Looking for trail that has desert and forest.....

[Candy Korn]

I wish I had time to do the PCT! But I don't, so....
I'm specifically looking for a trail that will pass through desert and forest in 7 days. A friend and I are working on planning a hike together. I want forest, she wants desert. We have 7 full days to hike (9 days total, 2 travel to trail). Does anyone know of a section of trail that fits these requirements?
Going off our weekend hikes (in flat Florida) we average around 13-17 miles per day, so I'm guessing roughly 8-12 on "real" trails. So I'm thinking a 60-70 mile section. Any advice or suggestions are helpful!
:)

[fiddlehead]

A few suggestions: Parts of the CDT around Mt Taylor in NM (south side of mountain deserty, north side: trees) but it's a climb and goes up to 10k ' I believe.
Parts of CDT around Rawlins, WY (possibly too much roadwalking although you don't have to roadwalk but there will be a lot of barbed wire fences that you need to learn how to get over)
Possibly head north out of Ghost Ranch in NM on CDT. (beautiful part of NM) (SOBO out of there is another option although I'm not sure of possibly roadwalking, somebody that's hiked it more recently than I might chime in on that for you?)

Restricted area without permission is the Jicarrilla Indian reservation in NM.
They MIGHT give you permission.
It has both.

Part of the PCT that might work for you: Do the Mojave crossing and then get some trees north of there.
Parts of the AZ trail south of Flagstaff have both.
(I've only done sections of this trail but believe there would be many possibilites on the AZT)

Possibly rim to rim of the Grand Canyon? (trees on top, deserty on the bottom, with lots of awesome scenery)

Hike north out of Atlantic City, WY (CDT) all the way through the "Wind River Range" Very scenic, not really desert, but deserty compared to FL I'm sure!

Parts of Hayduke trail (again, I haven't hiked it but have 4 friends who did and have seen their incredible pics of this trail)

Parts of Zion NP would work although again: not really desert, but dry.

I'm sure there are many many more options in southern CA, NM, AZ, UT, WY, and CO

Good luck. Have fun researching the best one for you.
(and even more fun hiking whatever you choose)

[sbhikes]

I wish I had time to do the PCT! But I don't, so....
I'm specifically looking for a trail that will pass through desert and forest in 7 days. A friend and I are working on planning a hike together. I want forest, she wants desert. We have 7 full days to hike (9 days total, 2 travel to trail). Does anyone know of a section of trail that fits these requirements?
Going off our weekend hikes (in flat Florida) we average around 13-17 miles per day, so I'm guessing roughly 8-12 on "real" trails. So I'm thinking a 60-70 mile section. Any advice or suggestions are helpful!
:)

Hike the San Jacinto portion of the PCT. Start at Highway 74. End at the beginning of Section C. You can park at both ends. You'll mostly be in the trees looking at desert, but you start and end in the desert. Another good section is from Highway 18 near Big Bear to Cajon Pass. You start in trees and end in desert and get more desert than trees, but there is Deep Creek Hot Spring along the way.

Also look into the Arizona Trail, but not for summer. Don't do any desert hiking in the summer. Late spring is pushing it too.

[map man]

Guadalupe Mountains National Park in west Texas has desert in the low country and forests in the high country and a network of trails so you can tailor your hiking to your desires. It's scenic and provides solitude any time you are in the high country, if that is something you want. The big drawback is lack of water. You can only get water at the three park facilities at the south, north and east ends of the park (all in low country). So any time you are up in the forested zone you are needing to plot a way to get back down to get water - I carried as much as seven or eight liters when heading to the high country. Here is a link to the park web-site:

http://www.nps.gov/gumo/index.htm

[Violent Green]

Check out the Pecos Wilderness in New Mexico. Its the very southern tip of the Rockies. If I remember correctly it has some of both forest and desert.

Ryan

[Wyoming]

Umm is there a timeframe associated with this hike? I live in Arizona and depending on what you mean by desert hiking the time of year is a critical piece of info. For instance any 'real' desert hiking in the summer months for even experienced hikers ranges from pretty unpleasant to out of the question. Heat and water issues are critically important.

[The Solemates]

new mexico

[futureatwalker]

Hmm... I second the Grand Canyon idea, depending on the time of year. You might be able to do a few days on the north rim (forest), and then descend in the Canyon (desert-like) to Bright Angel campground (for which you need a permit). Then you could either hike back, or continue across to the south rim. Beware! There's a big temperature change from the rim to the bottom of the canyon.

[Namtrag]

Look at the Gila Wilderness Area in NM. It looks like desert/mountain hiking to me...I haven't been there, but have looked at it as a possible trip someday.

[theoilman]

A real desert challenge, the southern quarter of the Israel National Trail. If you don't pre-arrange water drops, well ... you die! (I've have not hiked it, nor do I plan on it. I have hiked the Jesus Trail.)

[garlic08]

One problem already alluded to is a short season. The desert can't be too hot to survive, and the mountains need to be snow-free enough to travel. In Arizona, the "sky islands" in the south of the state along the Arizona Trail afford both but you're looking at probably the months of April and October only.

For a short trip like that, logistics need to be minimized. You might need to be near a major airport. You might want two cars because hitching can be a problem in some areas. You won't have much time to cache water. A friend in the area might be able to help. These things might restrict your choices. For those reasons, I like the PCT idea on Mt San Jacinto, especially if you have a friend in the LA area.

[Wyoming]

garlic has a good option there with the sky islands in AZ. But timing is critical as he mentioned and I did above. The window is a little bigger than just April and October though.

As we are hitting 100 deg today in the low country one can say that we are pretty much done with low desert hiking now until near Oct. However the AZT thru hikers start at the Mexican border and start hiking north through the sky islands sometimes in Feb but almost always in March. From Oct to probably Dec the southern sky islands are fine and sometimes even in Jan. It all depends on the winter we are having. This year we got moisture and snow at the high elevations and last year almost none. One thing is certain though if you are up at 7-8000 ft in the fall to spring or winter it is going to be cold at night. I live at 5700 ft and we are still hitting freezing sometime and our average last frost here is late May. So on the high islands from Nov to Mar it is possible to hit temps near single digits.

[handlebar]

Add April to your months with snow on AZT. Over 8" of snow last week on Mt Lemon.

Suggest original poster consider Patagonia to Summerhaven along AZT. Nice combination of desert and high country as one treks 2 mountains and intervening desert.