AZT – Twig Adventures

GC Day 6: Phantom Ranch Reset

Saturday, February 24th 2024Lower Cremation Camp mile 87.7 to Granite Camp mile 93.8 6 miles, elevation 2365′ A stop at Phantom Ranch, Mile 88, is pretty much mandatory for most raft trips, since this is the most feasible location to switch personnel. Understandably, it’s hard to commit to 3 or more weeks on the river, so some opt for an abbreviated schedule, either Lees Ferry to Phantom Ranch or Phantom Ranch to the end. Laura had just received a new job offer that she couldn’t pass up, so she was sadly only able to join us for 6 days. We pushed hard to make it to Phantom Ranch in this time frame…other groups typically do it in 9 days. But[…]

GC Prep and Day 0

March 11, 2024 kaulua26 Arizona Trail, Grand Canyon Rafting Trip, Hayduke Trail

February 14-17, 2024 To begin this long adventure, I took a direct flight from Miami to Phoenix, utilizing some miles for a free one-way ticket on American Airlines. I also enjoyed a free checked bag as an AA credit card holder, because oh my did I have a lot of crap to bring along for this trip. I managed to fit it all into 2 bags, which was really quite incredible considering how much the other participants brought. Not surprisingly, my ultralight backpacking experience came into play. The typical rafter approach is to bring copious amounts of gear to ensure a comfortable experience…after all, the raft carries the weight during the day. But considering how much lugging and packing of[…]

2022 Year In Review

March 8, 2023 kaulua26 Appalachian Trail, Arizona Trail, Colorado Trail, Continental Divide Trail, Grand Enchantment Trail, Mogollon Rim Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, Pacific Northwest Trail

I wanted to do recap of all my hiking in 2022, which is something I should’ve been doing since I started this blog in 2017. Maybe I’ll do some back-posts over the next winter season to cover years 2017-2021. I like collecting stats in one tidy place. Call it ego or whatever, really I just want to keep track of everything for personal reflections. 2022 was a pretty busy year! I thru-hiked one specialty route, the Mogollon Rim Trail (MRT, courtesy of Brett Tucker and Melissa Spencer) and also one official National Scenic Trail, the Pacific Northwest Trail (PNT). These 2 thru-hikes were quite different from each other and afforded a very wide array of habitats, conditions, and experiences. They[…]

MRT Day 8: Along the Rim \ Highline Trail

April 22, 2022 kaulua26 Arizona Trail, Mogollon Rim Trail

Saturday Apr 16th 2022, 0600-1830Pine to canyon near La Cienega canyon, EABO mm 167, Segment 3 mm 28. 28 miles. I slept pretty well despite all the highway noise, as well as that from a nearby dog farm? Seriously, it sounded like a hundred dogs barking all at once. It was nice to have a long-drop to use at the trailhead in the early morning. It gave me a fresh start to the day…it’s the little things, you know? I was off early, first to sign in at the register. I noted that around 10 to 15 AZT hikers had signed in each of the preceding days. That’s a whole lot more than when I hiked the trail. I wondered if[…]

MRT Day 7: Pine

April 21, 2022 kaulua26 Arizona Trail, Mogollon Rim Trail

Friday Apr 15th 2022, 0600-1800Corduroy Wash to just outside of Pine, EABO mm 139, End Segment 2. 13 miles. It wasn’t nearly as cold overnight, thank goodness. I never knew how good the mid 30s could feel. A long awaited town stop beckoned us, so we were especially motivated to get moving. So was 925. After not seeing him all day prior, we shortly caught up to him at a road crossing. He’d walked past us around 8 pm the night before, after I was already asleep, no doubt. We all walked together for the morning, though I was barely able to keep up with his long strides. We were practically running down a series of switchbacks into Pine Canyon. It[…]

GET Day 6: Angels Day

March 29, 2021 kaulua26 Arizona Trail, Grand Enchantment Trail

Tuesday Mar 23rd, 2021, 0610-1730Old Florence Road crossing to HWY 77, mm 12324 miles In the middle of nowhere, we still had a pretty eventful day. First up was a pass by some neat boulder outcroppings. Our notes informed us that these are similar in composition to the ones found on the south side of Mt Lemmon in the Santa Catalinas, more than 70 miles to the south. So how did they get here? Life’s mysteries. We took a break to clamber over some of them, making silly shadow puppets with the rising sun. Next we came to Freeman Road, where notorious Trail Angel Sequoia was set up in his RV. He’d been doing trail magic for spring AZT hikers[…]

GET Day 5: The Big Hill

March 28, 2021 kaulua26 Arizona Trail, Grand Enchantment Trail

Monday Mar 22nd, 2021, 0630-1730Gila River to Old Florence Road crossing, mm 9927 miles The morning was pretty chilly, so I was glad to be hiking the winding but easy trail built above the valley. It did a lot of seemingly silly ups and downs, but this helped warm cold, sore muscles in the morning. It was still another 6 miles to the bridge over the river. Last time, I avoided some of the meandering trail by just walking the railroad tracks along the river. This was probably cheating and I would have felt lame doing it a second time. Plus the views up high were nice, except for the open pit copper mines that were really prevalent in this[…]

GET Day 4: White Canyon & the Gila

March 28, 2021 kaulua26 Arizona Trail, Grand Enchantment Trail

Sunday Mar 21st, 2021, 0700-1800 Picketpost trailhead to Gila River, mm 72 24 miles MJ was up at 5 am getting coffee and omelets made for several of us hikers. Then she had us to the trailhead by 7 am. She really is amazing. After more reluctant goodbyes, we began the winding trail in the cool of the morning…a far cry from my afternoon start in 2019. The tall mass of Picketpost provided shade well into the morning, making for an easy climb into the canyon. This stretch headed into the White Canyon Wilderness area, which gave the Superstitions a run for their money in terms of scenery. This was one of my favorite stretches on the AZT. We had[…]

2019 CDT & AZT Gear Summary

February 11, 2020 kaulua26 Arizona Trail, Continental Divide Trail, Long Trail

This is a summary post on my gear and stats from my 2019 thru-hikes, combining both the CDT and AZT, since I didn’t change a thing about my gear in between. In fact, I’ve barely changed a thing from my previous 3 thru-hikes. I carried a bit heavier gear in 2019, mainly because I expected some rain and colder conditions. I wasn’t wrong about this. The CDT is high-elevation and therefore a colder and somewhat wetter thru-hike. The AZT was dry but also quite chilly at times, given that we were above 8000 feet during many parts of the trail and also approaching the end of October / beginning of November. I needed my 22 degree quilt and women’s Thermarest[…]

2019 Trail Angel Recognition

February 10, 2020 kaulua26 Arizona Trail, Continental Divide Trail

This is a special post to recognize the many trail angels and trail magic that made my hiking so memorable and cohesive. I’m truly blessed to have had so many positive interactions and made many new friends. I’m amazed and humbled by the kind souls that exist out there. Someday I’ll write a book honoring trail angels and this year gave me so much material to work with. I’ve listed the trail angels and their magic by state. I don’t expect people to read every bit of this post but at least scroll down to the bottom just to realize the sheer magnitude of this kindness. I’m so sorry if I omitted anyone or their contributions, and that I didn’t[…]

Tag: AZT