Grand Enchantment Trail
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Trail Info
The G.E.T. was first conceived in 2003, it is a proven, navigable route from end to end, over
770 miles in total across Arizona and New Mexico. Primarily described by map and guidebook,
the route links existing hiking trails, dirt roads, drainage courses, and occasionally runs cross-country, providing an adventurous, rewarding, and highly varied hiking experience. The G.E.T. offers a wild, scenic, diverse, yet also convenient way of discovering some of the most fascinating and little-known corners of the American Southwest.
The Grand Enchantment Trail also uses segments of the Arizona Trail and Continental Divide Trail on its way from end to end. The G.E.T traverses at least 14 distinct mountain ranges, and passes in the shadow of many more solitary peaks and cliffs. Some ranges are low and arid, but often with stark and dramatic relief, while others rise much higher where they penetrate any storm clouds, providing sufficient moisture for coniferous and aspen forests. The G.E.T. offers a wild, scenic, diverse, yet also convenient way of discovering some of the most fascinating and little-known corners of the American Southwest.
The G.E.T is the newest addition to our Wayfinder trails and is still considered a new trail itself. It is not officially recognized by the National Trail Association. The Southwest is archaeologically rich, with a staggering number of significant cultural sites located throughout the region. Among the best preserved Native American architecture to be found here is at the Gila Cliff Dwellings, in southwest New Mexico, and Salinas Pueblo Missions east of the Rio Grande.
Wildlife
In the deserts and canyons of southeast Arizona, hikers are likely to encounter pig-like javelin foraging on the pads of prickly pear, or spot a black and orange lizard, the gila monster, crawling dinosaur-like along a sandy wash. Coatimundi - looking like one part bear, one part raccoon - forage for manzanita berries in forested canyons of the Sky Island ranges, while ringtail cats scurry among desert boulders under cover of darkness. Majestic bighorn sheep mingle among the high cliffs above Eagle Creek or stroll nonchalantly across traffic in Morenci.
Farther east, in the remote Gila country of New Mexico, the endangered Mexican gray wolf roams free once more, hunting for rocky mountain elk, mule deer and gray fox among the ponderosas and pinyon pines. Black bear and cougar live here as well; campers have an excellent chance of hearing the haunting cry of a mountain lion in the night. Pronghorn antelope travel fleet-hooved in cautious herds across the open plains, while along the Rio Grande flyway, the magnificent wingspan of whooping cranes spreads out across the New Mexican sky once again.
