Out There by Chris Townsend

Author:Chris Townsend
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sandstone Press Ltd
Published: 2016-03-16T16:00:00+00:00

The Arizona Trail

The desire to go for a long walk in the desert Southwest of the USA had been with me many years. Partly it was the thought of sunny days with little rain that appealed but, on a deeper level, I’d been inspired by the writings of Colin Fletcher and Edward Abbey. Mainly though, it was because the desert remained an alien place that I didn’t understand or even know how to understand. I’d walked through desert and semi-desert lands in southern California on the Pacific Crest and New Mexico on the Continental Divide, but these had been small parts of much bigger walks and I felt that, though I’d walked through the desert, I hadn’t connected with it, hadn’t felt any sort of rapport or closeness. Maybe I never would, but I felt that a walk with the desert at its heart was the most likely way to learn.

After a two-week venture into the Grand Canyon I wanted to immerse myself in a desert landscape over a period of many weeks. From the North Rim I had looked south to the hazy, distant San Francisco Peaks. Walking to those summits was an appealing idea. Then I discovered the Arizona Trail, which not only linked the Canyon and the Peaks but also traversed a series of desert mountain ranges, the Sonoran Desert and the Grand Canyon itself. Even the names on the maps were exciting, redolent of the American Southwest and hot, dusty, desert landscapes. Back then the Arizona Trail was more of an idea than an actual path, which I also found attractive as it meant a more self-contained and adventurous walk than one along a well-signed, well-built trail. Also, it mostly runs through national forests, wilderness areas and national parks where the land is fairly pristine and there are few restrictions on walking and camping.

‘Think water’. This short and pithy statement from an experienced desert hiker was the wisest advice I received before the walk. For safe desert walking it’s essential to know how far it is to the next water source, how reliable that source is and how far it is to the next one should the first one fail. Planning water supplies well in advance is the key to a successful walk. If in doubt, carry extra. Planning on collecting water in the afternoon and having a dry camp before walking to the next source in the morning proved a good way of reducing how far I had to carry, and I often walked the last few hours carrying up to eight litres. A few times where water was really scarce I carried twelve litres all day and on one 60 km plus section of open, shadeless Sonoran Desert I put out two water caches.

I don’t like knowing too much about new places I am going to walk through, preferring to learn about them when I’m there, entering with an open mind rather than preconceived views. So, although I read a little about the land,

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.