Day 6 of the Arizona Trail

Mileage: 17 miles

Weather: Below freezing morning and sunny afternoon with high winds

The morning hike started at 5:35am. We woke up to completely frozen shoes and socks. My shoes laces were sticking straight outward. Family Mule could only get his feet half in his shoes, so the entire time we are packing up, he was basically barefoot in the snow! Life was rough. We finally worked our feet in the frozen shoes dreadfully and headed down the trail. We were trying to start early in hopes we could walk more on top of the snow and have less of the sinking.

The trail started more in the valley of deep snow. After about 3.5 miles, I was losing my mind. I was froze, no end to the snow in sight, it was deep and I could barely move, and I had not had cell service to talk to our kids in about 3 days. I know cell service doesn’t rank high on backpacking priorities but as a parent, I wanted to check on our kids! I stopped in the middle of this field silently screaming in my head, kicked the snow only for the one spot I decided to kick….didn’t move! Family Mule was behind me being as quiet as possible so I didn’t turn my anger towards him. I never said a word out loud. I took a deep breathe and moved forward a few more steps and looked up. There was a coyote looking at me across the field. It just stood there, staring at me. It was actually calming and felt like a good omen. The coyote slowly started moving up the mountain but kept an eye on us.

We pressed forward until we found a crossing where there was a bear box and a restroom. We stopped and had a protein bar and soaked up some sun before pushing to the next section of the valley. We checked the map and it was around 3 miles to the fire tower. Someone commented that they were able to get a bar of Verizon service there! We looked at each other and then the next thing we know we were packed back up and pushing forward to get there in hopes of checking on our kids. We came to the gate of the Grand Canyon park. There were signs of no camping or fires. The snow was less in this area. We soon came to the fire tower to the left or the trail to the right. The fire tower was .3 off of the trail but not a bad walk and it held our hope of cell signal! We made it to the fire tower and no signal! Family Mule took off to the top with his cell and was able to get signal as he climbed. I followed behind! We were able to get 3 bars and talk to the kids! Life was getting better! The views from the top were totally worth the climb!

After our stop, we headed back on the trail toward the north rim. The trail was getting less and less snow the further we walked. The sun was shining and it was warming up. We reached the main park area. It was shut down for the season, however lots of vehicles were going in and out. We used the facilities and filled up our water. The trail to the north rim was not bad at all. The snow was gone, the sun was shining, and the terrain was fairly easy with exception to the 1.5-2 miles at the end that was a steady increase in elevation.

Once we reached the north rim we decided to camp. We went up the .7 to the north rim campground and stayed. They allow AZT hikers even when they are closed for the season. The Backcountry Office is open and will supply the permits as you need them if the openings allow. They are located in the admin building, which is hard to locate initially. Backpackers be sure and stop there if you plan to stay in the Grand Canyon. They will 100% check your permit. Be sure and tell them you are an AZT hiker, you are more likely to get the permit as they have reserved areas just for you. Also, by the office is a water supply and heated restroom!

We camped out with magnificent views. The wind was very strong all night. Our tent was being whipped but it was still relaxing.

Lastly, I am going to spare you from seeing the pictures of our feet but they didn’t do well with the 5.5 days of wet and cold.