Velo News (April 22, 2022) by Betsy Welch On Thursday, ultra endurance cyclist and bikepacker Lael Wilcox got off her Specialized Epic Evo at the Arizona-Utah border after a very long ride. The 35-year-old celebrated a Fastest Known Time (FKT) of the Arizona Trail (AZT) with a ride of nine days, eight hours, and 23 minutes, besting the previous record by 2:20. Wilcox set […]

Pinkbike (March 23, 2022) by Alicia Leggett Elizabeth Sampey set a time record on the Arizona Trail for 9 days, 11 hours, and 44 minutes in 2019. Now, she’s returned to the rugged, 800-mile trail spanning Arizona from the border of Mexico up to Utah to re-ride her favorite parts and reflect on what that race meant to her. Watch […]

American West (March 14, 2022) by Dave Stamboulis Arizona gets most of its media attention for a couple of things. For one, a big giant hole up at its northern end, better known as the Grand Canyon, and also for being a sunny winter escape for snowbirds. However, to truly understand the extremes of terrain, weather and geology, nothing beats […]

The Travel (March 14, 2022) by Cynthia Levy Lots of people take a backpack, put on a stove, food, and camping gear, and head out to the canyons, plains, valleys, and hills once in a while. If one is searching for the perfect trail to hike, the infamous Appalachian trail will do. It was founded by Benton MacKaye, who founded The […]

KJZZ (February 24, 2022) by Ron Dungan The Arizona Trail runs about 800 miles from Mexico to the Utah border, and the Legislature may make the process of hiking it a little more pleasant. The trail has an abundance of scenery, but it can be short on water and hard to reach in places. The Legislature has helped with funding […]

Greenfield Recorder (February 22, 2022) by Mary Byrne A local man plans to hike close to 800 miles next month with the goal of raising as much money as he can for a cause close to his heart. This week, Shelburne resident Jonathan “Jon” Riordan will begin his drive west to Sierra Vista, Arizona for the start of the Arizona National Scenic Trail, the […]

Travel & Leisure (February 4, 2022) by Stacey Leasca Looking to get your steps in? Arizona is hiding the perfect trail for you. Arizona is home to arguably one of the most beautiful National Scenic Trails in the United States. Stretching from the U.S.-Mexico border all the way to Utah, its 800-mile trail — aptly named The Arizona Trail — crosses through […]

The Trek (January 20, 2022) by Sam Getchell Back to the Trail Some time has passed since my presence in this community. When I last wore the title as “thru hiker” I lay in a bunk bed in Mammoth California, June 2017. That was to be the last day of my PCT thru hike, lack of funds pulled me off […]

Williams-Grand Canton News (January 4, 2022) The National Park Service (NPS) announced Dec. 31 the temporary reopening of the Yaqui Ridge Trail, which is the southernmost part of the 800-mile Arizona Trail. The Yaqui Ridge Trail starts on the international border with Mexico in Coronado National Memorial. The trail was closed in July 2020 because of construction activities on the Border […]

The Trek (December 2021) by Lyla Harrod Here’s a recap of my fall 2021 SOBO thru-hike of the AZT with Oliver aka “Bowie”. This post will cover from the Northern Terminus to Roosevelt Lake. I’ll put up another post covering the rest of the trail soon! I hope you find this useful if you’re considering a hike on the AZT, or just […]

Route Fifty (December 21, 2021) by Andre Claudio From hiking to a lodge in California to riding a gravel bike in Arizona, Outside magazine composed a list of some of the best places to take a winter trip. Here are some of the places the magazine recommended: Hiking to a Scenic California Lodge If you want to backpack to a remote […]

Freehub Magazine (December 14, 2021) by Kait Boyle I winced, gritted my teeth and curled my fingers behind my brake levers as I pedaled straight into a thicket of pigweed, catclaw acacia and seedy grass. Thorns tore at my forearms and shins while the stickers of the pigweed rubbed against my open wounds and deployed their seeds onto every piece […]

Native News Online (December 13, 2021) by Kyle Mittan When Lydia Jennings finally finished her doctoral program in soil microbiology, a lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic made celebrating difficult. But a national conversation on diversity and representation in many disciplines, including the sciences, presented an opportunity for Jennings, who had just earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Environmental Science in the University of […]

Singletracks (December 9, 2021) by Matt Miller The Arizona Trail Race started roughly 15 years ago, according to John Schilling, the ride director for the semi-official race. The AZT race is somewhere between 300 to 800 miles long, depending on the route. Participants sign up a month before lining up near the border between Arizona and Mexico, and over the […]

Men’s Journal (December 2021) by Berne Broudy The gear and apparel market is saturated with brands offering premium products. So how do you prioritize companies you want to support? We like to hone in on ones that boast premium goods and a sustainable model. One such company is Erem, a new desert performance boot brand founded by fourth-generation shoemaker Noah […]

Tucson Lifestyle (December 2021) by David Abbott We often thank our military veterans for their service around the globe, but hiking enthusiasts in Arizona have another reason to appreciate vets — for their service as stewards of the Arizona Trail (AZT), through a new program designed to get them out into the wilderness. The Arizona Trail Association, a nonprofit established […]

Jewish Insider (November 19, 2021) by Gabby Deutsch Growing up in an outdoorsy New England family, Noah Swartz didn’t have a choice when it came to hiking. The family business was Timberland, the footwear company known for its iconic brown boots, that his father sold for $2 billion a decade ago. But that didn’t mean the young Swartz was always […]

Backpacking Routes (Nov 8, 2021) by Hugh Owen Smartphone trail apps have become ubiquitous on hiking trails, providing real-time information about water sources, fire closures, hostels and shuttles to them. Their explosive growth raises a question: Are printed guidebooks on the way out? Not so fast, says Matthew J. Nelson, executive director of the Arizona Trail Association. “We have found […]

Arizona Republic (November 2, 2021) by Mare Czinar Sometimes, surprisingly fine escapes can be found just steps from busy byways in right-under-your-nose places. Bushnell Tanks Road, off the Beeline Highway (State Route 87) roughly halfway between Mesa and Payson is one such find. Much of the road parallels part of the course of the Pine Mountain Passage 21 of the Arizona […]

Runners World (October 25, 2021) by Taylor Dutch After dedicating years of intense study to earning a Ph.D. in environmental science, Lydia Jennings couldn’t wait to celebrate at her graduation in May 2020. But like most major events during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the program’s ceremony at the University of Arizona was canceled. Instead of receiving her diploma […]

The Desert Leaf (October 2021) by Linda Brewer Some people hike the Arizona Trail (AZT) in sections, called “passages,” accumulating a couple of hundred miles each year. Some people–the valiant thru-hikers–do it all in one go, with or without a support crew. Since 2017 there has been another way to complete the trail, the many-feet-walking method known as Arizona Trail […]

Velo News (September 29, 2021) by Betsy Welch On Christmas Eve of 2018, ultra-endurance mountain biker Kait Boyle wasn’t sure if she would ever walk again. Two years later, she set a fastest known time record (FKT) on the 137-mile Kokopelli Trail, a remote and arduous route between Moab, Utah, and Loma, Colorado. The new film Fastest For Now chronicles […]

The Trek (September 28, 2021) by David Smith When you live in Phoenix, you escape what feels like endless summer by going to the mountains.  Generally that means going to AZT country, either the Mongollon Rim or Flagstaff.  A few days ago, we spent a few nights car camping near  Mormon Lake, and I had the opportunity to do some […]