The AZT changed at Pine, the start of the northern part of the trail. The trail climbed from Pine to the Mogollon Plateau and became almost level with gradual or short ascents with forests and shade! The anticipation of heading into Flagstaff and then hiking through the Grand Canyon becomes more and more exciting each minute walking north.
After Pine, there were more opportunities to camp under trees and pine needles instead of on rocks and dirt. Rocks and dirt are the norms on the AZT, and after Snow Bowl heading north, there is a seemingly endless stretch of exposed reasonably level ground that is Arizona Trust Land. Doing miles is the best way to cross exposed areas.
The ecosystem gradually became a forest after passing through the Arizona Trust Land. I love hiking in the mornings, even though it is often cold in the northern part of the trail. The bird songs are so varied and sharp. I always see more animals early in the morning. On the way to the Grand Canyon, I saw my first antelope on the trail.
Sunrises and sunsets all along the trail are like watercolors. Seeing them live and change as the sun rose or set was magical. I could have taken a picture of every sunrise and sunset and been blown away.
Unfortunately, burn areas from wildfires are a regular occurrence, and the AZT has many. Wildfires transform an exposed trail into a more exposed trail. Seeing towering burned black Saguaro cactus hulks is unsettling and depressing, considering Saguaro live for up to 250 years, take 75 years until they create branches, and are integral parts of the ecosystem that birds use to make burrows for nests.
Burn sections on the trail ranged from a few hundred yards to miles long. Sometimes the fire damage seemed superficial, with just partial black burn scars on living tree trunks but were mostly black tree stumps, cacti, and scrub brush along the trail.
I am no stranger to hiking through wildfire areas; however, when the wildfires kill vegetation hundreds of years old or are so hot that mother nature cannot recover even after decades, or when caused by humans, those hikes depress me. I skipped a section because I would have walked through blackened Saguaros.
