paved path, occasionally dodging e-bike riders who were going way too fast. An hour and a half later, we left the Grand canyon National Park.

The forest for this entire section seems to be a large ponderosa pine forest.

Pretty soon we turned left, and went under the park access road in a tunnel.

There was all sorts of artistic and interesting graffiti in there, and this one was especially funny since I always appreciate song lyrics.

We hiked along for another couple hours in the ponderosa pine forest, which was really quiet in contrast to the commotion in the National Park.

As the sun got lower it started to get really cold and I checked my weather forecast – a low of 30F/-1C tonight, brrrr. I found a spot to camp up on a small hill, which should be slightly warmer since it’s not at the bottom of a cold valley. As I write this in my tent, I can hear elk bugling in the forest not too far away.