Arizona scenery pop up11/24/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() I don’t have a week to burn, so the next two days I hike around Mica’s base and that of neighboring Mount Lemmon, whose peak is also snowbound. And stay off Mica for about a week, unless I want to posthole through knee-deep snow. A quick call to the Saguaro National Park rangers results in the grim recommendation to decamp, stat. The steady staccato of raindrops wakes me in the morning. With this night’s deluge, the AZT has just given me a big shove. Now, there are more than 100.įor me, the attraction of an AZT thru-hike is the chance to immerse myself in nature. From 1998 to 2014, the Arizona Trail Association recorded an average of five trail completions per year. Like other National Scenic Trails, the AZT has seen tremendous growth in traffic over the last five years. Its intimidating reputation isn’t scaring away hikers. Kicking up endless swirls of dust in the south, then slogging through miles of knee-deep mud or snow in the north. You may be hot one day, then freezing the next. The trail unspools through diverse landscapes of desert, mountain, canyon and forest. And while thru-hikers like me - those trying to hike the entire trail in one attempt - can avoid summer’s oven-like temperatures by hiking in the spring or fall, there are no guarantees on this path. You traverse the Grand Canyon and climb up and down a slew of mountains along the way.Īnd then there’s the issue of water. While on the shorter side at 800 miles, the AZT is billed as one tough trek. The AZT is one of 11 National Scenic Trails in the U.S., an elite group that includes the Appalachian and Pacific Crest pathways. If this storm weeps over the mountain all night and much of tomorrow, as forecast, Mica will be socked with 2 or 3 feet of snow - not something I want to hike through.įlopping back onto my stomach, I pull the quilt over my head and pray the storm drifts far away. The problem is that Mica’s summit hovers around 8,600 feet. Here, in its southernmost passages, the path stumbles up and over Mica Mountain. I’m just a week into a 45-day trek along the Arizona National Scenic Trail, or AZT, which unravels northbound from the state’s Mexican border to Utah. It’s not supposed to be raining here, at the entrance to Arizona’s Saguaro National Park. Peeking out from under a thick down quilt, I watch tiny rivulets of water drip down the sides of my tent and sigh. Fat drops of rain tap out a mournful melody on the nylon ceiling stretched over my head. Read on to learn more about the best places to go boating in Arizona.SAGUARO NATIONAL PARK, Ariz.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |