Size up the outing
Things to consider before / while hiking:
Weather and terrain. Sturdy shoes or boots are a must. Don’t forget a hat, sunglasses and sunscreen.
Bring water. At least a quart on short outings and much more if you’re fgoing more than a few miles or the weather is hot. In the desert you can sweat out a lot of moisture without knowing it.
Stay on the trail. It minimizes damage to the habitat and your chances of getting lost.
Be alert to hostile environments. The Sonoran Desert has plenty of unfriendly creatures, rattlesnakes and scorpions among them. Bring a rudimentary first-aid kit and know how to use it.
Be realistic. Don’t plan a long, rigorous hike if you’re not reasonably fit.
Rules for the road
Respect the land and don’t shortcut trails.
Avoid wet trails if possible, and avoid cutting new trails.
Keep to the right when passing.
Downhill traffic yields to uphill traffic.
Adjust pace when approaching other trail users.
When overtaking others, announce your intentions.
When in a group, don’t block the trail Allow room for others.
Joggers yield to hikers. All trail users yield to trail stock.
Source: Arizona Committee on Trails
Things to bringItems hikers should carry on a day hike, as suggested by Don R. Kiefer, author of Hiking Arizona and Hiking Arizona II:
Small flashlight, bulbs and batteries
Candies that will not melt or spoil
Whistle
Good compass
Toilet paper
Complete first-aid kit
Salt tablets
Strong sunscreen
Any medicines or prescriptions already being consumed
Pocket knife
Pencil and paper
Lighter and waterproof matches
Moleskin
Lip salve
Bug spray
One day extra food that will not spoil
Leakproof canteen and extra water
Enough clothing for possible overnight stay
Plastic bag for litter
Rain gear
Hat
Gloves or mittens
Sunglasses
Maps
Camera
Identification
It is not the path which is the difficulty; rather, it is the difficulty which is the path.
Soren Kierkegaard
Arizona's tasty
trail mix
Want to know how popular hiking is in Arizona these days? Climb Squaw Peak in north Phoenix on Thanksgiving morning.
Instead of switching on the first football game of the day, a lot of people head for this, the most-hiked urban trail in the United States. Guess how many people you would have passed during the 1 ½-hour round trip.
One hiker counted 1,076 of his brethren in boots.
Hiking in Arizona is like that. A lot of people are out there walking around the state, but estimates are probably always going to be low.
We’re not talking about one holiday morning. Unlike many states, hiking is never out of season in Arizona. During the searing heat of summer, the cool mountains beckon. During the snowy winters up north, the southern deserts are sunny and warm.
Century plants stand guard along the Grand Canyon's Kaibab Trail.
And there are thousands of places to hike, from the stark shoreline along Lake Mead to the fascinating maze of trails winding through the Chiricahua National Monument, and everywhere in between.
The forbidding mountain ranges and arid landscapes discourage human habitation just enough to leave plenty of regions untouched by roads.
That doesn’t mean they’re untouched by beauty. It’s everywhere out there, sometimes in the unlikeliest places. It makes travel by foot and enchanting as well as rewarding experience. You can truly get away from it all in Arizona.
But how to quantify the popularity of hiking? That’s a tough one, since hikers don’t need to join a group or register at the entrance or buy a license.
The evidence tends to come in roundabout ways:
There are dozens of hiking and hiking-related groups in the state. National Trails Day every summer brings people out in droves to not only ply the byways but clean and fix them up in dozens of events statewide.
State parks officials report a huge patronage at popular locations and for popular events. A moonlight walk in Lost Dutchman State Park in the Superstition Mountains east of the Valley drew more than 500 participants on a hot June night. The park staff was overwhelmed, and reservations procedures are being set up for similar types of undertakings.
Consider Phantom Ranch, the historic lodge at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. It is a formidable hike to get there and back, yet reservations are booked 11 months in advance and routinely sell out within hours of the day they become available.
The guest book in the Ranch’s dining hall bears names and addresses from throughout the world, but a significant number are state residents.
There’s no keeping people away, either. A hike to Thunder River, a remote water hole down a precipitous trail off the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, turned up a dozen other beleaguered souls in the insane heat of August, including a group from Sweden.
National parks rangers would be happy if hikers, bikers and horse riders would just stay on the trails already available. They’re constantly blocking off trail shortcuts and closing ruts dug by four-wheel-drive and off-road vehicles that quickly become trails and then roads.
We’ve already got lots of trails. The State Parks Department sells a four-volume state trails guide that lists 452 officially recognized paths. The trail situation remains in flux as well; a supplement listing another 50 or so was released soon after the hefty guide became available.
Trails are being built or improved at an impressive rate with funds allocated from Arizona’s state lottery income. A half-million dollars are channeled in upwards of a dozen new projects each year.
The biggest project is the Arizona Trail, a 450-mile-long trail snaking from Mexico to Utah, largely across public lands. It was built with volunteer labor provided by everyone from altruistic individuals to state-based forest-firefighting crews to the national Sierra Club.
People actually came from other parts of the country at their own expense and during their own vacations to shovel gravel and haul rocks and help build the trail.
The state trails coordinator fields a steadily increasing number of inquiries from around the world about hiking the Arizona Trail.
The word is out. Join the fun.
Organizations, clubs
- Selected hiking and hiking-related groups in Arizona:
- Arizona Mountaineering Club, Phoenix
- Arizona Outdoor and Travel Club, Scottsdale
- Arizona Outing Club of Arizona State University, Tempe
- Audubon Society, various chapters statewide
- Backcountry Hiking Club, Tempe
- Central Arizona Backpackers Association, Tempe
- Christown YMCA Trail Club, Phoenix
- Flagstaff Hiking Club, Flagstaff
- Friends of Madera Canyon, Green Valley
- Huachuca Hiking Club, Sierra Vista
- Mountaineers Inc., Phoenix
- Northern Arizona University Hiking Club, Flagstaff
- Pathfinders Hiking Club, Phoenix
- Phoenix Orienteering Club, Phoenix
Top five state parks for hikers
- The most-used, according to visitor surveys:
- Tonto Natural Bridge , near Payson
- Catalina, near Parker
- Lost Dutchman, in Apache Junction
- Red Rock, in Apache Junction
- Picacho Peak , near Casa Grande
Five noteworthy Phoenix-area trails
- Go John Trail, within Cave Creek Recreation Area in Cave Creek
- Perl Charles Trail, in the Squaw Peak area of north Phoenix
- Quartz Ridge Trail, just north of Squaw Peak
- Goat Camp Trail, in White Tank Mountain Regional Park west of Phoenix
- Pass Mountain Trail, in Usery Mountain Recreation Area east of Phoenix
Five challenging Arizona trails
- Boulder Canyon Trail, just south of Canyon Lake near Apache Junction
- Buckskin-Lightning Bolt trails, in Buckskin State Park north of Parker
- Hunter Trail, in Picacho Peak State Park near Casa Grande
- Siphon Draw Trail, in Lost Dutchman State Park north of Apache Junction
- Atascosa Trail, north of Nogales
Copyright Gary Olson 2010 First published in The Arizona Republic
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