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Wondering who is looking at hiking the AZT in 2017 NOBO.

This year I made it past Saguaro NP to the road that runs up to Oracle. This year I am considering returning to that point and continuing nobo. That would take me over Mt Lemon area and on into Oracle and then off to the Superstitions.

Then again, I may start at Pickpost and go north from there.

Wonder what water conditions will be like in 2017. Such an original thought.

Hello! My wife and I are planning to start in the first week of March. Planning now :-)

I am going to do Oracle to Picket Post in late January. I have a question- if I leave water in the supply box at the Florence-Kelvin Hwy- will it freeze in January inside the box? What if I insulate it somehow?

At that time of year I should have the box all to myself.

I have been up to the box 2x this year to add water and clean it out.

I doubt it will freeze solid, though after a cold night it might be frosty and have a bit of ice in the very top. Find a spot that gets some sun during the day.

@Trew Weather history for Kelvin has overnight lows for late January in the 40-42 range.

Anyway, if the box gets sun (it does, if I recall correctly) it should provide enough heat/insulation to keep it warm enough.
(If not, you can always hold it against your body as you hike until it warms up... and you chill out)

I hope to start my hike March 1. I appreciate all the helpful comments about crampons and water. Here's my question: I have to head back home April 25. I've decided to hike to the North Rim and then hike back to the South Rim and catch the shuttle to Flagstaff. My question is this -- looks like the Yurt cannot be rented after Apr 14, and the campground is closed to May 15. Is there anywhere in the vicinity of the North Rim I can pitch a tent, stealth or otherwise? Thanks.

Merry Christmas Trew and to all the Hiker Trash out there......I will be arriving in Benson, AZ on March 12 then spending a couple of days in Sierra Vista to tour the surrounding area. Starting my NOBO hike March 15......Tally Ho

@LaughsaLot Starting March 15 as well but I am arriving in Benson, AZ., March 12 and spending a couple of days in Sierra Vista. Renting a car to do some sightseeing in Tombstone, Patagonia.....surrounding area. There is an Arizona Trail Class of 2017 group page on FB......check it out. From what I have seen there will not be a herd of hikers on the trail as there is on the PCT. Tally Ho

@rivermary
It won't be difficult to find places to camp up there. There won't really be many people around. This question was discussed in detail on another thread recently. https://hikearizona.com/dex2/viewtopic.php?t=9587

Trew wrote:I am going to do Oracle to Picket Post in late January. I have a question- if I leave water in the supply box at the Florence-Kelvin Hwy- will it freeze in January inside the box? What if I insulate it somehow?

At that time of year I should have the box all to myself.

I have been up to the box 2x this year to add water and clean it out.

Just a word of warning. I had my water and food stolen from that box last year around the same time (late December - early Janurary). I would recommend caching the water somewhere down the trail a little bit and tagging it with a GPS unit. Carry all your food with you. It nearly ended my trip because we didn't have time to get into and back out of Kearny.

jc2014 wrote:Wife and I are planning a thru hike in March of 2017 and are having a real hard time finding anyone describing how much water they carry at any given time. We will be carrying a water filter and iodine tablets for water along the way but would like to hear from any experienced AZT thru hiker of how much they start out with.

Did the first 450 miles of the PCT this year. Good rule of thumb is 1L/5 Miles plus 1L for overnight. So, if I had 10 miles to camping and 5 miles the next morning, I would carry 2+1+1= 4 L. My longest "no-water" section was 26 miles (including an overnight) and I carried 6L. This was the most I ever carried. Any more than that is just crazy weight.

Hi! I'm a first timer to the forum, and I plan to start NOBO on March 15th. See you all out there!

Hi. I am starting on the same day. See you soon. Laughs a Lot.

ultranomad wrote:Hi everyone. I plan to thru hike NOBO starting 3/29/17. See you on the trail.

ultranomad, I am considering a northbound through-hike starting on April 1 (no joke!), but I don't want to do it alone.

I am looking for a hiking buddy. Are you interested? I can start on 3/29, my schedule is flexible.

Is anyone else interested?

@Lifeisshort See you on the trail.....same start date, March 15.....Tally Ho.

I am going to start a six week NOBO thru-hike attempt of the AZT starting on 3/18, 3/25 or 4/1. Looking forward to the challenge and to meeting some of you. See you on the trail.

I'm also planning a NOBO thru-hike, probably starting around 15 March. I don't want to walk too many miles every day so I have made a preliminary plan that requires 57 days walking (based on where I think I can camp and find water). On top of that I will add about 10 extra days for setbacks, zero days, waiting days for Grand Canyon, etc.

As is the case for everybody, it's a bit of a gamble. Don't want to get stuck in snow but also want to avoid the worst of the heat and finish before water becomes too scarce. Based on this schedule the thru-hike will be 15 March - 21 May.

I'm coming from abroad so I need to arrange flights well in advance. Any comments are welcome!

FireFly wrote:I'm also planning a NOBO thru-hike, probably starting around 15 March. I don't want to walk too many miles every day so I have made a preliminary plan that requires 57 days walking (based on where I think I can camp and find water). On top of that I will add about 10 extra days for setbacks, zero days, waiting days for Grand Canyon, etc.

As is the case for everybody, it's a bit of a gamble. Don't want to get stuck in snow but also want to avoid the worst of the heat and finish before water becomes too scarce. Based on this schedule the thru-hike will be 15 March - 21 May.

I'm coming from abroad so I need to arrange flights well in advance. Any comments are welcome!

Sounds like a good plan! Early to mid March should be a good start date. Weather can be fickled, but if choosing between Miller in some residual snow versus passages 14 - 18 in 90+ degrees - take the snow! If you find that you need micro-spikes, you can mail them to Vail once you get to Patagonia.

@FireFly
The planning you've done sounds great. I found the planning is part of the experience, and went what some may say a bit over board by mapping out every day's hike, distance, camp site, water, etc. on a spread sheet. Not that I stuck to it once I started, but it provided a lot of familiarity with the trail that proved quite helpful, and it was fun.

Planning a thru hike in March of 2017, has anyone used the AZT APP downloaded on their phone for navigational purposes? How does it work when there isn't phone service? Was it worth using? Thanks!

Can someone recommend a good solar charger for a NOBO 2017 hike?