HikeArizona.COM

Hi,

I'm a very experience hiker who will backpack solo S>N starting mid-March, and based on reading this fine site's info and other online resources like the main AZT site, it seems like I'd be fine buying the $10 iphone app for the AZT plus maybe downloading the various passage color map PDFs ahead of time onto my phone. I'll carry a spare battery for my phone too, and won't use the phone for much else other than brief calls.

Any reason this strategy would NOT work? I especially interested in hearing from those of you who have hiked all or part of the AZT previously. Thanks in advance.

~ Michael

I took about 11 months to section hiked the AZT starting late November 2014 to late October 2015. I used the tracks and waypoints supplied by the ATA to its members, on my handheld GPSr, along with the data sheet and water report. The Guthook app is like using the tracks and waypoints along with some of the information on the data sheet. I would suggest the datasheet and water report to supplement the app.

I would also study the topo maps (I have a copy of National Geographic's AZ maps (no longer available)) pertinent to each section before I started it. With the GPSr and pre-study, I don't think paper maps are necessary but I've lived in AZ for 34 years and am fairly familiar with it. The paper maps are not detailed enough to where they would have helped me when I was confused on trail though there were many times when I was happy to have the tracks on the GPSr.

Some people worry about failure of an electronic device, but I don't. I did have one problem where the tracks and waypoints weren't being displayed on my handlheld for the section from Picket Post to Roosevelt Lake. I was able to get the data from the ATA website early in my hike onto my phone and manually enter it into the GPSr as needed.

I used Guthooks and a Datasheet I created with the miles going from north to south. worked great. My phone would last 4 days in airplane mode. I took a solar panel and it kept it 100% all of the time anyway.

Thanks for your detailed replies. I am a little confused about the Guthooks reference you each make -- when I go to their site, I see no reference to anything about the Arizona Trail. What are you two referring to?
~ Michael

The app is produced by High Sierra Attitude. http://www.sierraattit...

Ahh, I see. "Guthooks" is the same $10 iphone app I was referring to in the original post. That's reassuring. Thanks.
~ Michael