David Baker hikes the AZT

I joined Brenda, Steve, Paul, Cliff and a few other club hikers at the city library to listen to Dave Baker, owner of Tucson’s Summit Hut outfitters talk about his spring hike across the Arizona Trail.

The conference room was crowded. Most of the audience was in their 60s and 70s. They weren’t interested in hiking the AZT, they just wanted to hear his story of the trails. I recognized a few Master Gardeners. A Bisbee High School coach was also in the audience.

Tall, thin and mid 50-ish, sporting a graying goatee and thinning hair, Dave looked like a life-long athlete. He started hiking when he was 15 and has always loved the outdoors.

The 800-mile long AZT is a fairly recent long trail, and not a very used trail. The big problem for hikers is finding reliable water sources. Cows were his biggest concern as far as animals go, and there were stretches where he didn’t see another person for four days.

The southern terminus is just ten miles away from our house. The trail toward Tucson would be an adventure alone, across the Huachucas, the Cienega Hills, Santa Ritas and the Catalinas. I've hiked a good portion of this stretch in small sections, but to do the whole thing would be a challenge. The solitude would perhaps get to me.

He finished half the hike by himself, with his partner dropping out midway. When he got to the Utah border in late May, he felt anticlimactic and sat by the border for a few hours before getting up to walk back to the trailhead for his pick-up. The hike took him 55 days. He had 17 “Zero” days, 12 when his mother-in-law died in mid April. He averaged 20 miles a day.

He took a few Questions after his slide show, but he couldn’t tell me how much the trip cost him. The hotels, restaurant meals, gas for the driving around and resupplying surely added up. But he claimed he had no clue.

I would have liked to have asked him more questions, like what was THE most memorable moment on the AZT? The most scary? The biggest surprise? The biggest disappointment? What was his most used piece of equipment?

Despite the breathtaking scenery, I’m not sure I’d want to trek through the AZT. Perhaps with some training I would consider hiking it with Brenda. She’s the closest to my age, is very fit, and always upbeat. I’d have to train hard, do long hikes with backpacks, and leave the dogs at home with Kevin and just dedicate myself to training hard for a few months beforehand.

“Are you thinking about hiking the AZT” I asked her.
“Sure, we can start training for it in March!”
Then, on my way home I realized I couldn’t do the trail: I have college courses to complete, and in May the baby’s due. And my chronic backpain is really starting to become truly chronic.
Maybe I'll have to bite the bullet and start taking my prescribed Celebrex again.

http://summithut.com/pages/aztrail-log/start/