HikeArizona.COM

Watched the new documentary "Figuring it out on the Hayduke Trail" on Amazon Prime. Includes sections of the northern AZT and a couple Grand Canyon routes. I'm thinking a lot of HAZzers would enjoy it too.

Also can be found on YouTube.

@Hansenaz
How'd you like to write up a triplog for that "hike"?

@LosDosSloFolks
Hippy wrote up part of it...wish I could.

@Hansenaz
I looked through her triplogs and could not find it. :-(

@LosDosSloFolks
[ triplog ]

@mazatzal
Thanks. Good thing it wasn't a snake. I looked twice and still missed it.

@LosDosSloFolks
The sections I've done were fantastic. I've done the GC section now too. Still missing the meatie sections from Hite to Grand Canyon but everything else has been an absolute blast. There are a lot of hidden gems along that route that should be kept "secret" and respected of course. I didn't post about them or their locations.

I did a better route in the area. To protect it I'll keep it secret by posting it on social media without a name to inspire. Yeah me!

The Hayduke trail is fairly well documented? At least, I have been able to find enough info on it. It simply isn't popular because of it's remoteness, the lack of reliable water sources that coincide with "nice" hiking weather, and resupply logistics.

You can hike in winter, find water, and be cold.
You can hike in summer, be warm, and possibly die of dehydration.

A wet but warm spring seems to me to be the optimal plan.

You should plan all your own food stashes, and only recently have I seen anyone post about a trail angel leaving water in the area around Hite.

You are more likely to run into 4WD caravans than other hikers along most sections.


If you are looking for true adventure, hike the Benson route, but the Hayduke should be good for most.

Good documentary. Hiker/filmmaker Alex Maier likes to expound on "hiking as a metaphor for life" a bit too often perhaps, but he's created a beautiful snapshot of the Hayduke. Piqued my interest.

I watched that document after running into two people up on the Kaibab plateau that were doing that hike a few years back. I believe the they were interviewed during that documentary.

@joebartels
I'd be more concerned with those guys posting a documentary about it. If you read my triplog it's not very helpful. I didn't post directions or locations or anything cool.
The "hike" is well documented on the internet and what I wrote is chicken scratch compared to the stuff available.
I didn't watch the documentary after seeing the trailer. It's basically these guys patting their backs and having an "epic journey of self", if I wanted to do that I'd take a video of myself. Anyway, not a fan of the way they brought the Hayduke Into the limelight.

Hippy wrote:It's basically these guys patting their backs and having an "epic journey of self",

Absolutely. But all the mass-media trail documentaries are like this. If you want high production quality without over-hyped emotional reactions about the journey of a lifetime, youtube is looking pretty good right about now. Long gone are the days of shaky low quality GoPros strapped to a helmet mount spewed onto the internet without editing.

@wildwesthikes
Isn't that the same with ALL media? Even the news ;)
Have you seen Mcbride's Grand Canyon videos? Like don't get me wrong he's a friend of ours and I adore him but... He's so over the top! But that's okay. He's an amazing, uh, filmographer (?)

@Hippy
Nah haven't seen his stuff but maybe I will check it out. My favorite is MyOwnFrontier. Now those are some amazing backpacking/hiking videos; I've never seen someone go to such great lengths to capture the essence of a place. Some of them are like 2-3 hours long and not a minute of it is fake fluff or boring - especially to people like us. It's not over the top - doesn't feel over produced and he genuinely seems like a nice guy just wanting to show the beauty of these places and what it's like to hike and camp there. The guy should be on one of those outdoors TV channels. But then that's kind of what I'm saying: Once you get a production company and a channel sponsorship it all gets condensed into this consumer friendly format that takes away from the "real trip" feel. I'm not sure I agree that all media is like that; mainly what is on TV and netflix, amazon, etc. I kind of have skin in that game as I make videos myself and have tried to mashup shooting techniques from my favorites into my own workflow while trying to keep it real. I think one does have to do a fair amount of editing and post production work to make it palatable to any audience, even the hiking community.

Oh and I have been using the term "videographer", lol.

@wildwesthikes
We've been watching "MyOwnFrontier" on YouTube for quite a while. The guy is a straight shooter and a pleasure to watch and listen to.

@LosDosSloFolks
Thanks for introducing me to "MyOwnFrontier". I'll check him out.

That was a a pretty good documentary. Just watched another one on the AZT called "Through The Great Southwest" which was also good.


@LosDosSloFolks
I subscribed to 'MyOwnFrontier' a few weeks ago and his content is fantastic.

@DmN
Another good one for the AZT, PCT, and Appalachian is "Chris Berry" on YouTube. We've only watched his thru hike NOBO on the Arizona Trail and he did a great job with his videos. Couldn't stop watching! The guy never had a bad day no matter the circumstances.