Arizona man hikes 800-mile trail to honor Arizona Trail pioneer

An Arizona man’s 800-mile hike is turning the Arizona Trail itself into the main character, a cross-state route built for the kind of endurance test that defines Southwest adventure travel. The trek honors Dale Shewalter, the trail pioneer whose early vision helped shape one of the region’s most iconic long-distance journeys.

The Arizona Trail runs from the U.S.-Mexico border to Utah, crossing the full length of the state through desert, mountains, canyons and forests. The Arizona Trail Association says the route also connects history, communities and diverse peoples, which helps explain why finishing it has become a rite of passage for thru-hikers and other endurance athletes. The trail is divided into 43 passages, a structure that makes the full route a single expedition and a sampler of shorter trips at the same time.

Shewalter imagined a cross-state trail in the 1970s, and in 1985, while working as a Flagstaff schoolteacher, he walked from Nogales to the Utah state line to test whether the idea could work. A historical marker says he walked from Nogales to Fredonia that year to begin mapping the initial alignment. That early effort set the project in motion long before the trail became the continuous route hikers know today.

The U.S. Forest Service says Congress designated the Arizona Trail a National Scenic Trail in 2009, and the final links were completed in 2011. Even now, the agency says some segments still need improvement and maintenance, and future reroutes may be needed in places. That ongoing work is part of the trail’s story, not a footnote.

The route is managed for hiking, bicycling and pack-and-saddle stock use, with cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and trail running also accommodated. The Arizona Trail Association’s finishers list reflects that range, including thru-hikers, speed record runners, yo-yo hikers, horseback riders and mountain bikers. For travelers who never plan to walk all 800 miles, the passage system makes it possible to experience the trail in sections, with maps, profiles, tracks and waypoints built around each stretch.

That is what makes the tribute hike resonate beyond a single personal challenge. Shewalter helped imagine the line; the Arizona Trail now carries his legacy across 800 miles of public land, and every passage still asks for the kind of stewardship that turned a dream into a National Scenic Trail.