Desert Winter Thru-Hike 2023

The Desert Winter Thru-Hike (WTH) is an 803mile / 1292km route across the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts in Arizona and California. It follows a route across low- to mid-elevation desert valleys of the American Southwest, crossing 20 Wilderness areas and 7 National Monuments along the way. The route is almost entirely on public land, and most of it is off-trail, either cross-country (32%) or disused dirt roads (43%). It starts at Saguaro National Park, and continues west thru 6 more National Parks and Monuments, including Ironwood Forest National Monument, Sonoran Desert National Monument, Mojave National Preserve, and finishes at Joshua Tree National Park. From the finish, there is a 30-mile connector trail to the PCT, which could be a fun way to revisit my first long trail.

The main challenge of the route will be drinking water; the weather should be quite pleasant in November and December, and there isn’t much elevation gain/loss. The highest point is Harquahala Mountain (5,691ft/1735m), though much of the trail stays low, generally below 2000ft / 600m. The route’s creator, Brett “Blisterfree” Tucker, has a page with all the info. The trail doesn’t take the most efficient route thru the desert, but rather meanders around to link together water sources. This high-level map is illustrative:

The hike should take me between 40 and 50 days, as I plan to average 20 miles per day. This hike wasn’t on my radar until recently; it’s a fairly new route (2020) and I wasn’t aware of it until a hiking partner did it last year.

Daily Blog Posts:

Zero Day in Tucson

Day 1: Back into the Desert

Day 2: Saguaro National Park

Day 3: Waterman Peak

Day 4: Flat and Hot

Day 5: Sawtooth Mountains

Day 6: Arizona City

Day 7: Dentist Visit

Day 8: Back to the Trail

Day 9: Table Top Mountain Wilderness

Day 10: Rain?!