to and from Arizona Trail, without car...

[Randy]

Rutger: Even though I've been hiking in Arizona for over 30 years, I'm not sure of the entire route of the Arizona Trail, which is a fairly recent development consisting of pieces of existing trails and new routing to connect them. Much of the area east of Phoenix where the Trail does go is not served by public transit. You would either have to rent an automobile or find a local hiker that would be interested in going along. In Tucson, the Sabino Canyon Recreation Area has a number of trails leading into the Catalina Mountains, a beautiful area. Sabino Canyon can be reached by bus route 37. The transit service is SunTran, 520-792-9222 (http://www.suntran.org) Route 81 goes to the Catalina Highway, also called Hitchcock Highway, which climbs up to about 2800m near the summit. Not sure how to get there from the end of the bus line. I would call Summit Hut in Tucson, a local hiking gear store and see if they have some advice. Their number is 520-888-1000.

Public transportation is not as expansive here as in Europe. a number of years ago I picked up a German hiker who had failed to find a bus to the Chiricahua mountains. He was carrying several novels about the Apache Indians written by Karl May, who I guess is a popular author there.

Others here may have further advice. Enjoy your visit.

I though Ishi was the last of his tribe? (His remains have recently be reburied on tribal lands) -Randy

-R

[desert dweller]

ishi,

I live in Tucson and have been doing the AzTrail in sections. I should be in town during the time you will be here. Send me an email when you get into Tucson (backpacker@theriver.com) or you can try calling (888-0540).

When you say a week, do you mean a full seven days or maybe five days? Let me know what kind of terrain you are interested in hiking and I will try to come up with some ideas. Remember the mountains around here are up to over 3000m. There should not be any problems with giving you a ride and picking you up.

Till then,

John Oliver

[jeremy77777]

Hiking the AZ trail is great fun. I did it over a two week period when I was a scout. You should really enjoy it!