May 31-June 3rd North Rim of the Grand Canyon to Utah State Line (79.4 miles and 7730 feet of climbing)

All I can say is Wow!!!  What an amazing journey!  I'm still pinching myself to be sure that I'm awake, I completed the Arizona National Scenic Trail.  I walked the entire distance across Arizona, and it was an breathtaking experience.  This was the single most difficult thing I have attempted, but one with more rewards than one could ever imagine.  It was definitely worth the effort.  

Eric at the beginning of the hike.  It looks
like he is smiling,
but really his teeth are chattering!!!

I had saved these last few passages of the AZT so that I could finish at the Arizona/Utah border.  I also convinced my brother-in-law Eric to join me.  After this trip, I may never get Eric to go anywhere more exciting than a brewery with me:)  As with most of the trips I took along the AZT, this one presented several obstacles to overcome. Our first obstacle was a flat tire on one of our vehicles as we were dropping off one vehicles at the Stateline Trailhead.  That's a fifteen mile drive back towards civilization in a vehicle with no spare.  I was really hoping that was the biggest of the issues we had to overcome.   (See the footnotes below for a description of the biggest challenge we faced on this journey.)

Our trip began at the north rim of the Grand Canyon.  It was the last day of May and we expected cool weather, we didn't expect the low thirites!!!!  Our drive down to the trailhead was filled with deer sightings (at least 100) and bison, and we hadn't even started our hike. 

Here is the trail corridor leading from the North Rim.  

We had planned for a 5 day hike, but thought we might be able to shorten that to 4 days, depending on terrain, altitude and other trail challenges.  We made it about 20 miles the first day and camped near Dog Lake, still on schedule for four days, but still not sure if that was possible.  I'm not sure who names these things, but my view of a lake is a water source much bigger than Dog Lake??   I've attached some photos of the forest we hiked through, this is the thickest forest I have ever seen.  I would hate to be lost in that stuff, you may never find your way out.

Dog Lake???  Really!!!  A Lake!!!

Funny moment from Day One, I'm leading the way at the end of the day, almost to our camp spot.  I'm paying attention to the trail in front of me, we had been walking and stepping over downed trees all day.  I was in a zone, trying to get to our camp spot and forgot to look up.  Unfortunately for me there was a downed tree across the trail about forehead high.  I never saw it coming, ran right into it.  Luckily for me I missed the protruding sharp edge of a broken branch and only left with a slight headache.  

Day two turned out to be much tougher (there is always one day that is like this)  The trail was more challenging as we walked through a large burn area north of the canyon north rim.  The temperature was great, but at almost 9,000 the sun was awful close, and we felt it at the end of the day.  We started early and still didn't finish until almost 5:00.

Day three started out better, we were still on pace for a four day hike.  Eric said he was having fun, but I think he was still questioning the validity of drinking water from ponds, tanks and other assorted water sources.  This was his first experience with filtering and drinking odd water sources. Having been through this discussion with myself before, I completely understand.   

This was the canyon we walked out of the last day of the hike.
I mentioned to Eric that it reminded me of all the
old cowboy movies, exactly where
the cowboys get ambushed.
We spent a lot of time looking around after that.  

We made the decision to get an early start on Day 4, just in case we ran into hot weather on our hike out of the high forest and down into the high desert.  We started the last day at 4:30 am and had a great first ten miles. The rest of the hike was downhill to the trailhead, a little warm, but much better than we had expected.  Of course we had to have the celebratory beer when we got done.  Even though it had been in the car for five days, it was one of the better beers I've had in a long time.  

This was an amazing end to the trail trip and I'm thankful I was able to share the experience with Eric.  

A lot of folks have asked what I'm going to do next??  I really haven't thought that far ahead.  For the time being I'm going to reminisce about the trip and the wonderful experience it has been.  After my feet and knees forgive me I will give some thought to what is next!!!                               

The view looking east towards the beginning of the Grand Canyon.

Kent's Tent

Eric's Tent??  

The view into Utah as the hike finished.  The view was fantastic.  

One very happy and tired hiker!!

Footnote One:  I can't begin to express my sincere thanks to everyone who made this trip possible.  My family, my friends and my trail partners.  I could not have done this without all of their support.  Last, but certainly not least, my heartfelt thanks to Dale Shewalter, who was the inspiration for this trail.  He was a great person and is truly missed.  But everyone who experiences the Arizona Trail, takes a piece of Dale home with them.  There is no better reward than that.

Footnote Two:  I know that Eric would not want me to spend too much time talking about this, so that is why is is a footnote.  Eric started experiencing some really bad foot pain early in our hike.  I think I would have called it quits right then, not Eric.  He hung in there through the whole 80 miles and never complained, even when I led us the wrong direction a couple of times.  

Foonote Three:  I wasn't sure how I wanted to address this item.  Over the course of my AZT hike I have never experienced this before.  We had properly planned for our hike and had dropped water in several key areas.  Our water was labeled with names and dates, but someone who obviously didn't plan their hike as well , stole a gallon of water from two of our water drop locations.  We were fortunate that we had adequately planned and could adjust our hike accordingly.  While the outcome of our hike was positive, it certainly could have turned out differently.  I am still in disbelief that a AZT hiker would do this and certainly know that this person is not the norm.  Someday whoever did this will receive their due.