Arizona Trail Passage 40 – Kaibab Plateau South
AZT Day 5, Part 3
Trans-Arizona/Utah Day 12, Part 3
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
Crane Lake-Little Round Valley
Hiking south on the Arizona Trail, the Kaibab Plateau rolls across the ridges and valleys and the trail continues to pass dark ponderosa interspersed with – and sometimes dominated by, in fire-impacted areas – magnificent aspens.
Arizona Trail, Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)
Kaibab National Forest
Arizona Trail, Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)
Kaibab National Forest
Arizona Trail, Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)
Kaibab National Forest
Arizona Trail, Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)
Kaibab National Forest
Arizona Trail, Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)
Kaibab National Forest
Arizona Trail, Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)
Kaibab National Forest
Arizona Trail, Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)
Kaibab National Forest
Arizona Trail, Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)
Kaibab National Forest
AZT Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)
Kaibab National Forest
Kaibab National Forest
AZT Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)
Kaibab National Forest
AZT Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)
Kaibab National Forest
Arizona Trail, Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)
Kaibab National Forest ‘
AZT Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)
Kaibab National Forest
Arizona Trail, Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)
Kaibab National Forest
Arizona Trail, Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)
Kaibab National Forest
AZT Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)
Kaibab National Forest
AZT Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)
Kaibab National Forest
AZT Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)
Kaibab National Forest
AZT Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)
Kaibab National Forest
AZT Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)
Kaibab National Forest
AZT Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)
Kaibab National Forest
AZT Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)
Kaibab National Forest
Pleasant Valley
Arizona Trail, Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)
Kaibab National Forest
AZT Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South)
Kaibab National Forest
AZT Passage 40, Kaibab Plateau South
Kaibab National Forest
Arizona Trail Logistics and Ecology Information
| Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South) | |
| AZTA Passage Overview | Passage 40 (Kaibab Plateau South) |
| Trail Surface | Dirt trail |
| Length (Mi) | 24.3 |
| Season | Spring-fall. No vehicular access to this section December-mid May. Feet of snow in winter. |
| Potential Water Sources | Crane Lake (mi 46.5 SOBO, 742.2 NOBO) Little Pleasant Valley Tank (mi 48.8 SOBO, 739.9 NOBO) Wildlife Drinker (mi 56.5 SOBO, 732.2 NOBO) Dog Lake (mi 56.6 SOBO, 732.1 NOBO) North Canyon Spring (mi 58.9 SOBO, 729.8 NOBO) Crystal Spring (mi 59.5 SOBO, 729.2 NOBO) Sourdough Well (mi 62.1 SOBO, 726.6 NOBO) Upper North Canyon Creek (mi 63.9 SOBO, 724.9 NOBO) |
| Water Source Reports | FarOut or AZT Water Reports |
| Trailheads | North: Telephone Hill South: Grand Canyon National Park boundary |
| Trailhead Access | North: Vehicular access via FR 241 off AZ-67 South: Foot access only |
| Wilderness | No, but it can feel like it. Most hikers in the area stick to the national park. Or are passing through to reach routes in the national park. |
| Possible resupply points | North Rim Country Store & Meadow’s Edge Accessed via FR 216 at AZT MM 54.6 S/734.1 N |
| ATA-Rated Difficulty | Easy |
| Potential campsites (mileages S to N) | Various |
| Ecosystems Traversed | Great Basin Subalpine Conifer Forest Rocky Mountain Montane Conifer Woodland |
Arizona Trail: Passage 40 Ecology
| Rocky Mountain Montane Conifer Woodland | Great Basin Subalpine Conifer Forest | |
| Common Trees/Shrubs | * Ponderosa Pine * Southwestern white pine * Subalpine fir * White fir * Rocky Mountain maple * Bigtooth maple * Grey alder * Red birch * Red osier dogwood * Cliffbush * Mallow ninebark * New Mexican locust * huckleberry * bilberries | * Corkbark fir * Gambel oak * Quaking aspen * White fir * Blue spruce * Engelmann spruce * Buckwheats * Currants * Dwarf juniper * Elderberry * Fendler’s ceanothus * Greenleaf Manzanita * New Mexican locust * Perry’s rabbitbrush * Raspberry * smooth sumac * Snowberry |
| Common herbaceous plants | * fringed brome * Geyer’s sedge/elk sedge * Ross’ sedge * Bronze sedge/dry land sedge/hillside sedge/hay sedge/Fernald’s hay sedge * screwleaf muhly * bluebunch wheatgrass * Spruce-fir fleabane * wild strawberry/Virginia strawberry * Small-flowered woodrush * mountain sweet Cicely * bittercress ragwort * western meadow-rue * Fendler’s meadow-rue | * Bracken Fern * Buckwheats * Cinquefoils * Columbines * Fleabane daisies * Geraniums * goldeneye * Goldenrods * Groundsels * Hairy golden aster * Indian paintbrush * Lotus * Lupines * Meadow-rue * Parry’s bellflower * Peavine * Penstemons * Puccoon * Pussytoes * Thistles * Western & white prairie asters * Wild strawberry * Wormwood * Yarrow * Yellow hawkweed |
| Common Succulents | N/A | Prickly pear, occasionally |
| Aquatics | N/A | * Bulrush * Buttercups * Rushes * Sedges * Water plantains |
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