Late Jan/Early Feb three passages

imported
#1

I am going to be hiking Passages 19, 20, 21 and 22 of the Arizona Trail coming up next late next month. Should I be bringing along snow shoes? Going NOBO starting at the junction of passage 19. I have been keeping track of weather but its hard to know what it is like in the 4 peaks area as weather.com does not have a specific listing for it. Its only 80 miles give or take so is 5 days an reasonable amount of time to be planning on being out there?

Its been pretty cold lately also, should my 15 degree bag be plenty warm? Myself and my hiking partner (my faithful Border Collie) plan on using my REI ARETE ASL 2 for shelter which should be plenty warm. Anyone else going to be out on the trail at that time?

Crikey

#2

Check the NOAA website for point weather, on a google map.

Shawn

#3

This link is for 4 Peaks, but you can move around all over the country from here.

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=33.66149615643826&lon=-111.35879516601562&site=psr&smap=1&marine=0&unit=0&lg=en

Shawn

#4

Yeah, I hiked those passages in late December last year. I had to be flexible with weather to avoid some snowfall. Not that it would have been deep snow, but the bushwhacking in Four Peaks would have been horrible in snow or poor visibility. I hear that passage is in much better shape now.

I did 20+ mile days even with the short solstice days and the bushwhacking. You can make good time on most of that route, as long as you keep on route going up Four Peaks. I used a 15F bag and a Tarptent and that was fine.

Garlic

#5

If there is recent snow you might have trouble finding the trail in the Reavis Ranch area, it would be helpful to have GPS coordinates. After Reavis Ranch you’ll probably soon be out of the snow again if the weather is sunny, otherwise it’ll be hard to follow the trail, it wasn’t always obvious even without snow. I’d be careful in the Four Peaks, we had a few patches of icy snow that were pretty dicey, it might be better with fresh snow. I could have used some type of crampon there.

Apple Pie

#6

My wife and I just got back from doing a scouting trip on section 20 for our March through hike. We started at Mills ridge trailhead on January 2nd, 2010, we setup camp near the peak of Buckhorn Mountain. The snow began shortly after the first big climb from Mills Ridge trailhead but was usually only on the northeastern facing ground. Never very deep, 2" max and we both did fine with only trail runners. Did make me consider adding some Yaktrax to our gearlist if the snow seems certain in the higher elevations come March.

Brady Fulton

#7

Thanks for the tips. I am heading out on the 16th in the AM. I don’t ave a GPS but am pretty skilled with a map and compass and have 1/24000 topos of the area. I prefer the 1/50000 like we used in the military but these should do the trick on a “trail”. I will def. consider taking some yak traks. I will be using a tent and 15 degree bag as well so am not overly concerned about the cold, more so about snow if it hits.

Crikey

#8

USGS 1:24,000 scale maps are more detailed than 1:50,000, or did you prefer the larger coverage per map of the paper 50’s? :slight_smile: (BTW, these are an endangered species, I believe!)

blisterfree

#9

You hit the nail on the head sir. I like the larger coverage of the 50’s. No doubt they are coming harder and harder to come by. I work for a document company and we can convert them…sometimes. scanning in a large map in color takes some time though and sometimes the conversion just flat doesn’t take for a reason none of us can figure out. I digress though…I like the 50’s becuase they cover more area which translates to more side hikes and more options when the trail is out or cannot be found.

crikey

#10

Using National Geographic TOPO software, and the AZT GPS data, I printed the trail maps at 1:30k on both sides of legal size paper. I find this scale quite readable and it results in a rather compact but complete map.

Shawn

#11

Shawn - the AZT GPS data or the MAP data? The former is a subset of the latter and is quite a bit less detailed (fewer waypoints) for plotting the track line onto a map. (I missed the distinction initially, as it’s not well explained on the AZT website.)

blisterfree

#12

I used the Map Data, that is, the one with many many points. TOPO can import the GPX file as a freehand line, which is my preference. One could use the GPS Data I suppose as well.

What would be real handy is if the water sources were in there as waypoints, named by segment and reliability.

Shawn

#13

I’m the Passage 21 steward. I traversed the entire P21 route on Dec 19th along with two USFS rangers and another passage steward. We did some brushing and clearing of minor blow downs. P21 is in good shape at this time. The two-track portion is a breeze. The 8 miles of trail tread are in reasonable shape. There are some additional signage/cairns required in the two northbound miles before Sunflower but if you keep a sharp eye for cairns in the Sycamore Creek area, you will be fine. The northern-most 3 to 4 miles of P21 no longer follows the alignment described in the AZT guide book. I will be going over the entire 8 mile trail tread again before the thru hiking seasons kicks off with an eye to brushing and increasing signage. There will be flowing or standing water in Boulder Creek in late January. I am contemplating a water cache just north of the departure from the two-track. I can also supply the location of a productive spring within 1/4 mile of the trail, last visited on December 19th. I’m going to check with Fred’s water list and if it is there, I will update it. If not, I’ll ask him to include it. One of my goals is to keep up-to-date info on the P21 page on the AZT website. Email me with questions or comments.

Dan