Hiking in January

[BFF]

Hi there!

I'm a long time thru hiker and now that I've been living in AZ for a little over a year, I want to try the AZT!

Is it crazy to start in mid January? I was thinking of Flip-flopping starting in Superstition and going south and then shuttling back to Superstition and going North so that I do the warmest parts early, but I can't find anything online that says if January is just a silly time to hike in Arizona even with a zero degree bag.

I'm also just a little worried about water. I've done 20 mile carries and filtered some gross stuff in my time, but I'm not sure how water is in January in AZ. I'm sure there are a lot of posts thinking about this. If anyone could comment or link me to one, I'd much appreciate it.

Thoughts?

Jes

[sandyfortner]

January is a great time to knock out the warmer sections for sure. 15 may be dry - check with the steward and the online resources in the next week or so. You can cache water quite easily around passages 5 - 8 as you head out. I think you'll find your plan will work - you will just have to be checking on supply boxes, water sources and maybe cache some.

[Sredfield]

We dropped 10 more gallons at the Freeman RD TH this morning, so there's probably 16+ gallons there, but Marnie's candy jar is empty.

[BFF]

Thanks, everyone!

I did the southern sections over the past couple of weeks and am taking a quick break before heading north so that it can warm up a little.

The trail is amazing! Thanks so much to all of the volunteers who leave water and maintain the trail. I do a lot of section and thru hiking and I have never seen such an active group of volunteers continually working to improve the experience for adventurers. I'm definitely going to rave about it to all of my backpacking community.