AZT Day 1 – Southern Terminus

Southern Terminus to Bushcamp

21 miles (1.8 miles to southern terminus)

Mile 19.2

Half past five in the morning I set off from Glendale with my dad, heading south towards the border. A bit after 9:00 AM we reached the car park at Montezuma Pass. There’s no car access to where the AZT begins at the southern terminus, so if you want to tag the monument you’ve got to hike 1.8 miles down to it.

It was an easy downhill hike to the monument. Obligatory pictures taken, my dad and I made the climb back up to the car park.

Back at the parking lot I signed the trail register, said farewell to pops and hit the trail.

From the parking lot it took about an hour and a half for me to reach the top of the climb, which is about when I entered Miller Peak Wilderness.

At a bit over 9,000 ft., there was a good amount of snow lingering from the latest storm.

Mmm…green bath water.

I spent the next few hours following the snow covered crest trail along the top of the mountain range.

As I began to descend the snow seemed to letup at around 8000 ft, allowing me to pickup my pace.

All the creeks I passed were flowing well from the melting snow. Hopefully this continues to be the case…

I stopped for the night by an old windmill and cattle tank. It took some maneuvering to find enough cattle poo free ground to pitch my ground, but I made it work. I passed five other thru hikers today, which came as a surprise since I saw pretty much no one when I hiked a 400 mile section last February. I guess this is the year for the AZT!

Cheers!

P.s. Thanks dad for shuttling me down to the trail! I sure enjoyed getting to hike the first few miles with you!