CDT: Arizona Springtime

Feels like spring! Warming up, flowers are blooming, birds are chirping, allergies are kicking in, and the first grizzly bear sighting in Yellowstone. Another sign of spring is baseball spring training so managed to catch a few games in Scottsdale.

Had a nice training hike a few weeks ago with Will and Roadrunner, a couple I hiked with on the PCT. They started their AT hike the first of the month just as a cold front and snow hit Georgia. Happy trails and stay warm!

Helping another fellow PCT hiker, Prophet, next week as he starts the AZT, my first and one of my favorite long-distance hike. Arizona has been unseasonably warm so far this year but that can change fast.

Still too early to predict how the Colorado snowpack will affect my planned mid-June start date on the CDT.

Looking at my gear list for the trail, not a lot of changes. However, my old Leki Super Makalu poles had seen better days. I have replaced the tips many times but some serious damage on last year’s hike, 1) marmots ate and chewed through my cork handles on one crazy night north of Stony Pass, and 2) one pole was seriously twisted and bent after deep postholing in one of the Connejos Creek forks. So Mrs. Haze got me some Leki Carbon Ti poles for Xmas – now that’s a trail angel!