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The cliffs of the Superstition Mountains lit gold, with houses along their foot
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Arizona Trail Race route maps and guide

Two self-supported mountain bike races north from the Mexican border on the Arizona Trail: 300 miles to Picketpost, or the 800 with your bike on your back in the Grand Canyon.

October 1 to 15, 2026 Mexican border to Flagstaff, Arizona

The Arizona Trail Race is two races on the Arizona National Scenic Trail, ridden from the same start camp on Forest Road 4726, about 2 miles north of border monument 103 on the Mexican line. The AZT300 ends at Picketpost Trailhead outside Superior. The AZT800 usually runs all the way to Utah, with the bike carried across the Grand Canyon, but in 2026 it finishes in Flagstaff because the North Kaibab Trail is closed. The map shows the 2026 routes.

There's no entry fee and nothing to win. Nobody staffs the route: there are no checkpoints or officials, and the organizer has no way to reach you once you're riding. The cue sheet goes thin wherever the route is on the trail itself, so you'll follow a GPS track. Download the map before the start, and your phone shows you on the line with no signal.

This is an unofficial guide: Goat Maps isn't affiliated with Arizona Trail Race. Check the official site before you enter or race.

AZTR course map

Every course on the Goat Maps topo map, from start to finish. Each course has a map of its own further down.

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AZTR courses

CourseDistanceClimbingStartTime limit
AZT800853.6 mi (1374 km)Thu, Oct 1, 6:00 AM
AZT300305.1 mi (491 km)Thu, Oct 15, 6:00 AM

AZTR AZT800

In 2026, the border to the Grand Canyon and back to Flagstaff, with the bike on your back below the rim.

Distance
853.6 mi (1374 km)
Start
Thu, Oct 1, 6:00 AM

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The 800 follows the 300 as far as Picketpost, except on Mount Lemmon, where you skip the paved climb and stay on trail over Bug Spring, Green Mountain, Incinerator Ridge and Kellogg to Mount Bigelow. North of Picketpost it skirts the Superstition Wilderness on jeep roads, climbs the Four Peaks road to the Mazatzal Divide, and reaches Payson on a new 2026 route from Rye that takes you off AZ 87. Then it's Pine, the Mogollon Rim, Flagstaff and the Coconino Rim into Tusayan. You can't camp between about mile 606 at Fisher Point and mile 642 at Snowbowl Road.

At the South Kaibab Trailhead you take the bike apart and strap it to your pack. In 2026 you hike down the South Kaibab to the Tipoff, along the Tonto Trail and up the Bright Angel, then rebuild the bike on the South Rim and ride south across Babbitt Ranch. Below Humphreys Peak you can leave the bike at the wilderness boundary and hike to Arizona's high point, 12,633 feet. The summit is optional, and the results list who went up separately. You finish at the Dale Shewalter sign in Flagstaff's Buffalo Park. In a normal year the carry is 21 miles rim to rim and the race ends at Stateline Campground on the Utah line.

The Ooh Aah Point sign above the Grand Canyon, with red cliffs and buttes beyond
Trevor Minett / Unsplash

AZTR AZT300

The border to Picketpost Trailhead near Superior on rocky, mostly singletrack trail.

Distance
305.1 mi (491 km)
Start
Thu, Oct 15, 6:00 AM

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Download its map in Goat Maps and you can find your way without a signal.

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The 300 heads north through the Canelo Hills, where the hike-a-bike starts on day one, then past Kentucky Camp on new Santa Rita singletrack. Pavement takes you around Saguaro National Park on the east side of Tucson, almost halfway at roughly mile 120, with grocery stores and bike shops on the way. Then comes Mount Lemmon: Redington Road, singletrack to Prison Camp, and a 3,000 foot paved climb toward Summerhaven before you drop down Oracle Ridge. After Oracle the Black Hills, Antelope Peak and the Ripsey ridgeline lead to the Gila River at Kelvin and the Gila River Canyons. You finish at the trail sign at Picketpost Trailhead. The route runs between about 1,600 and 8,100 feet.

The trail crosses a private ranch at about miles 52.3 to 54.1, just before AZ 82 north of Patagonia, and it's open only from sunrise to sunset. You must be all the way through before sunset or take the legacy trail through Patagonia instead, and riders who break the rule are disqualified. Near Summerhaven, the Sunset Trail is closed Monday to Thursday until December, so use the organizer's detour on those days.

A paved mountain road with a guardrail, winding past rock outcrops near Tucson
Bill Hall / Unsplash

Entering the Grand Depart

There's no fee. A month before the start the organizer posts a Trackleaders sign-up on the announcements page; in 2026 it opened on September 1 at 11 a.m. Arizona time. The 300 and 800 share a cap of 60 riders, and both the 2024 and 2025 starts filled and went to a waitlist. Every rider is expected to give the Arizona Trail Association at least $50, since it builds and maintains the trail.

If you miss the cap, ride an individual time trial. You can start either route on any day, and if you follow the rules your time goes in that year's results. Both routes leave the trail to cross State Trust Land, so buy the $15 recreational permit online before you go.

Getting to the start and home

Riders camp the night before at the start, the junction of FS 4726 and Montezuma Canyon Road. The organizer asks drivers to come in from Sierra Vista over Montezuma Pass and to leave toward Parker Canyon Lake ahead of the riders, which keeps the dust off them. The race used to start right at border monument 103, until border wall construction closed the border road in 2025.

Superior, 4 miles east of the 300's finish on US 60, has food and a motel, and the organizer's FAQ names two shuttle services for 300 riders, Homegrown Shuttles and Finding True North. The 2026 800 finishes in Flagstaff. When the 800 ends at the Utah line, the Arizona Trail Association lists shuttles from Stateline Campground.

Self-support rules

You ride solo and carry your own gear. There's no support crew (a personal film crew counts as one), no pacers, no food or water caches you've set out, no e-bikes and no rides except to medical care. You can buy anything from businesses on the way, mail boxes ahead to post offices, and have parts shipped by a commercial carrier to a commercial address. Friends who live near the route may drop in once, briefly, near town.

A tracker isn't required, but the organizer encourages one. You can rent a SPOT through Trackleaders, and Garmin inReach devices work too. A full finish means riding 99.9% of the published track; snow detours, official closures and signed reroutes don't count against you.

Heat, cold and water

The view down from Humphreys Peak over yellow autumn trees and forested hills
Dan Shaeffer / Unsplash

October in Tucson averages a high of 86.3°F (30.2°C) and a low of 59°F (15°C). Flagstaff averages 63.6°F (17.6°C) and 31.5°F (-0.3°C). The organizer says to expect 80 to 100°F in the desert by day and the 40s at night, with nights below freezing on Mount Lemmon and, on the 800, in the high country.

The route crosses long stretches of remote, waterless country, so work out your water sources from the Arizona Trail Association's water chart and carry a filter. The public caches on the trail are there for thru-hikers: the rules let you top off but say not to rely on them, and taking water with someone's name on it gets you disqualified.

AZTR GPS coordinates

Each place on the map is here in decimal degrees, latitude first. Paste them into any map app or add them as waypoints in Goat Maps.

  • Start camp, FS 4726

    5,758 ft (1,755 m)

    31.37133, -110.33253

  • Summerhaven

    7,667 ft (2,337 m)

    32.44476, -110.76058

  • Picketpost Trailhead (AZT300 finish)

    2,392 ft (729 m)

    33.27197, -111.17627

  • Superior

    2,841 ft (866 m)

    33.29395, -111.09623

  • Payson

    4,921 ft (1,500 m)

    34.24065, -111.32303

  • Tusayan

    6,611 ft (2,015 m)

    35.97360, -112.12656

  • Humphreys Peak

    12,635 ft (3,851 m)

    35.34638, -111.67796

  • Buffalo Park, Flagstaff (2026 AZT800 finish)

    7,126 ft (2,172 m)

    35.21829, -111.63172

AZTR FAQ

When is the Arizona Trail Race 2026?

2026 has two Grand Departs, for this year only. The AZT800 left on Thursday, October 1, at 6 a.m., and the AZT300 leaves on Thursday, October 15, at 6 a.m., both from the camp north of border monument 103. In other years both routes start together on the third Thursday in October. You can also ride either one as an individual time trial on any day.

Why does the AZT800 finish in Flagstaff in 2026?

The North Kaibab Trail, the way up to the North Rim, has been closed since a flash flood in Bright Angel Canyon on August 29, 2026, and the Park Service has no date for reopening it. So, as in 2025, when the Dragon Bravo Fire closed it, the 800 turns around in the canyon and heads back south to Flagstaff. In a normal year it finishes at Stateline Campground on the Utah line.

How do you carry a bike through the Grand Canyon?

Take it apart at the South Kaibab Trailhead and strap it to your pack; most riders use a pack with a frame. The wheels can't touch the ground below the rim, and riding or rolling the bike there gets you disqualified and banned from future races. You can't sleep or nap on the trail without a backcountry campground permit, which the Backcountry Office on the South Rim gives out on a walk-up basis when there are any left.

Can you ride the Arizona Trail Race on a gravel bike?

The organizer's answer is no. The route is technical, rocky and mostly singletrack, and most riders pick a full-suspension or hardtail mountain bike. E-bikes aren't allowed, since the Arizona Trail is non-motorized.

Who won the Arizona Trail Race in 2025?

Alex Schultz won the AZT800, on the Flagstaff route with the Humphreys Peak hike, in 9 days, 10 hours and 29 minutes. Miron Golfman won the AZT300 in 2 days and 8 hours. The organizer stopped recording fastest known times in 2024, because the course changes every year.

What is the Triple Crown Challenge?

Finishing the Tour Divide, the Colorado Trail Race and the Arizona Trail Race from their Grand Departs in one calendar year. The Arizona Trail Race marks those riders in its results: eight of the 2025 AZT800 finishers did it.

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Updated . An unofficial guide, from the organizer's published information. Coordinates from the organizer's course and OpenStreetMap contributors. Photos from Unsplash. Organize a race? We help with course files.