AZT 2023: Vacation Mode (+ Humphreys Peak bonus adventure!)

Tuesday, May 23 to Saturday, May 27, 2023

Over the next few days, we slip into a very different kind of routine. We walk into downtown Flagstaff twice a day for breakfast and dinner. We buy silly t-shirts at the thrift store so we don’t have to wear our hiking clothes every day. We float in the hotel pool in our underwear and sip beers in the shower. We slowly come to grips with what happened. 

In the end, I think it was probably a combination of things that caused my feet to revolt. First of all, my injury at the end of the January. I badly sprained my ankle by missing a step on the staircase in my apartment building. It was a grade three/borderline grade four tear. It took many weeks of physiotherapy to recover to close to where I was before, but it never quite got to 100%. Of course, this threw my spring training plan for the hike completely out the window, and on top of the injury, Gummies and I both had COVID at separate times as well as a couple other random colds. So the year was not off to a good start for us. 

AZT 2023 Day 7: This is The End

Monday, May 22, 2023 

SOBO Mile 163.6 to Hwy 180 – 2.9 miles 

We didn’t bother setting an alarm for this morning, but still wake up shortly after 6am. We lie around for a while before getting up, and I even read a couple chapters of my book, really leaning into our new vacation vibe. Eventually, the sun beating through the tent walls forces us out. 

Gummies writes a hitchhiking sign for us on a compactor bag, we cook and eat our breakfast, filter the rest of our water, and slather on sunscreen. I can’t bear the idea of stuffing my blistered feet back into my trail runners, so I hang them off the back of my back and opt to road walk in flip flops and toe socks. We walk back to the last junction of the AZT and then we officially leave the trail. 

AZT 2023 Day 6: I Have Come a Few Miles, I’ve Got Blisters on My Slippered Feet

Sunday, May 21, 2023

SOBO Mile 147.6 to SOBO Mile 163.6 – 16 miles 

I wake around midnight needing to pee. I try to ignore it for a while, but between my bladder and a nearby bird practicing different alarm clock calls, I eventually and begrudgingly drag myself out of the tent. As soon as I stand up outside, I am awestruck by the glorious star show above me. I stare upwards at the twinkling constellations and think I can even make out where the Milky Way streaks across the night sky. It is glorious. 

The next time I wake it is to sunlight streaming in through the tent walls, which is glorious in its own right. Our campsite is gorgeous in the morning light, and with my foot feeling much better, we set off with light hearts. 

AZT 2023 Day 5: There’s Something So Wrong About a Cactus in the Rain

Saturday, May 20, 2023

Russell Tank to SOBO mile 147.6 – 16.1 miles

We wake, predictably, to a soaking wet tent along with soaking wet everything else. Of course, everything was pretty much soaked when we went to bed last night, and the overnight condensation has not only not allowed anything to dry out, but in some cases has made things even more wet. A cursory peek out the tent door reveals a sky still mostly filled with grey clouds, offering little promise in the way of chances to dry things out. 

It takes everything in me to leave my cozy quilt and shudder into my cold, damp toe socks and trail runners. It feels signifcantly less terrible once I’m up and moving and my body heat warms things up a bit, and I note with pleasant surprise that my legs and feet don’t hurt nearly as much this morning as the last few. 

AZT 2023 Day 4: Hailstorm on Coconino Rim

Friday, May 19, 2023 

Watson Tank to Russell Tank – 15.4 miles 

We wake up in the morning to a completely soaked tent and sleeping bags once again. Guess that’s going to be part of the routine out here. It’s also downright cold this morning, which is a first for the trip. It’s been chilly in the morning, but never quite like this. It’s so cold that Gummies gets his gloves out and I keep my puffy on to hike out of camp. 

There are some cloud banks clinging to the horizon, so it takes the sun longer to reach us than it should, but as soon as it emerges from behind the clouds it immediately becomes comfortable shorts and t-shirt weather and I have to de-layer. The trail also switches steeply up a small slope to start the day, which definitely helps get the body temperature up as well. 

AZT 2023 Day 3: Poopy-dana Part II

Thursday, May 18, 2023

Mather Campground to Watson Tank – 16.0 miles

We wake up this morning to a soaking wet tent inside and out, which is something I honestly did not expect to have to deal with much on this trip. We’ve let ourselves “sleep in” until 6am, and we’re a bit slow to get started given our long day yesterday. But once we get up and going, I’m happy to discover that though my calves are definitely still sore, they feel much better than yesterday. 

We have a short road walk through the campground to meet back up with the AZT, and then we are off. The first five miles or so of tail are paved as well, as we follow the national park greenway trail. This might sound nice, given that it’s smooth and flat, but it’s really hard on your legs and feet, and you can’t use your trekking poles, which would be nice given my fully loaded pack. I was pleasantly surprised by how not terrible my pack felt when I finally put it on this morning though. And the good news is it will only get lighter from here! 

AZT 2023 Day 2: Poopy-dana

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

Bright Angel Campground to Mather Campground (via the Bright Angel Trail) – 11.6 miles 

Our alarm goes off at 4am and I can hear other occupants of the campground stirring not long afterwards. We quietly complete our morning chores in the semi-darkness and then we are off. We cross the Colorado again almost right away on a different suspension bridge, and this one creaks and clanks and bounces slightly as we walk. The Colorado rushes beneath us, visible through the grate that the bridge is made of, and I can totally understand why the mules refuse to use this bridge. 

Once on the other side, the trail skirts the river for a bit, taking us along some gentle ups and downs as the sun creeps up behind the edge of the canyon. When we reach the confluence with Pipe Creek, there’s a privy to use and then we are headed up and away from the Colorado, following the creek up the canyon wall. 

AZT 2023 Day 1: Lightning Rod Lunch Break

Tuesday, May 16, 2023 

Mather Campground – Bright Angel Campground (via South Kaibab Trail): 9 miles

My sleep is not as restful as I hoped it would be when I set my alarm to go off at 4:30am. First I am awoken around midnight (real midnight, not the hiker variety) by what sounds like a huge pack of coyotes relatively nearby, yipping and barking loudly into the night. I lay awake for about an hour afterwards before I finally convince myself to leave the tent to pee, and then I fall promptly back to sleep. I am next awoken around 4am by the soft patter of rain on the tent surface. Fuuuuck. The last thing I want to do is start our first early morning of hiking while it’s raining. I somehow manage to fall back asleep again and by the time the alarm begins to buzz 30 minutes later, the rain has stopped. 

We get packed up in the low pre-sunrise light and are on trail by 5:30. There’s about a 2 mile walk from Mather to the South Kaibab Trail, which follows the official route of the AZT. The trail is paved to start with since it’s also the park greenway trail, but once we cross over the highway it becomes a familiar packed dirt surface. Almost immediately after seeing our first AZT sign, we stumble upon a group of six elk enjoying an early morning breakfast. We wind our way through a maze of trails until we pop out back on the Rim, where a steady stream of hikers are starting their descent on the South Kaibab Trail.

AZT 2023: The Lead Up

As by far the biggest endurance adventure we’ve taken on since the PCT, this trip involved quite a bit more lead up than we’ve come to be used to in the past few years. Our alarm goes off at 3:50am on Saturday morning, and we groggily rouse ourselves from bed to get ready for our shuttle to the airport. All goes smoothly and we are soon in the air on our way to Toronto Pearson to change planes.

After a quick wave out to the window to my once-upon-a-time home and a necessary Starbucks stop to try to curb my pounding caffeine withdrawal headache, we are on our way to Phoenix! This is the longest flight I’ve been on since the PCT and since we are flying Air Canada’s low-tier branch (Rouge), we don’t even have seatback TV screens to keep us occupied. After several hours of rotating through reading, listening to music, trying to doze off, and playing minesweeper, the plane finally begins its descent.