My personal favorites are passages 34A through 34E, which run from Schultz Pass at the edge of Flagstaff out to Saddle Mountain and Forest Road 523 and covers about 25 miles. Especially dear to my heart are passages 34B and 34C, which run from near the bottom of Snowbowl Road, past the ski resort along Hart Prairie to Bismarck Lake.

My good friend Bob Reynolds and I cover these segments often, and they stun us by dressing the part to give us glimpses into the depth of their character and personalities depending on the time of year. The Arizona Trail covers more than 800 miles through the state in 137 segments or passages.

Tom Boughner, the trail steward for the six-mile section 34B, said that about 200 people hike the entire route in a year, called thru-hiking, and the majority of through hikers walk the trail from south at the Mexico border to north at the Utah border starting around March 1. Over the years, in total, I’ve hiked about 120 miles of the Arizona Trail. My friend Bob has hiked more than 500 miles of it, and he plans to finish it up before he dies or his body gets too old. He promised himself and his mother that he would complete it.

“I was coming up on 60 and wanted a challenge,” Bob said. “And it’s in our backyard.”

Bob’s mother died last year, and before she died, she would ask about his “little walk” across Arizona.

“I will finish for Mom … and me,” Bob said.

This outing Bob and I make is during the spring. We park at Lot 1 at Arizona Snowbowl ski resort and head down mountain on the Aspen Loop Trail, at the bottom of the trail is the junction to the Arizona Trail. Turn left, and hikers are on Section 34B. Turn right, and hikers head out toward grand views of Hart Prairie and Bismarck Lake on 34C. Bob and I head toward Bismarck Lake. The bird song is muted because of the winds, but the trees protect us well. The air has a chill, and the deer grass is still flattened from the winter snows. Squirrels scurry among the branches and get busy chasing down grub after the slow time of winter.

Evidence of winter’s hard touch abounds, with “blowdowns” of branches and whole trees scattered around the trail. Much of the blowdowns have already been removed by the trail stewards and volunteers who maintain these sections. Boughner said it’s a point of pride to keep his segment maintained so well that he brags he leaves “mints on the pillows” for the hikers who enjoy them.

“There’s always drain work to be done,” Boughner said, referring to the cutting of drainages off the trail to keep erosion down.

A lifelong hiker of monster trails like the Pacific Crest Trail, Boughner and his wife Cuyler enjoy “putting back into the pot some that I took out,” meaning he likes to extend kindness to fellow hikers like he’s been shown throughout his life.

“It happens on the Arizona Trail all the time,” Boughner said.

As Bob and I move through Ponderosa pine, blue spruce and aspens, we comment on how different a trail can look and feel from season to season. The summer months on this same section fills the vision with greens so vivid the colors seem to vibrate coming off the aspens and the dense bed of ferns the trail cuts through on its way past Saddle Mountain and Babbitt Ranches to the northwest. During the fall, the ferns brown and the aspens turn yellow and gold before their leaves die and drop off for the winter.

When we break through the trees on a visit to Bismarck Lake, which is on a spur off the AZT, we’re surprised to find the lake, typically dry much of the year, has water in it. Elk and deer hoof prints decorate the muddy edges of the shallow lake. The surface of the lake ripples and dances with the gusty winds. Sitting still on the edge, I close my eyes and imagine I hear the world talking to me about the immensity of time.

In total, we wander about three miles from Snowbowl on the trail, and the hike back puts our total a little under six miles. Much of sections 34B and 34C are above 8,000 feet, so visitors should take that into account when heading out on a hike. The difficulty level for these sections is moderate because the elevation gains, which is gradual but gets the lungs working. We’ve seen hikers of all ages on these sections — from young children to folks older than us.

For anybody visiting northern Arizona, Boughner recommends the experience of getting some trail time on the AZT. Not just going to a junction, snapping a picture and calling it good, but taking the trail for a while. It doesn’t have to be far.

“Get out of view of the trailhead,” Boughner said, smiling. “Give it a try.”

You’ll be glad you did.