JACOB LAKE, ARIZ. — It’s not as famous nor as long as America’s top three long-distance hiking trails: the Appalachian Trail, the Continental Divide Trail or the Pacific Crest Trail.
But the Arizona Trail, complete with its own song, continues to thrive and grow.
The north-south trail stretches from the Coronado National Memorial at the Mexican border in the south to the Arizona-Utah border near Jacob Lake in the north. The primitive and still rustic trail runs east of Tucson and Phoenix and through Flagstaff.
The trail, the dream of retired Flagstaff teacher and hiking enthusiast Dale Shewalter, is designed to be one of the premier long-distance trails in the United States. The Illinois-born Shewalter died this year of cancer after devoting 25 years to establishing the trail.
The trail links mountains, deserts, canyons and cactus. It is a trail of communities and people, created through numerous partnerships.
It was designated a National Scenic Trail in early 2009, along with the Pacific Northwest Trail.
Daughter Katie and I came across the Arizona Trail on a fall trip to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
The North Kaibab Trail is the No. 1 route into the heart of the Grand Canyon from the North Rim. It connects with the Bright Angel Trail that then ascends to the South Rim.
The North Kaibab descends 5,840 feet in 22 miles along Bright Angel Creek. The Bright Angel Trail rises 4,460 feet in 7.8 miles. That’s one tough, hot and demanding way to see the Grand Canyon. And it appeals to some.
Both Grand Canyon trails are part of the Arizona Trail.
At the trailhead where the North Kaibab Trail drops into canyon, you can walk across the road and continue north on the Arizona Trail as it heads through the Ponderosa pines to Jacob Lake.
It runs close to state Route 67 as it crosses meadows and wooded tracts north of the Grand Canyon.
The trail runs through Grand Canyon National Park and the Kaibab National Forest as it crosses The Strip, that northernmost section of Arizona that lies between the Grand Canyon and the Utah border.
A seven-mile leg of that 50.5-mile segment across the fairly flat Kaibab Plateau was the first section of the Arizona Trail to open to the public in 1988.
It can be snowy and cold on the plateau because of the elevation.
The trail is 96 percent complete. To date, about 785 miles of the 819-mile cross-state non-motorized trail have been signed and are open to the public.
The remaining 34 miles are all on federally owned land. The biggest section still to complete is 18 miles of the White Canyon area near the Gila River.
The Arizona Trail lies mostly on federal and state land and is the result of cooperation between federal agencies, the state and the Arizona Trail Association. That includes the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management, plus state agencies and strong grass-roots support.
In fact, 74 percent of the trail lies on U.S. Forest Service land in the Kaibab, Coconino, Tonto and Coronado national forests.
In all, the Arizona Trail has 17 partner agencies, and volunteers in 2009 logged more than 24,000 hours on trail work and improvements.
The trail is used by hikers, backpackers, equestrians and mountain bikers (outside of federal wilderness or other specially designated areas, although alternate bike routes are being sought). It can also be used by snowshoers, cross-country skiers, joggers and pack-animal users.
It was envisioned to be a primitive, long-distance trail that “highlights the state’s topographic, biologic, historic and cultural diversity,” according to the trail association, the grass-roots group founded in 1994 that promotes the trail.
The trail goes through four national parks and four national forests, six wilderness areas, one state park and two BLM field offices. It spans seven Arizona mountain ranges: the Huachuca, Santa Rita, Rincon, Catalina, Superstition and Mazatzal mountains and the San Francisco Peaks. It includes seven biospheres, from the Sonoran desert to the Canadian alpine.
It ranges in height from 1,700 feet at the Gila River to 9,600 feet in the San Francisco Peaks.
The trail crosses four of Arizona’s biggest rivers: the Colorado, Gila, East Verde and Salt. It links such special places as Saguaro National Park, Mount Lemmon, the Mogollon Rim, the Mazatzal Wilderness, the Four Peaks and Walnut Canyon.
It includes ghost towns, Native American ruins and trails used by early settlers. The trail from Flagstaff north to the Grand Canyon follows an old stagecoach route.
It goes through only three communities: Flagstaff (there is a trail bypass) and 1,000-resident Patagonia and Tusayan at the Grand Canyon’s South Rim.
It includes sections in the Sonoran Desert and visits to high mountains that are called sky islands because of the multiple zones of plants and animals found as one ascends and descends.
Forest fires and floods take their toll on the trail.
Hikers in the southernmost section of the Arizona Trail may encounter security forces and illegal immigrants sneaking into the country via the wild backcountry.
Shewalter, who lived in Flagstaff, dreamed of the Arizona Trail while hiking in the 1970s through the Santa Rita Mountains.
He scouted the trail in 1985, walking 540 miles along back roads in 24 days. He hiked from Nogales to the Utah border. That year, he pitched the trail to the Arizona State Park Board.
In 1988, Shewalter became the first Arizona Trail steward or coordinator, working in the Kaibab National Forest. The position was funded by Arizona’s four national forests.
The trail is made of 43 passages or sections that range from 11 to 35 miles in length.
In most cases, the Arizona Trail uses existing trails that are known by their original names and numbers. For example, it follows the Highline National Recreation Trail that stretches 51 miles along the Mongollon Rim, a spectacular escarpment.
Primitive roads are temporarily being used in areas where linkages are still needed.
The trail can be hot and overgrown in the summer and covered with snow in the winter. Hikers may have to carry in drinking water.
To date, between 150 and 200 people have completed the entire trail, said Dave Hicks, executive director of the trail association. That includes hikers, equestrians and mountain bikers, he said.
The association is unsure how many people use the trail in a typical year. Its estimate is 30,000. Sections near Phoenix and Flagstaff get the heaviest use, but you may not see anyone else for several days on isolated sections — “That’s part of the trail’s allure,” Hicks said.
Maps and trailhead information about the completed sections are available from the nonprofit trail association. You can also order a CD with 16 maps from the association for $15.
The Arizona Trail Association has published a 328-page guidebook, Arizona Trail: The Official Guide by Tom Lorang Jones and the association. It sells for $21 plus shipping. The association also sells decals, patches, trail access maps and a long-distance hiking planner.
The grass-roots trail group has 950 members in 37 states and four other countries.
For information, contact the Arizona Trail Association, P.O. Box 36736, Phoenix, AZ 85067, 602-252-4794. The Internet site is .
Bob Downing: bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com
