Arizona Trail (AZT) Highline Passage to Mormon Lake Passage

Summary

The Arizona Trail (AZT) is a long trail in Arizona that runs from the US/Mexico border in southern Arizona to the Arizona/Utah border. It is approximately 800 miles long. The trail is broken up into “Passages” and knowing we would only have a few days to backpack, we decided we would aim to cover 5 Passages over this time, which ultimately turned out to be around 80 miles of hiking. There is limited water on this trail, even in the Spring when we hiked. Therefore, we needed to carry up to 4 liters of water at a time, and relied heavily on Guthooks data (water sources) to stay hydrated. The Passages we hiked were pretty much in the center of the AZT, so we did not get to experience either the Southern or Northern Terminus.

Where

This trail is in Arizona, in the United States. it runs from Mexico to Utah through Arizona and largely travels through the center of the state. The section we hiked generally falls between Page, AZ and Flagstaff, AZ.

Logistics

We flew into Phoenix and drove to Flagstaff, making Flagstaff our base for our trip. Knowing if we started in Page and hiked North, we would ultimately end up back in Flagstaff, 5 days and 100 miles later. In order to get to our starting location, we organized a shuttle service to take us from Flagstaff to Page. This was about an hour or so in a private shuttle. It was an interesting ride, as apparently many celebrities leverage this service when visiting the Grand Canyon (Flagstaff is the closest medium-sized city to the southern rim of the Grand Canyon). Once at the starting point (Page Trailhead), we hiked north.

Gear - Knowing we would be carrying lots of water and food, and we would experience night time lows in the 30’s, I adjusted my 3 season set up to reduce weight the best I could.

Food - I didn’t want to have to think about food each day/meal so I ate pretty much the same thing every day and planned everything ahead. This was great for meeting caloric intake requirements, but I really think I can do better here in the future. With the setup below, I traded cost for convenience. This setup was very expensive and super good, but I have later found great alternatives that are not quite as pricey.

Hiking

Day 1 - Page, AZ North for 14 miles (Highline Passage)

On our first day, we started the hike, in the Tonto National Forest, with what we expected to see in Arizona. We were in exposed, sunny terrain with dry ground. We were surprised to see streams and foliage in some places, however for the most part we were in open areas enjoying the great sights so different from our home state of Michigan. It didn’t take long after we got adjusted to the scenery for us to realize the heat and sun were going to be something we would need to manage the entire trip. Thankfully our trip was in the Spring and after our first day, elevation would create an environment that was not very warm, in fact it was perfect hiking temperature. We took it easy our first day, knowing we were in for a long week and starting out with heavy packs filled with food and water. We ended the day finding an open plain to set up our tents. We tried our best to stay up and enjoy the beautiful night sky, however after a long day of hiking, we were unable to fully take in the views. Even with an early sleep, Day 1 was an amazing start to a great week ahead.

Day 2 - 22 miles to Blue Ridge Campground (Blue Ridge Passage)

Day 2 required a strenuous climb up the Mogollon Rim from the start. With this climb, we were rewarded with amazing views. This part of the AZT sections we hiked was probably my favorite. It was nice to see a combination of desert behind us and forestry in front of us. The transition between the two was something I enjoyed. Once on the Rim however, we realized all of the warnings about the “100 year Winter” were true. The trail quickly showed signs of heavy snow and created a wet and snowy experience on and off for the remainder of our hike. 22 miles in these conditions was a pretty big push for all of us, and by the end of the day we were ready to set up our tents and pass out. We stayed near Blue Ridge Campground, as this was a milestone/landmark we were striving to hit on Day 2.

Day 3 Blue Ridge Campground to Bargaman Park - 23 miles (Happy Jack Passage)

Day 3 challenged all of us. We had roughly 40 miles behind us and approximately 60 to go. One of us had major blister issues and we all were starting to feel the results of carrying our food, water and gear on our backs from sun up to sun down. Our pace was sporadic and our muscles were tight. We knew we had another big day ahead of us, so we got up early and set out for a long day. For better or worse, a majority of Day 3 was forest road hiking. This is better than road walking, but only slightly. The disappointing aspect we were faced with was the lack of changing scenery via this road walk. After lunch, one of our group members discussed their excruciating pain caused by blisters from their boots. We devised a plan to help get them off trail and repaired, as our AZT section hike was only a portion of what we had in store for the week. The problem was, we were 10 miles from any town and we hadn’t seen another person in over 12 hours! We knew we had to continue to hike, albeit at a slow pace, but sticking together until the moment our friend needed to get to safety was a unanimous group decision.

Shortly after we agreed on our plan of action, we saw truck in the distance headed our way on the forest road. Again, this is a road we walked for 10+ miles, with no town within 10 miles of us, so to see a truck was a bit surprising! We soon realized that not only was this truck going to meet us on the road, but also the truck was driven by a Forest Ranger. The Ranger stopped and asked how we were doing and if he could offer any “trail magic”. What we really needed was to ask if he could help our friend. After some small talk (we found out he was from Michigan like us!) we asked if he could really help us and our friend. We were incredibly lucky to hear he would take care of our friend. He would be taken to the Ranger Office and later that day join a carpool back to Flagstaff! We truly could not believe the swing of events from being put into a very challenging situation with an injured friend, to having a plan and logistics organized in what felt like minutes. We discussed our logistics and how we would reconvene with our friend and he went on his way.

Now, we were down to two hikers, but we felt relieved knowing our injured friend was in good hands and we would be reunited the following day. After some trail magic we set off to work through the second half of our day. It was here where we finally got to see some wildlife. We ran into a herd of Elk! This kept our spirits high on our way to our final destination for the day, Bargaman Park. Unfortunately our challenging day didn’t end once we set up our tents for the night. After 3 days averaging 20 miles per day, our bodies had met their limit. We spent an hour or so at night with incredibly sore legs, trying our best to find enough comfort to fall asleep….

Day 4 Bargaman Park to Mormon Lake Lodge - 18 miles (Mormon Lake Passage)

Day 4 ultimately ended up being our last day on the AZT. Thankfully we were getting close enough to civilization that we were able to use our phones to get in touch with our injured friend. Our original plan was to meet up with him at Mormon Lake Lodge to camp or rent a cabin. We would share dinner and the evening together and the two healthy hikers would continue on to complete the 100 mile stretch to Flagstaff. It was pretty clear early into Day 4 that it would be our last day, and assuming we were able to meet up with our friend that we would do whatever was necessary to get a zero day. Our bodies were pushed past our limits and we had nothing to prove by pushing them any further, and most importantly, we didn’t take this vacation time to be separated from our friend.

Once we agreed Day 4 would be our last day, we had new found energy, at least in the beginning of the day. Once the wave of energy subsided, it took a lot of coercing to get us to our milestone, Navajo Springs. This was the end of the road for us on the AZT, as there was a 1 mile side trail to get us into Mormon Lake and to meet up with our friend. To our surprise, we actually met him on the side trail and he hiked back to Mormon Lake with us! He was in great spirits and ready to tackle any additional hiking we had planned, but with our end goal of a Humphrey’s Peak summit still in mind, we decided it would be best to end things early rather than push too far. In addition to our fatigue, Mormon Lake Lodge was not open yet for the season and neither was the Campground, so our side hike resulted in wasted miles. As if we needed another reason to call it quits early!

All in all, this 80 mile section of the AZT was great. We challenged ourselves physically and experienced central Arizona like few are able to. It was so interesting to see a dry desert and a snow-covered forest all in one day! Looking back on this hike, I have a new level of appreciate for the beauty the state of Arizona has to offer.