Two long-distance hikers pushing for Flagstaff got a surprise wildlife sighting on their final stretch of the Arizona Trail — and it wasn't the mountain lions they first thought. As dusk fell on a roughly 35-mile day, one hiker's trail companion stopped dead, pointing at eyes glinting in the trees. What looked like one animal turned out to be two: a small bear cub at the base of a pine trunk and its mother perched improbably on a thin branch high above. The pair wisely gave the family space, detouring off the trail before continuing to the trailhead.
The encounter capped a demanding day on the section between the Grand Canyon's South Rim and Flagstaff, roughly 189 miles into the 800-mile route. Morning broke over fields of small white wildflowers with snow-capped Mount Humphreys on the horizon, before the trail dipped into soft, needle-strewn pine forest — easy, flat walking. Along the way they passed a trailside bear box stocked with water gallons for hikers and mountain bikers, chatted with hunters whose friendly dogs came bounding over, and counted around 20 mountain bikers rolling past on a busy Saturday near Flagstaff, which the writer likens to Denver's role in Colorado.
The real drama of the day, though, was hunger. A misjudged resupply left one hiker down to about five snack bars with two days still to walk, relying on handouts from a trail friend. A late breakfast of oatmeal and hot chocolate cooked on a log helped, but by mid-afternoon the appeal of town food — a proper filling meal, plus a night to charge cameras, headlamps and slow battery banks — made a same-day push the obvious call.
The scenery earned the effort. The trail traded open grasslands and distant blue mountains for stands of aspens glowing bright yellow, the forest floor scattered with what the writer calls nature's own confetti. The red clay approach to the trailhead came with a looming rock formation, then the bear sighting, then a gas station rendezvous and pizza night at a friend's Flagstaff house — a rare repeat visit on a thru-hike, and apparently worth savouring.
For anyone eyeing the Arizona Trail, this stretch sums up its appeal: varied terrain, reliable water caches, easy grades through pine and aspen, and a genuinely likeable gateway city at the end. Just pack more food than you think you need, and remember that a cub in a tree usually means a very large mother somewhere above it.
