On January 9th I moved my PCT start date from May 28th to April 3rd. The date change is amazing for multiple reasons, like avoiding the desert heat in Southern California and giving myself an extra month to finish before Washington is covered in feet of snow. The issue is with my number one Chicago winter sport. Hibernation. I hadn’t been on a backpacking trip since August. So I opened Google and typed “Trails to backpack in February or March without freezing.”

The Arizona Trail, Florida National Scenic Trail and Ozark Trail all have reasonable weather, a social element, and beautiful scenery. In other words, Alligators, Ticks, or Rattlesnakes.  I don’t like any of the options, but I’ve never been to Arizona. 

The first two weeks of March I’m LASHing (long-ass section hiking) the Arizona Trail. The hike gives me a chance to test my gear and body before starting on the PCT. 

With the new date approved and coming fast, I moved out of Chicago a week early to visit family and train for the AZT (there are mountains in the desert). It started out great. In four days I hiked 5 miles, 10 miles, and 11 miles and felt good. Then I got sick and had to cancel prep. I’m feeling better and hope to get one more training hike in before I fly to Arizona on Feb 28th. But I’ll manage. 

I think overplanning is pointless for a thru-hike but helpful to visualize a shorter hike. It’s important to know how much food to put in my resupply boxes! Here’s my itinerary for the southern portion of the AZT.