How to hike from Mexico to Utah
The state still has some of that heritage. Utah also has a route to Mexico and vice versa.
The 800-mile Arizona Trail begins south of Tucson at the Mexican border. It meanders a little to the northwest, past Phoenix, through the Grand Canyon ending at the Utah state line near the Paria Canyon/Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness Area.
The trail sounds daunting, but Mary Kwart, 60, , of Ashland, Ore., recently finished hiking it. According to the Ashland Daily Tidings, Kwart hiked it in two spurts: 130 miles over 12 days in March 2011 then she finished the trail in 62 days in March through May of this year.
From the article:
Kwart prepares for her grueling hikes by walking the treadmill at the Ashland Family YMCA. While people nearby are stepping leisurely enough on the rotating belts to flip through magazines, Kwart is hoofing it at a 3-mile-per-hour pace and on a 9-degree incline. Oh, and she's bearing a 30-pound pack.
I wonder if anyone has tried extending the trail through Utah. Would you like to see a trail connecting Arizona to Idaho? What about an Interior West version of the Pacific Crest Trail connecting Mexico to Canada?
— Nate Carlisle
Twitter: @UtahHikes
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