Amazing, Spectacular Arizona Trail: Red Hills Ascent

Welcome back to Aspen’s Tracks, thruhiking the Arizona Trail southbound from Utah to Mexico. Today’s route covers backpacking the stretch of Passage 24, the Red Hills, between the East Verde River and the Red Hills Ridge. You can find today’s hiking logistics below the photo documentation and trail journal of the route.

If you missed my last entry covering my passage from Polk Spring across the East Verde River to the initial ascent into the Red Hills, that can be found here. The next entry will cover the stretch of the Red Hills across the Red Hills Ridge and to the Red Hills junction in the Park, the start of the Mazatzal Divide. If you enjoy these accounts, please do subscribe to follow along to make sure that you don’t miss out on here or any future accounts to come!

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: Red Hills

The trail begins the long ascent into the Red Hills, on a path that seems like it might be an old fire road. The grade is steady but not overwhelming, though quite tiring since it is unrelenting. It’s also quite exposed; according to the volunteer I mentioned in the last post, a fire burned the tree cover here. On the positive side, the views that were exposed as a result were quite expansive, reaching to the Mogollon Rim & beyond. On the negative, the full exposure increases water consumption and adds about 10 degrees to the perceived temperature due to the combined impacts of sun and elevation.

The trail is now well into the Mazatzal Wilderness, about 390 square miles in size and one of the original wilderness areas designated in 1964 following passage of the Wilderness Act. The trail will pass through both mountain ranges – first the Red Hills, then the Mazatzals. The Red Hills run perpendicular to the northern Mazatzal Mountains; spending any amount of time in the Hills reveals the reasoning for their name, and the views of both the Hills and the surrounding land from the Arizona Trail is incredible. As predicted, the hike up from the East Verde River has resulted in changes to the geology, as well, though sorting out the exact type is a bit difficult given regional complexity.

Time to rest up from the hike up into the mountains. Next time, we’ll see the continuance through the Red Hills to the start of the Mazatzal Divide segment, the true heart of the Mazatzal Wilderness, the longest stretch of the Arizona Trail within a designated wilderness area.

Trail Logistics and Ecology