Back from the Arizona Trail: An Ode to Long Distance Hiking

At the Utah border, upon completion of the trail's 800 miles

Here I sit in a hotel room in Anchorage, Alaska, the night before beginning training for my summer job. Reed and I are back from Arizona, where we spent the months of March and April. It was a fantastic time of walking nearly every day, as we only took one full day of rest during the trek. South to north, we walked the state, starting at Coronado National Monument and finishing at the Utah border. In between, we walked at elevations ranging from 3,000 to 9,000 feet. The variety of topography was astounding. We did find the desert that we anticipated, but it still wasn't what we expected it to be. We carried up to 6 liters of water each during the hot and dry areas. Other times, we slept amidst snow and bundled deep in our bags to stay warm. So here we are back to our adopted home state, and my overriding feeling is that of longing to get back to Arizona to explore further in the future. I send out gratitude for the people who made and maintain the trail and for those who helped us walk its miles.

AZ Trail Marker as we walk the Kaibab Plateau