3 weekends down, one to go. We've got the run laid out up to Day 5. We'll be back up to find Day 5 trails sometime in November.
So, you want a preview?
The day 1 trail will be the same trail as day 5 on AZ Run XIII, but run in the other direction (up the 3000 ft switchbacks vs. down). From there it's all new, never before done on an AZ Run trails. Day 2 will have us sneaking down a fun trail into Camp Verde for a fuel / ice stop (our LAST one), and then going up the Great Western Trail on Mingus Mountain, down Smiley Rock, and out into the Arizona high country. Day 3 will include a couple fun little escalator type trails before heading out past Perkinsville and to Sycamore point overlooking a Canyon and Wilderness area that goes towards Sedona. Day 4 will take us up on the rim south of Williams. Day 5 will connect us back down towards Jerome. Haven't figured out the campsite for Day 5. We ran a bunch of trails yesterday morning that ende up being a wash because we were hitting locked gates trying to cross the Verde River, so a Plan B is in the works.
So for this run, everyone is going to need gas. Lots of it. 10 gallons plus a full tank from Camp Verde might be enough. For anyone pulling trailers, etc, you'll probably need more.
There are no facilities whatsoever after Tuesday morning. We'll be in BFE.
Am trying to keep the campsites under 5000 feet so we don't freeze, but we will top 7000 feet in a couple places on the run. Scenery will range from Sonoran desert to pinion / juniper covered hills to ponderosa forest to Arizona prairie. We even saw a big herd of pronghorns yesterday morning, and we saw lots of deer on last week's prerun.
I'm looking forward to this one. It's getting tougher to do all new stuff year after year, and the time commitment to the preruns is creeping upward because we're having to go a little further away to find trails, but the end will be worth it.
Stay tuned. Registration and Tshirt/sticker preorders will commence immediately after first of the year, with deadlines for Tshirt orders in mid Feb.
Stocker Joe and I need to get together on the design for the shirts. Going to one up all previous designs this time around in memory of JW.
