Some pics from my spring break hike in Arizona. It was purty.

[dloome]

This was a short 4 day, 4 night hike beginning and ending at my front door in Flagstaff, utilizing parts of the AZT and a lot of hiking in the San Francisco range North of Flagstaff. About 80% singletrack, 10% forest road/pipline, and about 10% cross country. Distance was roughly 117 miles. Because of the cross country bits and a bunch of snow covered trail I don't know the exact distance. This was mostly just to have fun, but also as a shakedown for my PCT thru hike coming up in about 7 weeks, wanted to test out some new gear and get a better idea of what kind of shape I'm in now as well as dust off my navigational skills.

Base pack weight just under 8 lbs. Day time temps 45 to 70 degrees, night time lows 14 to 35 degrees. Mostly partly cloudy, some snow precip and strong winds the last couple days. 20-39 miles between water stops, but I was able to supplement this with snow at times. Elevations ranged from 6,900' at my front door to 11,900 in the San Francisco mtns.

It went well, I was really happy with my gear and made decent mileage despite a lot of snow and fairly heavy water loads. There was a lot more snow on the North facing high slopes that I'd anticipated, and the only thing I wish I'd brought gear-wise was my axe which would have been very helpful at times, but I got by alright.

Sorry the pics aren't in any discernible order. Anyway, enjoy.

http://s98.photobucket.com/albums/l2...own/?start=all

[MOWGLI]

Nice photos! Thanks for sharing them here.

[reddfrog1]

To continue the AZ theme, Sunset Crater is an interesting place to visit. It is a dormant (dead?) volcano not too far from Flagstaff, and the landscape is otherworldly. I hadn't seen the effects of a fairly recent (in geologic terms!) volcano before, other than on TV. Pretty cool. There are at least 2 trails- I forget exactly, it's been a few years.

[troglobil]

Loved the pics. Reminds me of why I want to retire to Flagstaff.

[StarLyte]

Weathercarrot and I hung out in Flagstaff and Sedona for awhile last year.....we had a lot of fun.

Thanks for posting the photos!