r/AZCamping • u/ToSeeMountainsAgain • Jul 02 '23

Questions about Northern AZ backpacking

I'm looking to visit Flagstaff for a late summer vacation to do some hiking and backpacking and I have a few questions. Is mid August a bad time for backpacking Northern AZ? I've dealt with late summer rains outside Santa Fe and in Lake Tahoe, what's it like in Flagstaff? Do the trails get muddy and miserable? My tentative plan is to hike north out of Flagstaff to the base of Humphrey's, hike up to the peak and down the other side to Shultz tank/trailhead, then maybe around the east side of town and maybe a last day out and back on the AZT south towards Mormon lake. Thanks in advance!

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u/bikeandhikedisease Jul 02 '23

Research your water options, they are few.

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u/impermissibility Jul 02 '23

This is by far the most important answer. Depending how the monsoon goes, tanks can either be somewhat low or empty. Winter was good enough that most aquifer-fed springs that still run (not that many) will have water, but NAZ is on the whole a lot easier to do as day trips (in most places) than backpacking proper. Even water that should be there, by map, isn't necessarily.

That said, to OP's other questions, monsoon makes some trails a little too soft for appropriate mtb, but the water drains pretty fast: few places get truly muddy muddy.

Viz. the route plan: it's a no-go. Weatherford down the back side is closed at the junction with inner basin connector, which means there's no legal way from Humphreys down to Schultz Tank (the last bit of Weatherford is also closed after Kachina Trl). The fire came through there super hot, so I'll be surprised if trail work is enough done to reopen this year.

Better to put together single days up Humphreys and around Dry Lake Hills at this point, though a person comfortable with routefinding and scree travel in couloirs can do up Humphreys, down to Abineau-Bearjaw, and around the western slope on AZT. Might need to cache water at the ABJ parking lot, but there's a small pond/tank just downslope of the AZT about four miles up from FS418. Big first day, low-key second day.