Arizona National Scenic Trail

Waxing Gibbous Moon

Well, it's time. I have reached my saturation point with respect to staying in one place. I gotta move.

For my next trick, ladies and gentlemen, I will attempt to thru-hike the Arizona National Scenic Trail from the Mexican border to the Utah border on my own two foots, carrying just what I need in El Burro Flacco for a little over 800 miles...over hill and dale, if there is such a thing as a dale in the desert. El Burro Flacco, the skinny donkey, is my trusty ULA Circuit backpack named many moons ago by my friend (The Puerto Rico Panther) Ariel Auffant. Whatever happened to that guy anyway?

On January 31, I will board Amtrak in Salinas, eventually arriving in Tucson, where Lisa and Nancy, my friends-whom-I-have-yet-to-meet, will whisk me to Montezuma Pass, a couple of miles north of the barbed wire fence where I will start my journey north.

Hopefully, this little graph is not representative of the actual trail.
Extreme vertical exaggeration? All except for the Grand Canyon, that is.

Early February is about a month too soon to begin this hike really. The first order of business will be to climb Miller Peak at over 9,000 feet, meaning that on night number one I will freeze my hiney off in the snow. BUT, I hope this strategy (leaving early, not freezing hiney) will translate to fewer miserable hot days later in the spring. I will attempt to record an SKT on this hike, aka a Slowest Known Time haha, finishing in mid-to-late April to little if any fanfare.

If you wish to follow my progress, bookmark this site or enter your e-mail address on the main page of this blog in the little box provided. Some internet person or thing will contact you asking if you really mean it, and if you say yes, you will be notified whenever I post a new entry. How often will that be? Not sure yet what kind of Smartyphone coverage I will have. Could be daily sometimes and weekly other times. Either way, it will be just as fascinating ;-)

Peace, Love, and Cacti,
Jim