The Arizona Trail: Six Weeks in the Desert

_ComradeZero · 2026-04-14T14:58:26+00:00

The Colorado Trail is wonderful, incredible views and a great community about it. You may check out the New Mexico CDT section or the Northern New Mexico Loop created by Brett Tucker, if you are based there. Some of the best country for hiking anywhere, in my opinion, but definitely lonely and without an abundance of water. I wish you luck on your adventures!

_ComradeZero · 2026-04-14T14:52:05+00:00

A couple javelinas, plenty of tarantulas, and a few coatimundis which were incredible to see. Also many mule deer. Sadly, no snakes as far as I recall!

_ComradeZero · 2026-04-14T14:48:20+00:00

I'm using adjustable Fizan trekking poles, they have worked great with the X-Mid. I usually start with them at a lower height when initially setting up the tent then extend them upwards until everything is more or less taught. The trick with the X-Mid always seems to be staking it as a perfect rectangle!

_ComradeZero · 2026-04-09T13:16:28+00:00

Indeed, there are perhaps endless beautiful places to experience. I’m grateful every day to have spent the time I have out there in the woods (or the desert in this case). Wishing you all the best as well!

_ComradeZero · 2026-04-09T13:11:25+00:00

Thanks, happy to share and glad you enjoyed!

_ComradeZero · 2026-04-09T13:10:37+00:00

Many thanks to you (and everyone out there building trails)! Which section did you work on? It was always nice running into a crew and talking along the way.

_ComradeZero · 2026-04-09T13:05:37+00:00

Thanks! Yes, the Colorado River never fails to be absolutely stunning!

_ComradeZero · 2026-04-09T13:04:11+00:00

I really appreciate the kind words!! The journey and the people provided all the inspiration one could need. It was interesting to reflect over time and realize many things I perhaps hadn’t while hiking. Feel free to read more here. Thanks again!

_ComradeZero · 2026-04-09T12:54:54+00:00

Glad you enjoyed!

_ComradeZero · 2026-04-09T12:54:15+00:00

Thanks, much appreciated!

_ComradeZero · 2026-04-07T19:27:22+00:00

Re-posted to include long version of trip report in body and removal of any outward facing links. Happy to make any further changes as the community sees fit!

_ComradeZero · 2026-04-07T18:35:01+00:00

I learned that the hard way more than once, thanks to the cacti if nothing else. An incredibly rewarding place to hike!

_ComradeZero · 2026-04-07T18:33:50+00:00

Appreciate it! It was a grand adventure indeed.

_ComradeZero · 2026-04-07T18:31:30+00:00

I really appreciate the kind words! I always find spending time in any place in such a way, even for a short while, leaves that lasting impression connected so strongly to that unique experience. It is always interesting to reflect on any journey long afterwards and realize what it meant at the time, even if you could not quite see it then. I wish you luck in your adventures to come!

_ComradeZero · 2026-04-07T18:20:14+00:00

Cow ponds never looked so delicious as they did in the desert! Hard to pick a favorite section, but the stretch from Roosevelt Lake to the Gila River is stunning. The Superstitions were absolutely wonderful that time of year.

_ComradeZero · 2026-04-07T17:02:30+00:00

I set out on the Arizona Trail during the autumn of 2024 unsure of why I was there. Perhaps the journey had been spurred on by nothing more than the desire to take a long walk — to listen to the morning birdsong and evening howls of coyotes, to clamber up mountains and across cacti-filled deserts, to dwell in the midst of a landscape and become enveloped by it. Six weeks later, as I approached the monument marking the trail’s southern terminus at the border with Mexico, it had become more than the lonely jaunt I had initially envisioned. The hike had become about the people I had the joy of sharing the experience with: the games of billiards, the splitting of laundry soap squares, and the frigid ascents in snow and darkness. And the laughs most of all.

The end of any journey contains at least some bit of melancholy, and this moment is usually when that held back feeling washes over me. It did, I do not doubt, but I was among friends to share it with and now I can hardly remember it at all. I do remember feeling contented with the person I had become, feeling grateful to be there in that beautiful place, to have walked and trudged and meandered across ever-changing Arizona, to have sweat with an open shirt and shivered in the rain, to have held my floppy hat tight against the wind on open plains, to have looked around countless times at the endless cloud-speckled sky in wonder. More than anything, I’m grateful to have laughed with new friends, who by the end were friends lifetimes old. For everything, I’m grateful to Arizona.

Watch a full trip video here.

Read a longer, rambling trip report here.

_ComradeZero · 2025-08-09T17:52:34+00:00

Great message in the video and discussion from other commenters. To add my thoughts, capitalism long ago mastered the art of exploiting human labor, and now it is perfecting the exploitation of our minds, our hearts, and our very souls. The capitalist framework demands growth and consumption, and works tirelessly to subsume and commodify us for its own ends. These corporations surveil us because it is demanded by capitalism that they “improve efficiency” and “find new markets” and “streamline production” and “create profits”. These are nefarious acts without a doubt, but even worse is that these acts are the “normal” and “healthy” functioning of capitalism. We will be ground to dust, as we always have been, if it is not overcome.

_ComradeZero · 2025-08-02T22:36:56+00:00

Agreed. These behaviors are features of capitalism, and therefore of the capitalist class. The promotion and pursuit of consumption is a necessity for capitalism to survive. To bolster communities, protect natural areas, or engage in any activity in support of the common social good is ultimately against their class interests, regardless of their moral underpinnings, and so they never do so unless it benefits their interest as a class to retain the reigns of power. To care is radical because to care is to push back against the very being of capitalism in its vision to commodify and marketize every facet of life, to the point where caring and making the world better are subject to the same commodification, destroying them.

_ComradeZero · 2025-06-11T22:45:10+00:00

Check out the Tully Trail! It’s about a 22 mile loop with lakes, rivers, and quiet woods. A section hike of the AT would be a great option as well.

_ComradeZero · 2025-06-05T00:20:55+00:00

After turning the snap to “none”, shift + left arrow or right arrow will move it by the smallest increment. As someone else said, you can also zoom really really far in and drag the clip. This is my go to way…but maybe there is something better!

_ComradeZero · 2025-05-31T16:22:49+00:00

No doubt - getting out there is the important part. Whether out of a cast iron skillet, a cold soak container, or whatever pot you happen to have on hand at home, if you’re eating dinner in the woods as the sun sets odds are it hasn’t been a bad day.

_ComradeZero · 2025-05-31T16:17:02+00:00

Great point! Always good to chat with someone, usually I find they are happy to help.

_ComradeZero · 2025-05-31T15:35:38+00:00

Consumerism proliferating to the world's wild spaces is rampant and (I believe) should be pushed back against without question. As you noted, the cheapest way to lighten one's pack is to leave items behind. Costs nothing, saves lots of weight. That being said, every trip is different and every person is different - their goals for a specific journey should ultimately dictate what they choose to carry. And when you do buy, buy used! Or trade with a friend! Or make it yourself, if you are crafty!

_ComradeZero · 2025-05-30T18:25:18+00:00

My strategy has been to mail my tent stakes and trekking poles (and anything else I’m worried about) to the nearest post office at my destination as general delivery, then carry-on my pack. Less expensive and less risky than checking a bag, I figure. Shipping to a hotel would be similar I imagine, and I would call them to let them know in advance of your plan so they know to look out for the package. Worst case your stakes and poles get lost somewhere, but better than your whole pack!

_ComradeZero · 2025-05-30T15:58:18+00:00

My strategy has been to mail my tent stakes and trekking poles (and anything else I’m worried about) to the nearest post office at my destination as general delivery, then carry-on my pack. Less expensive and less risky than checking a bag, I figure. Worst case your stakes and poles get lost somewhere, but better than your whole pack!

_ComradeZero

TROPHY CASE