Hi–does anyone have any suggestions on a hiker friendly place to stay in Flagstaff? I am using Flagstaff as one of my re-supply stops. Lodging close to the PO, laundry and with computer access would be ideal. Thanks.
Fireweed
Lodging in Flagstaff
system
#2
You can crash at my house for free and save some money on the hotel room. I have a normal house about a miles west of the resupply route, where it crosses Butler ave. I live at 304 S. O’Leary st. #2, Flagstaff, Az. 86001. Busses run down Butler all day long, or I can pick you up with my tandem bicycle. Nothing fancy, but there is plenty of floor space to crash on inside, or a couple of couches by the fire pit in the back yard if you like being outside. Neither myself nor my roommates will care what you do while you are here, just no cigarettes inside. I have done about 600 miles of the AZT, all except from Lake Mary rd, south of Flagstaff to the Superstitions. You can mail whatever you want here, to save a trip to the Post Office, which is really annoying to get to without a car. Resupply is easy in flagstaff though, it is quite a large town, with a fair number of outdoor shops all within easy walking distance of my place. There is a large natural food supermarket two blocks from my house, and other stores within a mile. Downtown is three blocks away, so if you want to party it up, its not a long walk back. Feel free to borrow one of my bikes to cruise around town on. I have two extra computers for hikers to use also.
If you don’t take the resupply route, and take the much more scenic Equestrian bypass, you can walk about half a mile west on 89 to a bus stop, and ask the driver how to transfer to the bus that goes down Butler. Bus tickets are $2.50 with a transfer. http://www.mountainline.az.gov It seems like the bus site is down right now, but you would get the farthest east stop in town, and transfer at the mall.
Otherwise, Grand Canyon Hostel is two blocks from my place, or there are a ton of hotels on route 66. The resupply route passes a couple. At Butler if you go east a couple of blocks from the resupply route, there are several chain hotels near the I-40/ Butler interchange, if you would prefer a hotel.
Guino
system
#3
Plus One for the equestrian bypass. It’s the main route of the AZTrail per the forthcoming map set, and also per the official data book. In addition to the option to visit Walnut Canyon National Monument (a ‘can’t miss’ destination if it’s your first time), the “bypass route” offers up some great vistas down into Walnut Canyon as you traverse the rim.
Motels and eats are located within 1.5 miles of the bypass route’s crossing of Hwy 89, and it’s not a big deal to walk to the PO or Walmart from there, given a “zero day” in town.
Continuing northbound, there’s an option to take the Heart Trail up to the crest of Little Elden, which offers up “next best” views to Humphrey’s Peak when it comes to surveying the surrounding countryside, including the Painted Desert to the east as well as the rolling pine plateau you’ve been walking through since cresting the Mogollon Rim. Heart Trail segues into Sunset Trail, with spectacular views of the San Francisco Peak’s main massif, then on down to Schultz Pass and a return to the main route of the AZT.
blisterfree
system
#4
Wow–thanks for all the info. My logistic comfort level has definitely gone way up.
–Fireweed
Fireweed
system
#5
Here’s the trail layout around Flagstaff in Google maps:
You can alternate between this “trail view” and, say, a visual listing of all the motels in town, by typing ‘motels’ in the box at the top of the page. Hit the browser back button to return to trail view.
blisterfree
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#6
Or, as I just discovered, you can view both the trail and other data sets (like motels) at the same time (without changing pages) by:
Doing as described in the above post, then…
Hover over the “satellite, traffic, etc.” box at top-right, and check-mark all data sets you wish to view simultaneously.
blisterfree
system
#7
Not to beat a dead horse here, but it’s pretty cool to note that Google has already, in many cases, added the Arizona Trail route to its map servers. Case in point: On the route around Flagstaff as shown, if you ‘deselect’ Passages 31-34, (toggle off and on at a high zoom level) you can see how Google shows the same trail line, more or less. It’s displayed as a generic gray line on their base maps. The red and blue lines are superimposed on Google’s base maps, and are from ATA’s website, shown here for entertainment purposes only. For GPS-friendly files showing the latest trail data, best to become an ATA member, of course…
blisterfree
system
#8
Great–this will preclude having to look up and print out all the Chamber of Commerce type maps for re-supply towns. I am an ATA member–just printed out their pocket maps a few days ago and downloaded all the GPS data to my etrex.
Fireweed
system
#9
If we are in town, we will pick you c
Up bring to our house and get shower, wash clothes, refuel, dinner and a glass of wine. Mi casa su casa
Tim and melody