We are excited to share highlights and successes from 2025 through our Annual Report. Inside these 12 pages you’ll find inspiring stories and photographs from: Volunteer Program Trail Operations Seeds of Stewardship Gear Girls AZT VETS Plus, a letter from our Executive Director; ATA Financial Report; and priorities for 2026. Check out the Annual Report HERE. Printed reports will be […]
Read moreBeginning Thursday, June 29th Stage 1 fire and smoking restrictions will be in effect across the entirety of the Coconino National Forest and the Williams Ranger District of the Kaibab National Forest. Portions of the Tonto National Forest have been under Stage 1 restrictions since June 6, including the Mazatzal, Four Peaks and Superstition Mountain ranges. For information on all […]
Read moreAfter 18 months of hard work, our partners at the Coronado National Forest have released the first comprehensive trail plan for the Santa Catalina Ranger District, which includes the northern slope of the Rincon Mountains, Mount Lemmon, Summerhaven and Oracle Ridge. According to Adam Milnor, Recreation, Heritage and Lands Staff Officer for the Forest, the plan includes projects to “diversify […]
Read moreWe are excited to announce an employment opportunity with the Arizona Trail Association! The Administrative Director is a core member of the ATA staff and is responsible for overseeing administrative details, bookkeeping, payroll, membership, public engagement, and a variety of duties to ensure the success of the organization. Experience with nonprofit financial bookkeeping and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles is required, […]
Read moreThe AZT’s main hiking route through the Pusch Ridge Wilderness is open. However, portions of the Bug Springs and Butterfly Trail remain closed due to the Bighorn Fire. These trails are the main route for mountain bikers on the AZT. Please review this map before beginning your journey: BHFTrailClosure09302021_1054
Read moreThe Telegraph Fire is the first major wildfire of the season to force a closure of the Arizona Trail. In the interest of public safety, the AZT’s Passage 17 (Alamo Canyon) is currently closed, and trail users are discouraged from visiting Passage 18 (Reavis Canyon) in case the fire advances north of Highway 60. The Telegraph Fire was first reported […]
Read moreTraveling parts of the Arizona Trail with Dale Remembered by LISA SCHNEBLY-HEIDINGER Dale Shewalter’s dream of the Arizona Trail showed up in an Arizona Daily Star article written by my friend Doug Kreutz in January of 1989. I can still picture where I was, at my desk in the back of the KGUN-TV newsroom in Tucson when I called to […]
Read moreDave Hicks, Arizona Trail Association Executive Director from 2006 to 2012, submitted these names as folks he recognized as providing critical help to the completion of the Trail. There are many more, he says, and all part of his adventure. Zay Hartigan Zay has been a leading trail builder, caretaker and advocate in southern Arizona area since the early 2000’s. […]
Read moreOn October 19th, 2019, 15 students from Basis North left for an adventure onto the Arizona Trail. Our goal was to hike to Sycamore Reservoir to explore high desert biomes, riparian gallery forests, and the history that dominated this area in the earth 20th century. Some of these students had hiked here in the past, and for them, it would […]
Read moreThe Coronado National Forest has a closure order in effect until Feb 20, 2020. This closure does not allow entry by any means (vehicle, foot, horse, etc) on the last 2 miles of FR72 to Temporal Gulch TH. Trail users should follow detour flagging and use Guthook App to follow route which leaves AZT at MP 54.9 and rejoins the […]
Read moreOn September 6th, 2019, 8 students from Project More High School left Tucson to find the Highest Biome in the Sonoran Desert. This was the first expedition of the semester for these students, and they weren’t sure what to expect. The goals were to introduce students to the Seeds of Stewardship program, the Arizona Trail Association, and The Arizona Trail, […]
Read moreArizona Daily Sun (August 10, 2019) by Sun Sport’s Staff On Thursday, Oct. 17, Flagstaff ultrarunner Helen Galerakis will start her bid to set the supported fastest known time on the 803.5-mile Arizona Trail, running from the southern border of Utah to the northern border of Mexico. The current fast know time (which was unsupported) was set by Jeff […]
Read moreOn February 13, 2019, 10 students from Miami High School explored a nearby section of the Arizona National Scenic Trail to hike and to enjoy some nature. This is the second time we made the long drive from Tucson to Miami/Globe, leaving our home base while it was still dark. It’s all worth it, though! After arriving to the school […]
Read moreNavajo-Hopi Observer (July 9, 2019) by Stan Bindell FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Sandy Canyon is an easy hike minutes from Flagstaff that offers canyons, meadows, caves, flowers and butterflies. The great part of Sandy Canyon is that the three mile hike is not long and it is part of the Arizona Trail. Hikers can do as little or as much as […]
Read moreKNAU Arizona Public Radio (July 9, 2019) by Ryan Heinsius Arizona Republican Senator Martha McSally wants to become the first member of Congress to hike the full length of a federally designated national scenic trail. She recently hiked a seven-mile section of the Arizona Trail on a visit to Flagstaff. KNAU’s Ryan Heinsius reports. McSally laced up her hiking shoes […]
Read moreArizona Daily Sun, July 5, 2019, Sam McManis If there is a single jagged rock jutting up on a dusty path, my feet will somehow find it. If there’s an exposed root, a lone gnarled bit of bark running across a trail, I will trip over it. And if there’s a steep and twisting downhill, no matter how well-groomed the […]
Read moreBabbitt Ranches Footnotes Babbitt Ranches Singletrack Project June 2019
Read moreArizona Daily Sun (June 19, 2019) by Cody Bashore As the clock hit midnight Wednesday morning at City Hall, the Flagstaff City Council unanimously passed an ordinance allowing most electronic bicycles on the Flagstaff Urban Trails System. The amended ordinance, initially voted on at the June 4 meeting, allows class one and two e-bikes the same privileges as regular bicycles. […]
Read moreOutside – Trail Life (June 15, 2019) by Mary Beth Skylis The Arizona Trail (AZT) spans 800 miles from Mexico to Utah, winding through deserts, mountains, forests, and canyons. Elevation ranges from 1,700 to 9,148 feet. It’s challenging to complete the AZT at any speed, much less Jeff Garmire’s fastest known time (FKT) of 15 days, 13 hours, and 10 […]
Read moreTucson Sentinel (May 13, 2019) by Dylan Smith Smoke will be visible in the Rincon Mountains east of Tucson this week as more than 500 acres on Mica Mountain are set to be cleared with a prescribed fire, officials said. With weather conditions “finally looking ideal” to clear underbrush and downed trees with a moderate-intensity blaze, Saguaro National Park fire […]
Read moreOn September 27, 2018, 17 students from the Montessori Charter School of Flagstaff’s Middle School made a visit to Little Spring and Bismark Lake near the San Francisco Peaks Passage of the Arizona Trail. We had a full day of learning and outdoor experiences. Using the Jr. Explorer Handbooks students learned about C. Hart Merriam’s Life Zone theory that […]
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