Hiking the Arizona Trail
Mile for mile, the Arizona Trail might be the prettiest long trail in the country. It runs 800 miles from the Mexican border at Nogales to the Utah border at the Grand Canyon’s North Rim, through desert, sky islands, ponderosa forests, the Grand Canyon, and the Colorado Plateau. I thru-hiked it in March-April 2023 in 32 days.
The AZT is dramatically underrated. Most people know the Grand Canyon is world-class terrain. Fewer realize how spectacular the trail is in its bookend sections — the Huachuca and Santa Catalina mountain ranges in the south, the trail through the Mogollon Rim, and the high-desert approach to the Canyon from the south. I strongly recommend this trail to anyone who can do it.
What You Should Know Before Starting
Season and Timing
The AZT is a spring and fall trail. The desert sections in southern Arizona are too hot to hike in summer, and the mountain sections in the north can be snow-covered in winter.
Best northbound start: Late February to mid-March. Starting here gives you the best weather in the southern desert and lets you arrive at the Grand Canyon in late March or April when conditions are good. I started March 26, 2023 and had excellent conditions.
In 2023, the Grand Canyon section was partially closed due to exceptional snowfall that triggered rockslides on the North Kaibab trail. This forced a semi-technical alternate through the inner canyon. Snow year variability in the northern sections is something to monitor before your start date.
How Long Does It Take?
Most thru-hikers finish in 30-45 days. I finished in 32 days, which required consistent 25-mile days. The trail is more rolling and runnable than something like the CDT or PNT, and the spring desert conditions make for fast hiking in the mornings before the heat builds.
Permits
The major permit concern is the Grand Canyon. Camping below the rim requires a backcountry permit from the National Park Service. These are limited and popular — apply early at recreation.gov or call the backcountry office at (928) 638-7875. Apply 4-6 months in advance for a spring thru-hike.
There is also a permit required for crossing the Navajo Nation (for the approach to the South Rim). This is an easy permit to obtain through the Navajo Nation Parks and Recreation Department.
Navigation and Apps
FarOut (formerly Guthook) has an AZT guide that is essentially required. Water sources in the desert are critical planning information — the FarOut app has current water reports from other hikers. Download maps before heading into the Grand Canyon and Mormon Lake areas where cell is spotty.
The Grand Canyon Section
In 2023, a 7-mile stretch of the official AZT was closed through the Grand Canyon because extreme snow had triggered rockslides on the North Kaibab trail. Most other thru-hikers ended their trip at the South Rim. Instead, I led a group of four hikers on a 3-day, 15-mile semi-technical alternate through the inner canyon that let us cross from the South Rim to the North Rim with a continuous footpath.
This alternate required routefinding through unmaintained terrain and some minor technical scrambling. It’s not something I’d recommend to unprepared hikers. But the canyon from that angle — away from the tourist corridor, down in the side drainages — was genuinely extraordinary.
Planning and Resupply
The AZT is reasonably straightforward to resupply without sending packages, though the desert sections have some long gaps between towns. My complete travel itinerary with resupply notes is linked here.
| Town | Mile | Notes |
| Nogales / Southern Terminus | 0 | Start at the Coronado National Memorial border monument. Nogales is close. Worth crossing into Mexico for a meal before you start. |
| Patagonia | 51 | Small town, small grocery store, good restaurants. Trail access from mile 44 with about 11 miles of road walking round-trip into town. |
| Colossal Cave Mountain Park | 126 | Mail drop. The park accepts packages. On-trail access. Closes at 6pm — plan your arrival timing. (16721 E Old Spanish Trail, Vail AZ 85641) |
| Oracle | 211 | Small town with a grocery store and hardware store. Can be hiker-unfriendly per reports. On-trail alternate gets you into Oracle without a hitch. |
| Superior | 306 | Former mining town, full grocery store, trail-friendly. Good stop before the Roosevelt Lake stretch. Can overnight here. |
| Roosevelt Lake Marina | 350 | Mail drop. Marina store has limited supplies. Worth sending a package to avoid the hitch into Globe (15+ miles). (28085 N. Hwy 188, Roosevelt AZ 85545) |
| Pine | 462 | Great trail town. Grocery store in Pine, about 2 extra miles of walking to get there. Pine is effectively on-trail. Zero-friendly. |
| Flagstaff | 570 | Full service city. REI for gear. Big grocery options. Trail passes near Happy Jack at mile 500 where you can hitch. Or hike to the trail access at mile 570 and walk 5 miles into town. Have crampons shipped here if needed for the north rim. |
| Grand Canyon South Rim (Maswik Lodge) | 700 | On-trail. Maswik Lodge store is expensive but functional. You need your Grand Canyon backcountry permit by this point. Apply months in advance. |
| Jacob Lake Inn | 772 | On-trail (2 miles of highway walking). Small store and lodge. Last resupply before the Utah terminus. Stock up here. |
| Northern Terminus | 799 | Utah state line north of the North Rim. Remote — arrange a shuttle to Kanab in advance. |
Miles are approximate. Water carries between resupply points can be significant in the desert sections — always check FarOut for current water reports before a desert stretch.
Getting to and from Trail
Southern Terminus (Nogales)
Nogales is accessible by bus from Tucson (Greyhound runs daily). You can also drive down from Tucson and park at the trailhead. If you’re flying in, Tucson International Airport is your closest hub — it’s about 90 miles north of the terminus. Rent a car or take a bus south.
Northern Terminus (Utah Border)
The northern terminus is at the Utah state line, a few miles north of the Grand Canyon’s North Rim. Getting out from here requires planning — it’s remote. Most hikers arrange a shuttle to Kanab, Utah, then fly home from Las Vegas or Phoenix. Call ahead to Kanab for shuttle operators. The North Rim Lodge closes in mid-October, so timing matters if you’re a late-season hiker.
Gear Notes
The AZT covers wildly different environments, so gear choices involve real trade-offs. A few things I learned:
- Pack: I brought the ULA Photon custom pack for this hike and found it genuinely frustrating — the side pockets are poor for water access and the hipbelt pockets require two hands to close. I’d go back to the Granite Gear Crown2 without hesitation. Don’t overthink the pack for a 30-day trip — use what you know works.
- Solar: I ran a solar panel setup on the AZT. It worked decently but I damaged the setup within the first 100 miles. The sun exposure in Arizona makes solar genuinely useful here — more so than on any other trail I’ve done — but the setup needs to be more robust. More on this in my smartphone and battery setup post.
- Snowshoes: I brought snowshoes in 2023 due to the exceptional snow year. In a normal year, these are unnecessary. Check conditions before you go.
- Water capacity: Carry more than you think in the desert sections. The desert stretches south of Tucson and in the northern plateau can have long water carries. 4+ liters of capacity is reasonable for desert sections.
My Packing List (2023)
Photographs
A video from the trail