Buck30 - Other Trail Journal - 2026

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I love this route pic with the crazy elevation profile

SKIT Planning Notes and Hike Summary

Overall

The SKIT is a great route, more than most I feel like you really have to
want this one. It's not easy, but it's very rewarding. It also has the best
route "picture" of any trail which I find hard to look at and not want to
hike (as in, take a look at the route zoomed out, that almost loop
corkscrew kinda shape just looks amazing). And then there's something about
10 Sky Islands and 9 deserts in between, it's just an epic concept from
Blisterfree.

There was a bit of a jucxtaposition of the Sky Islands for me. They are these
mythical beings out in the landscape, but at times I felt as if the Sky Islands were
a little less impressive than my mind had imagined. Fires have really done a
number on them in the last 20 years and also they can be more dry scrub brush
and trees than lush forest and a handful of them were lower than I had imagined.

But I did think the overall route was really excellent, there was
something about the 10 Sky Islands, 9 deserts in between, the terrain, the
difficulty, water availability, flora, fauna, resupply, the whole thing
just comes together to make a great route in my opinion.

Difficulty

Overall the SKIT is a very difficult route. But there is some nuance here.
About 130 miles overlap with the AZT whose trail is in immaculate shape
(although you cover the biggest climbs of the entire AZT - Mica and Lemmon,
so it's not as easy as it could be). The SKIT also overlaps with the GET
for about 60 miles which I thought would be easier (stupid me!), but the
GET through the Santa Teresa's are some of the hardest GET miles. And then
the first 70 miles starting in the Dragoon's and crossing the San Pedro
Riparian Conservation Area is pretty easy overall too. So this seems easy
to me, but it sure didn't feel like it. Granted, I wasn't in hiking shape
yet and I had a 10 day cold to start which really hurt.

The real difficulty of the SKIT comes when you leave the AZT in Summerhaven
around mile 240, it's an absolute gauntlet of Sky Island brutality starting
in the Galiuro's and basically to the finish. This is where the really hard
miles are and if you don't know how to navigate, make good route decisions,
manage your water, push through catclaw, manage the heat possibly, then
you'll be in trouble.

I'm not sure how else to explain it. It's one of those hikes where you do
have a bunch of easy dirt road miles or you are on the easier AZT and then
you've got miles of XC or tough trail that are just really hard and
basically "expert" level as far as hiking goes. There's a reason barely
anyone has finished the SKIT.

Maybe another way to put it since I can't quite put it in words, both
Dirtmonger and Chance have finished the SKIT and consider this a very
difficult hike and you don't get much harder core hiker than them. To quote
Dirt, "Excellent navigation skills are a must and a need to be a little bit
of a glutton for punishment is a must".

Number of Days

It took me 36 days and it took Purple Haze 36 days over 2 seasons.
Dirtmonger did it in like 3 weeks so there's a wide range! Chance also did
it probably around 25 days or so. At my old age of 50, I doubt I could have
done it any faster.

Resources

Brett's website is the place to find the SKIT, but he's taken his materials
down as the route went a bit defunct the last few years (due to a private
property issue and some fires). One of my goals of my hike was to help
Brett resurrect the SKIT a bit. I don't want to overstate my role here,
Brett did all the hard work of identifying problem areas and mapping me
possible alternates. I just had to walk it! But I felt uniquely motivated
this hike to add a bit more value than normal. So hopefully in 2027 there
might be a grand reopening of the SKIT! Maybe. For now here's how I see the
resources:

If you've hiked other Brett Tucker Routes you probably can get your hands
on the resources which basically consist of a GPS track, waypoints, map set
and a kinda data book. But it's not like the usual #btr resources. The GPS
track and waypoints went through some unknown data issues since Brett's
hike and are not very accurate. The GPS track is mostly straight lines, I
went through and remapped the whole thing by mostly snapping to the tracks
on the OSM (Topo) map layer in Caltopo. And then like half the waypoints
were up to 0.2 miles off place. Very weird. This is an important concept, Brett's routes all have a ground truthed perfectly accurate gps track. The SKIT does not!!

There's also a basic databook that I didn't use at all (except just noting where Brett found water).
You'll see what I mean.

The hope here is that Brett will take my recorded watch tracks and will
have a more typical #btr gold standard resource. It might be a little less
Gold than usual since I wasn't always on the correct routing so it won't be
perfect but I'm sure I was mostly on like 97% of the time so it should be
pretty good and I'm sure Brett will adjust for my errors.

Beyond that the other key will be creating a water chart. I hope to do that
later this year which Brett will then incorporate into his materials.

There's not a lot else out there. 3 of the finishers basically documented
nothing. Dirtmonger has a high level summary here, but this isn't really
going to help you on your hike:

https://www.freedirtmonger.com/2016/04/sky-island-traverse.html?m=1

Chance and One Gallon have nothing. A guy did most of the SKIT in 2020 (as
his first thru-hike!) and posted a nice summary to Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Ultralight/comments/ij3y4d/march_2020_sky_islands_traverse_abridged/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

And then Purple Haze has a helpful daily blog:

https://purplehazehikes.com/skit-epilogue/

This is basically everything.

Terrain

I don't know hard numbers but it's a mix of old trails, rocky or sandy
washes and dirt roads. The one noticable absence is a significant amount of
cross-country (XC) although there is some. The trails are generally Grand
Enchantment Trail like which is to say not in great condition, but hey,
it's still nice to have trails. The occasional XC in a Sky Island can be
very rough going. There's almost no pavement. Check out my other entry with
a Trail Conditions update.

Reroutes

As the SKIT is resurrected, Brett is most likely making some route changes.
Most notable this is in the last 2 ranges, the Dos Cabezas and
Chiricahua's. The northern half of the Dos Cabezas has a difficult land
owner that past hikers have had run-ins with. And then in the Chiricahua's
a couple sections have been so destroyed by fire or flash floods that I
took a couple alternates that worked out really well. Stay tuned for
updated route materials most likely.

Water

Overall there is a good amount of water on the SKIT. What's lacking is good
documentation of this. There's really only 2 hikers who had somewhat
documented water. Brett on his 2010 hike and Purple Haze on his 2021/2022
hike. But both of these years were extremely wet and there was a ton of
water. Their observations were not super useful for me given that my hike
was during a below average water year (it was a very low snow year). But
even in a below average water year there was still plenty of water, I just
struggled to know where. One benefit are the miles you overlap with the AZT
which has updated reports on FarOut and the GET where usually a hiker has
updated the water chart or you'll at least have a lot of historical
reporting for those miles.

I plan to put together a water chart later this year. I think my
observations will set a solid baseline for the minimum amount of water a
hiker can expect to find in most years except real drought. The only
exception would be all the cattle tanks as these can get turned on of off
at random.

Season/Weather

Most have hiked the SKIT in the spring although I don't see why a Fall hike
couldn't happen. There's a fine line to thread in the Spring. Too early and
you'll be trudging through snow in the high mountains and too late you'll
be baking in the valley crossings (and some of the lower Sky Islands). Your
start date will depend on the snow year and how much snow you care to walk
through. I feel like a mid-March start would be a typical start date. I
started on the late side (March 30) in a low snow year and ironically the 2
weeks before that were a brutally hot heat wave that I missed. And then my
hike was pretty reasonable. No snow and my high temps were mid-80s in the
valleys. I'd say the hottest weather felt worse in the lower Sky Islands
rather than valleys that were even lower. In the valleys I wasn't really
working that hard so 88 degrees isn't really that bad. But in the Galiuro's
at like 5k or 6k, 80 degrees feels way hotter when I was working way
harder. I had 1 day of rain which came overnight for 7 hours. A spring
storm isn't all that unusual, I'd say my weather was probably better than
average.

I feel like a Fall hike could be nice. No remnant snowpack to deal with and
maybe you could catch cooler temps for most of the hike. The risk would be
early snow storms, I don't have a good date to recommend, but reading the
excellent GET webpage on seasons I think would be pretty relevant for the
SKIT too:

https://simblissity.net/get/planner-itinerary.shtml

Resupply

Check out my other journal entry with detail resupply info. Overall I found
resupply for food (or a couple places to send a box) to be totally fine,
but good lodging was lacking. I put in effort to get into Tucson (Uber) and
Safford (tough hitch) in order to have decent lodging and a nice zero.
Otherwise there were barely any towns where I'd really want to zero.
Generally speaking the SW trails are not known for having great towns so
you get what you get.

Maps/GPS/Navigation

I think I mostly covered this in the Resources section. Stay tuned for a
better GPX file release maybe in 2027. Maybe, I shouldn't be committing
Brett to anything!

I will mention that you need to know how to read a map. It's a tough route
and there are a number of places where you have to choose your own lines.
If you can't read a map you aren't going to know what to do. There is no
red line to follow on FarOut on the SKIT.

If you don't carry paper maps (I don't anymore) then you should have a
backup GPS device to your phone. Like a 2nd phone, handheld Garmin or I use
my Garmin Fenix watch which has maps/tracks on it. Breaking your phone on
the SKIT with no backup is not a good idea, ain't no one gonna find you for
a long time in a lot of sections.

Camping

You can basically camp anywhere on the SKIT. Of course anywhere might be
covered in rocks. Wind was primarily my issue. There are very few
restrictions, only Saguaro National Park on the AZT comes to mind as a
major restriction. Also the Chiricahua National Monument but this is maybe
10 miles and easy to clear in a day.

Dangers

I can't think of anything in particular for an experienced hiker. I saw 2
rattlesnakes the entire trip and no bears, not that these are necessarily
super dangerous. If you know how to read a map and manage your water you
should be fine. This is a good trail to have an Inreach, if anything
happens, ain't no one going to come find you in a lot of sections!

Gear

If you are out here then you know your gear so I won't say much.

My pants were important. I can only imagine my legs if I wasn't wearing
them. The catclaw and mesquite is the worst of any trail I've ever hiked,
by far and away. The catclaw is infamous on the SKIT.

You might want to wear gaiters. Dirty Girls will be shredded, I'd highly
recommend the Leva gaiters from Blisterfree. These are very light but much
more rugged. For some reason I didn't bring mine and regretted it, I got a
lot of stuff in my shoes.

I got no holes in my Neoair. Mostly you shouldn't have a problem with a
Neoair, it's not like there are cactus balls everywhere. It's more likely
the rocks and gravel you will sometimes be camping on will cause problems.

I brought my silver umbrella for the heat/valleys, but barely used it. It
never got too hot really and I find I only use it when I really need it
since it's not super comfortable in hands free mode. But when I need it, I
really need it. I just didn't this hike, I used it a couple times.

The rocks chewed up my shoe soles pretty good. By the end the tread was
really shot on my Vibram soles, very flat tread. Definitely wore faster
than a normal hike. I assume your Altras will be ripped open by catclaw on
day 2.

Wildlife

I didn't see a ton, but I never do. The highlight was a great spotting of a
Gila Monster. Also tons of turkeys. Lots of deer. A coyote and a fox. Some
good birds. A javelina. Lots of cows.

Bugs

Mostly I had no bugs and then occasionally the gnats were awful,
particularly in the Galiuro's and Santa Teresa's. Brett was on the AZT 2-4
weeks earlier than me and the gnats sounded much worse. I wore my headnet
for a few hours in total over maybe 4 times. I could have survived without
it, but I had it and it was helpful. I don't think DEET would have helped
at all. I only saw a few mosquitoes.

Cell Service

I had a decent amount of cell service which was not surprising. Certainly
almost everyday. Not all the time, but fairly common. I have Verizon
(Visible on the Verizon network) but I think ATT would be similar. I think
in the Galiuro's I went maybe 2 days without service, that was the longest
which isn't very long.

Permits

Apparently technically you are supposed to have some $ 2 permit to camp in
the San Pedro Riparian Conservation Area, but I doubt anyone ever gets this
and I have no idea how you would actually get it.

You need a permit to camp in Saguaro National Park unless you do about 20
miles across the whole park in a day which is over 6,000' of elevation
gain. But as an AZT hiker it's super easy. Just pay your $ 8 fee at rec.gov
and you get a 2 week window to camp at the site you chose. Super flexible.
Technically you also need to pay an entrance fee, but I rarely if ever see
or hear this being enforced.

I think that's it.

Other Hikers

There are certainly no other SKIT hikers out there. You will see AZT hikers
and you might run across a GET hiker although this is less likely (but
possible). I never saw a backpacker other than on the AZT. And then some
day hikers in the Chiricahua National Monument.

How to Get to the Start and Finish

Getting to the start in the Dragoon's is pretty easy. Fly into Tucson and
get an Uber the 75 miles. It might take you a few Uber tries. My ride was
so cheap, like $ 80 (although this might have been abnormally low, I feel
like it was normally about $ 100) that any smart driver would turn it down.
What happens is they immediately accept the ride and then at some point
before they show up they realize how far it is and how little it pays
(given they won't be getting a fare back) and they will cancel the ride.
But eventually a driver who isn't paying attention or just likes long quiet
rides will come. There are a ton of Uber drivers in Tucson. If you need a
fuel canister there is a Walmart about 5 miles from the airport although
they only have the 8 ounce medium size canisters. There's an REI much
further away.

Finishing in Portal is much harder, this is quite remote although it's a
popular area with birders so there are people. Basically you need to hitch
about 7 miles east out to Highway 80 and then 28 miles north to I-10 (don't
be fooled by Google maps, Foothills Rd from Portal is dirt and no one goes
this way to I-10). From I-10 it's then 130 miles west to Tucson or 17 miles
east to the CDT trail town of Lordsburg from where you can get a Greyhound
to Tucson or El Paso for an airport. I'd ask your ride where they are going
and make sure you just don't get dropped off somewhere random on I-10. I'd
turn down any ride that wasn't taking me somewhere I wanted to go. I was
open to either direction and my ride was going to Texas so I took a ride to
Lordsburg, got a motel there and then took the Greyhound to Tucson the next
day for my flight out.

That's it, if you've made it this far and have any additional questions
feel free to email me at briantanzman@gmail.com.

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