Amazing, Spectacular Arizona Trail: Coconino Rim to Moqui Stage Station

Welcome back to Aspen’s Tracks, thruhiking the Arizona Trail southbound from Utah to Mexico. Today’s route covers backpacking the stretch of Passage 36, the Coconino Rim, between my camp on the passage on the Coconino Rim within the Kaibab National Forest to my camp on the passage at the Moqui Stage Station just north of the passage boundary. You can find today’s hiking logistics below the photo documentation and trail journal of the route.

In the land of Arizona
Through desert heat or snow
Winds a trail for folks to follow
From Utah to Old Mexico

It’s the Arizona Trail
A pathway through the great Southwest
A diverse track through wood and stone
Your spirit it will test

Oh, sure you’ll sweat and blister
You’ll feel the miles every day
You’ll shiver at the loneliness
Your feet and seat will pay

But you’ll see moonlight on the borderlands
You’ll see stars on the Mogollon
You’ll feel the warmth of winter sun
And be thrilled straight through to bone

The aches and pains will fade away
You’ll feel renewed and whole
You’ll never be the same again
With Arizona in your soul

Along the Arizona Trail
A reverence and peace you’ll know
Through deserts, canyons, and mountains
From Utah to Old Mexico
-“The Arizona Trail,” Dale R. Shewalter

Arizona Trail: Coconino Rim Campsite to Russell Tank

Today began with a continuation of the southward trek along the Coconino Rim. The rolling hike along the rim of the Coconino Plateau passes through a combination of ponderosas and, through the trees, views off the plateau toward the Navajo Nation. As the trail rises slowly back to the top of the rim and heads back across the Plateau, the ecosystem starts to shift. Junipers start to appear.

The trail passes Russell Tank, one of the many wildlife tanks maintained by the state to provide water to wildlife. It’s the first time on the hike that I’ve had to filter water out of a tank, and the tank is low after the dry summer, but there is enough to pull but the water is decent quality, so I set up my Sawyer and get a few liters to get me to the Babbitt Ranch passage.

One disturbing thing happens, though. As I step in the mud on the edge of the tank to suck some water into my filter bag, I feel a tug on the sole of my right hiking boot. Looking down, I see the sole of my boot start to separate from the body.

It’s going to be a race to Flagstaff now. Hopefully I can get there and get a new pair before my sole comes off.

Arizona Trail: Russell Tank to Moqui Stage Station

After filtering the water of organisms and sediment (this IS Arizona, after all, one can’t be picky, but the Sawyer works great for filtering all that out), I’m heading south again. The ecotone is definitely getting into gear now. The pines start to thin out; more rice grass appears between them. Pinyon pines appear, joining the juniper that had appeared earlier. Moving farther from the rim, the ecosystem change is finalized. The ponderosas disappear completely, becoming replaced by pinyon pines and juniper spaced by rice grass meadows. Humphreys Peak and the San Francisco Peaks appear above the treeline. In a few days, I will be at their foot.

Moqui Stage Station

The day ends at the ruins of Moqui Stage Station, one of the stops on the original stagecoach route that took early tourists from Flagstaff to Grand Canyon. Stone ruins and an interpretive sign mark the site today – the main one being what could have been perhaps a water tank for horses at one point.

Setting up camp, I get a spectacular view of the full moon rising through the umbra (the shadow of the Earth) and the Belt of Venus. Just gorgeous to sit and watch that happen…with no one for miles around.

(Post will be updated with my Relieve video for today.)

For my other entries on hiking the AZT in Grand Canyon, check out the following:
Amazing, Stunning Arizona Trail: Grand Canyon North Rim-Roaring Springs – Aspen’s Tracks (aspenstracks.com)
Amazing, Spectacular Arizona Trail: Grand Canyon, Roaring Springs-Ribbon Falls – (aspenstracks.com),
https://aspenstracks.com/arizona-trail-day-8-grand-canyon-ribbon-falls-to-bright-angel-campground/
Amazing, Spectacular Arizona Trail – Bright Angel CG (Colorado River)-South Rim – (aspenstracks.com)

For the National Park Service official advice on day hiking and backpacking below the rim at Grand Canyon, including on the AZT, check out the following:
Introduction to Backcountry Hiking (nps.gov)
Day Hiking – Grand Canyon National Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)