ASCEND & WANDER

This 50 mile section hike was my second trip to the Arizona National Trail and fifth time to the state. I can say with confidence that the AZT will take you through some incredible terrain and even bring out your wild side. It was my first time traveling since covid. And despite being hesitant to follow through with this trip initially, pressing pause on the Canadian winter to mosey through the desert sparked a newfound sense of freedom and gratitude again. Dare I say I have already started planning my next section hike on this trail. When that will be, I am not sure, but as Schwarzenegger says: "I'll be back." Day 1 I left a rental car at the small town of Roosevelt (population of 28 people!) dark and early in the morning. A local trail builder generously offered to shuttle me from the northern end of this section to my southern starting point, just outside the town of Superior. To SH: Thanks again for supporting my hike!! Roosevelt Lake is a massive reservoir from the S...

  Mount Ozzard is actually a cool little hike away from the hustle of Tofino and more fun in winter since the route just follows an old road. We were breaking trail through snow (until we saw a skin track...lol). There is a radar station at the top, run by the Canada Coast Guard, so those federal guys must have had some fun recently... no judgement from my end. If I was posted up there, and the zone actually had decent snow, I would bring along my skis also. Access is along the road to Port Albion. It appeared to be maintained, but I have next to zero faith in my little car's ability to handle snow covered FSRs, so we walked it. Hard to complain during sunny days on the west coast this time of year. The road to Port Albion  Our trip was right during the Coastal BC cold snap. People were still braving the surf though.  Unknown to me and not appearing on gaia were these mountain bike trails. We crossed paths with 1 other group and followed their route on the way back down....

To speed up loading times with all the photos, I made a separate post for the first 5 days, which was the section leaving Moshi and circumnavigating Kilimanjro  https://www.ascendandwander.ca/2020/01/cycle-tanzania-part-1-kilimanjaro.html Day 6. Olpopongi to Arusha Leaving Kilimanjaro behind was bitter sweet. I had been in Africa for about 2 weeks to this point and the majority of my time had been spent in the vicinity of the National Park or the surrounding communities. I was stoked to explore more of Tanzania. Our objective today was planned to end just outside the big city of Arusha. The Ngasurai plains serve as a migratory path for wildlife moving to and from Amboseli National Park in Kenya. We were fortunate to see giraffes and gazelles up close, in addition to zebras and ostriches from a distance. The wildlife corridor was incredible and if I could do one section over again it would definitely be the west Kilimanjaro plains. Google maps isn’t reliable for thi...