Arizona Trail Thru-hike

Although I don't talk about my hobby of hiking here all that often, it is still one of my favorite things to do, especially in the American west and southwest, which I consider my true home (as opposed to the upper Midwest where work has me living.  Not that I'm not happy enough living where I live, but I don't get out and hike very many weekends in Michigan or Ohio, needless to say, when it's the deserts and mountains of the Rockies and the Colorado Plateau that I love.)

Here's a long-distance hike that's maybe a bit more doable for someone like me that can't afford to take half the year off to do one of the "big" hikes of the Triple Crown; the Arizona Trail.  At 800 miles, it's only a third the length of the Pacific Crest Trail or the Continental Divide Trail, although it offers a very similar experience to the first third of either of those, in many ways.  Plus, taking a 6-8 week sabbatical from work is a more doable option than a six month sabbatical, I think (not that I've done any investigation whatsoever into what's required for either.  I just know that 6-8 weeks of unpaid leave is more affordable than six months of it.)

Chris Berry, or @hikerslim, is the guy hiking this YouTube compilation of the trail.  I really like how he's by himself.  To so many hikers, getting into the "hiking community" and moving as a group seems to be part of the experience; I don't like that.  If I take a group of friends and family with me, that's one thing, but otherwise, I don't want to meet up with people that I only know by their trail names and we travel together.  If this is a true solo hiking experience, it's already much more appealing than even the CDT or PCT, and certainly much more appealing than the AT.

He seems like a nice guy.  Much of his commentary is fairly mundane, even banal, but he says it with a smile and a mild attitude that reminds me of a slightly hippier version of Bob Ross or Mr. Rogers.  It's a relatively enjoyable experience to hear him talk about how clear he expects the water in an upcoming stock tank to be compared to the stream he just filled up in, or giving oddly precise mileage counters as he obsesses over the starts and stops of the "passages" as defined by the Arizona Trail Association.  Very relaxing.  Pleasant fella.  I do laugh a bit at his constant discussion about passage starts and stops, which in most respects are somewhat arbitrary anyway.  Unless you're stopping for a night in town, or a resupply, then crossing a passage boundary means very little, after all.

Of course, I've probably ruined the experience—because his videos don't have a musical soundtrack; just his talking (plus the occasional bird call or wind noise, although his gear does a good job of keeping that down) I've gotten to playing background music on my own with Windows Media Player, and the experience is somewhat less relaxing, needless to say, when you've got face-melting acid techno like "Mad Cows on Acid" or "Acid Air Raid" playing in the background.  Oh, well.  Why not?  He doesn't really say anything except whether or not he's stopping for water or not, whether or not he's stopping to make camp or not, and whether or not he's passing the end of the passage or not.  You can get that without the audio from context, for the most part.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoxRGRZrEckxAg05-MansFK7RbFZ0c8W3

As an aside, if I ever do hike the Arizona Trail, and make a video diary of it, I will almost certainly avoid the hiker video cliches of recording my feet from directly above; a view that consistently gives me a headache to try and watch, and I'll probably actually stop and talk, rather than hold out my camera or phone and record myself walking.  I also doubt that I'll put my phone down on a mini tripod and take a video of myself walking past it, because then I'll just have to go back, get the phone, and trim that out anyway.  I tend to think; who really wants to look at me, anyway?