The Arizona Trail (AZT) is ~750-790 miles in length as it stretches from Utah to the Mexican border. The Arizona Trail corridor was developed to emphasize the wide range of ecological diversity, link public lands and mountain ranges, and to recognize historic sites throughout the state. The route Amity and I will be walking is essentially the Arizona Trail in its entirety, although we will be exploring some of our own cross-country routes along the way. Traditionally the AZT is hiked in the Spring, and in a Northbound direction. Amity and I will be hiking in the Fall, and heading Southbound instead. Re-supply on the AZT is quite convenient, and in typical long distance trail hiking fashion, we will be sending ourselves food along the way approximately every 4 days. This will help to keep our loads light, and more importantly make room for the ridiculous amounts of water (the elixir of life!) that we will be required to carry most of the time. According to the Arizona Trail Association 600 miles of the trail corridor has been officially “designated,” which means that supposedly there is decent signage and noticeable trail tread for 600 miles. I guess we will see if that pans out. So, that’s the AZT in a nut shell. To learn about the Arizona Trail, please visit the good folks at the Arizona Trail Association. www.aztrail.org.
