2018 Arizona Official State Visitor's Guide - 4

From the desert to
the mountains, the
Arizona Trail touches
five distinct biomes.
PHOTO BY @SOAZMTB

BY ROGE R N AY L O R
4 Arizona 2018 Official State Visitor's Guide

Hiking Arizona's National Scenic Trail
rizona is a big state-the sixth largest in the nation-and one way
to get a sense of that expanse is to walk the length of it.
The Arizona National Scenic Trail is a lanky route traversing the entire state, stretching from Mexico to Utah. The trail begins
at the Coronado National Memorial on the U.S.-Mexico border and
rambles north for 800-plus miles crossing isolated mountain ranges,
rolling grasslands, sun-spanked desert, forested plateaus and a canyon
called Grand.
A Flagstaff teacher, Dale Shewalter, hatched the idea for the ambitious trail in the 1980s. Designated a National Scenic Trail in 2009, the
pathway is popular with hikers, equestrians and mountain bikers. While
some trail users are through-hikers, most seek shorter jaunts. The Arizona Trail is divided into 43 passages, and even those can be tackled in
more bite-sized chunks.
To sample some of the immense beauty of the Arizona Trail, here are
a few passages, from south to north.



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of 2018 Arizona Official State Visitor's Guide

https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/madden/az_ovg18
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/madden/az_ovg16
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/madden/az_ovg15
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/madden/az_ovg14
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/madden/az_ovg13
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/madden/az_ovg12
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/madden/az_ovg11
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/madden/az_ovg10
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com