The Heat is On: Section Hiking the Arizona Trail’s Mazatzal Wilderness

May 7, 2021

The 800-mile Arizona Trail (AZT) may not be as well-known as its Pacific Crest or Appalachian national scenic trail counterparts, but we have found challenge and beauty during our 300 miles of trekking there over the past two years. After we received our second vaccination, we turned to options to complete another section hike on the trail.

Meeting Our Section Hiking Requirements and Beginning the Trek

Our section hiking requirements were simple: first, we wanted to ensure that there was ample water, so we wouldn’t need to cache gallons like we had done for our trek in October 2020. We also wanted to find a weather window that did not have forecasted rain or blazing temperatures. A 72-mile section through the Mazatzal Wilderness (just north of Phoenix) seemed to fit the bill: there was ample creek and spring water and no chance of precipitation during the first week in May.

The only issue was that the weather was forecast to be in the 80°’s F. I’m not a big fan of hiking in the heat, but we felt confident that, with early morning starts, we could cover most of our scheduled miles before it got too hot. Hiking through a wilderness area had the added advantage of minimizing cow interactions at the water sources. Satisfied with our choice, we built a day-by-day hiking plan and got our food and gear ready.

On a Sunday, May 2, we drove four hours from our Palm Desert, California, home to Phoenix. After spending the night at a hotel, we rented a car on Monday morning to drive our Prius about 90 highway miles north to the town of Pine. We left our car at a trailhead parking lot and then returned to Phoenix in the rental. Upon returning the vehicle, we took an Uber to where the Arizona Trail crosses State Highway 87, near Sunflower. 

Shortly before 2:00 pm, we left the Uber to climb down a hillside to join the AZT right after it tunneled under the highway. It took us a few minutes to figure out how to climb over a barbed-wire fence to access the path, but other hikers had positioned some rocks to assist us with hoisting our legs up and over. Once on the trail, we started walking in the foothills toward the mountain range. 

The Mazatzal Mountains (pronounced Ma-zaht-zahl), are located within the Tonto and Coconino National Forests, The name is thought to mean “land of the deer ” in the native Nahuatl (Aztec) language. We would be traveling through the 252,500-acre wilderness area for all but about 10 of our 72 miles. The Mazatzals are located in Arizona’s transition zone between the desert in the south and the Colorado Plateau (and Grand Canyon) in the north. Our hiking would take us between the elevations of 3,300 and 7,100 feet over the next 4 1/2 days.

As we started on a slight uphill climb toward the mountain range, we were surprised at how quickly we left the highway noise behind. Soon we could hear nothing but a light breeze blowing through the bushes and juniper trees around us. 

Later, we transitioned to an old forest road. Even though we were not in the wilderness area yet, we were pleasantly surprised at the foothill scenery.

It was warm, and we took a short break after about 4 miles to eat a snack and sit in the shade of a tree before continuing.

After this point, the trail began to climb at a steeper grade. Fortunately, it was late afternoon, and we could feel the temperature beginning to fall. About a mile before our planned campsite, we stopped to filter some water from a small creek. We entered the wilderness boundary right before a final climb to the top of a ridge.

There was a small campsite next to the trail, and with about an hour of sunlight left, we quickly set up the tent. Darren made dinner while I put our items into the tent and prepared our bedding. There was time to also put the rainfly on before our dehydrated food was ready to eat. As we ate, we enjoyed a nice sunset after completing about 7 miles for the day.

A Challenging Day of Climbs and Heat

When we planned the trek through the Mazatzals, we knew that there would be a series of difficult days as the path ascended and descended through the mountain range. We woke up on Tuesday at 5:15 am to get a 7:00 am start after breakfast at our camp. We only had about 13 miles planned, but the elevation profile was about 4,600 feet up and 3,000 feet down.

The AZT in this section travels along existing forest paths, and we began our day hiking along the Saddle Mountain Trail.

The trail climbed along a ridge, reminding us of California sections of the Pacific Crest Trail. As we ascended, we moved from cacti and bushes to rocks and trees.

With the hot weather, we took more breaks and filtered water often. After stopping at a creek for a morning break and some water, we began to climb steeply as the temperature rose. It was tough going, and I was glad to reach Thicket Spring for a long lunch break in the shade.

While eating and filtering water, I dipped my buff in the cold spring and put it around my neck to cool down. It seemed to help, as we now needed to ascend approximately 1,200 feet in the next 2.5 miles. The path alternated between switchbacks and what felt like straight-up (what we called “tipee toe”) climbing.

We were now well over 6,000 feet in elevation with some pine trees appearing adjacent to the trail. The path finally leveled out along another ridge. Even though I was tired from the climbing and the heat, we opted to continue a mile past our planned camp to a flat area right before the next steep climb would begin. 

It was only about 4:30 pm when we arrived, but it was nice to relax a little before making dinner.  From our camp, we had a beautiful view of the sunset. I slept well that night after the full day of just under 14 miles.

Hiking on the Rocky Ridges

Another tough day awaited us on Wednesday, as we left at a little after 6:00 am to begin our stage. In order to stay light during the previous day’s afternoon climb, we opted not to carry water for breakfast. Instead, we hiked about 4 miles to Bear Spring, where we stopped to eat and filter water. In the process, we climbed up about 700 feet, to over 7,000 feet in elevation, before dropping down to the spring. Large manzanita bushes lined both sides of the path as we hiked.

Even though Arizona is experiencing a severe drought, we were encouraged to see so many blooming flowers, bushes, and cacti as we hiked.

While eating and filtering water, we came across the first person we had seen since starting our trek. She was a young woman thru-hiker who had started from Mexico at the beginning of April. After talking to her for a few minutes, we packed up and continued onward.

Much of the morning’s hike was along ridges, and we had great panoramic views of the mountains all around us. Along the way, we hiked to the west of Mazatzal Peak (7,884 feet). Getting past the peak was a milestone for us. Now we would encounter gentler mountains as we continued north in the range, making the elevation profile less steep.

In 2012, while on our Trekking the Planet around-the-world adventure, we trekked in the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan with a guide. He quickly grew impatient with our slow hiking speed. Darren stopped quite a bit to take pictures and video, but my snail’s pace through a path’s rock fields hit a nerve with the guide. Darren joked to the guide that I seemed in slow motion and “Slo-Mo” became the trail name I have used ever since.

I have greatly improved my fitness and walking speed since then, but my kryptonite continues to be rocky trails and heat. Trekking in the warm weather was challenging enough, but after our lunch break, we began to encounter some rocky paths. Our afternoon progress slowed considerably.

We continued to filter water often, although it seemed like I could never drink enough to totally satisfy my thirst. The views from the trail helped us cope with the heat and rocks, with endless pristine vistas around every corner.

After a late afternoon climb, we came to the top of a ridge that looked north towards the Mogollon Rim of the Colorado Plateau, where we had trekked last year. We could even make out the San Francisco Peaks above Flagstaff in the distance. Even though it was 5:00 pm, we took a short break to admire the view before starting down about 1,000 rocky feet in 2.5 miles to a water source and some campsites.

It was the first night we had camped near water, and it was nice to have our fill to drink as we set up our tent and ate dinner before it got dark. We completed a little over 17 miles of hiking, with 5,000 feet of both elevation gain and loss in the process. 

Heading to the Foothills, over a River Crossing, and up a Steep Climb

While we would have a little less elevation gain on Day #4, Thursday was forecast to be the warmest day of our trek. Up early again, we started hiking at 7:00 am. We had pretty steady climbing and rocky trail for the first 7 miles. Views of the foothills ahead beckoned us to keep moving as we were nearing the end of the mountain range.

Upon reaching Bush Springs, we took a long break to filter water and eat lunch. It was already hot in the late morning, so I resorted to my soaked buff around my neck trick, which really made a difference in keeping me cool. 

The elevation gain for the day was about 3,700 feet, but we had an overall descent of more than 5,000 feet. After we climbed a little higher to a saddle, we began to make our way down 2,000 feet in 4.5 miles to the East Verde River.

The descent, via switchbacks, with occasional steep rocky downhills thrown in, took most of the afternoon. Finally, we arrived at the river at 4:00 pm. We needed to ford across, but rocks were strategically placed to make it easy.

After crossing the river, we filtered water and ate a snack in the shade.

There, we ran into the same thru-hiker we had seen at Bear Spring the previous morning. After chatting with us for a few minutes, she left to continue on. Then we had a decision to make about the rest of our day. 

We were now about 21 trail miles from Pine and our car. We could stay at the river, but it would be a very long stage to finish on our final day. Our hiking itinerary had us continuing another 3.5 miles (with a 1200-foot climb) to a mesa with a water spring and campsites. This would put us in a better position to cover a shorter distance to the finish. 

I was quite spent from the cumulative 3 ½ days of heat, rocks, and continual elevation gain and loss. Quite frankly, I didn’t want to walk another step. But, somewhat begrudgingly, I was persuaded to continue.

Most of the climb was condensed into a mile of the 3.5-mile section, consisting of a very steep grade. Several times I needed to sit down on a rock so that I wouldn’t get too dizzy. I tried to motivate myself by looking back at the mountain range we had just traversed, knowing that there was not much climbing left on the rest of our trek.

After about two hours, we finally arrived at the campsites and saw our thru-hiker friend, who had decided to camp there as well. It was almost 7:00 pm, and the light was fading fast. We quickly set up the tent and got things inside. Since the weather was warm and dry, we saved time by not adding the rainfly on top of the tent.

I filtered water while Darren cooked. We sat on a large rock with mountain views and conversed with the other hiker, named Ava, as it got dark. We were surprised to discover that she was only 18 years old. Ava told us how she wants to be a river guide like her father. We told her about our favorite sections of the northern AZT that she would soon be hiking, while Ava told us about the trail highlights to the south of us.

Having the rainfly off gave us the advantage of a faster exit in the morning. We also had the opportunity to view the nighttime sky above us in the middle of the night. Seeing a multitude of stars was a treat for us.

A Gentler Finale to Our Car

Our final day started with waking up at 4:40 am, just as it was getting light. After eating breakfast and breaking camp, we headed to the spring to filter more water before setting out a little before 6:30 am. After we filled up our water bottles, we said goodbye to Ava and wished her well with the rest of her trek. Another thru-hiking guy briefly came through and got water as well – the second and final person we saw all week. 

I was happy that I had agreed to the climb out of the river the day before, as we had just a little over 17 miles to the car. The first 3 miles were relatively flat to a new trail section that had just opened a few weeks earlier.

The new section cut 2 miles off the old distance and bypassed hiking on a steep and rocky forest road. We turned right at the new sign and headed down to a creek. In the process, we passed trail crews putting the final touches on the new path. We stopped to thank them for their work.

Once we reached the water, we took a short break, then headed up some pleasant switchbacks to Alder Ridge. The trail continued climbing almost the entire time, but at a much gentler grade than what we had experienced through the heart of the Mazatzals. It was also a little cooler, so we could enjoy our last day of hiking while anticipating our hotel room and showers in just a few more hours. 

We paused as we left the Mazatzal Wilderness, reflecting on its great variety of transition zone flora, from cacti to pines, and the endless vistas we had seen.

After 8.4 miles on the new trail, we rejoined the original AZT for about 1 mile of rock-strewn forest road walking. Soon, we turned off to a single track, which made its way down a very rocky path to Oak Spring and the final reliable water source.

Since we had lighter packs, we had filtered enough water to drink for the entire stage. However, we needed to stop at Oak Spring because the water we were carrying had become too hot. As we filtered and drank from the cool spring with only about 3.5 miles to go, we knew that the end was truly near. The only obstacle left was 500 feet of climbing from the spring. Darren counted down the remaining elevation on his Garmin watch as we hiked. 

With the final elevation climb complete and no more rocky path, we cruised through the remaining mileage. After crossing State Highway 87, it was only a few more minutes until the parking lot came into view. We ended our 72-mile trek at the same sign we had started from northbound last October. 

It felt so good to get into the car and drive south to Phoenix while sitting in a comfortable seat with the air conditioning blowing in our faces. We were tired after four straight 10 to 12 hour hiking days but were satisfied with the challenge of the trek and the beauty that we had seen. The remoteness of the wilderness area (and seeing only two other people) made us appreciate our time hiking along the ridges and viewing the vast mountain vistas. And the campsites we chose were some of our favorites from our trekking thus far on the AZT.

We made a short video highlighting our time on the trail. Take a look!