In May, Ed Cleveland, 78, finished hiking the last 30 miles of the 800-mile Arizona Trail, which extends from the Arizona/Mexico border to the Utah state line.

Courtesy of Ed Cleveland

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Don't try to hike a mile in Ed Cleveland's boots.

Cleveland and five friends, who all belonged to the Sun City Vistoso Hiking Club, set out to walk all 800 miles of the Arizona Trail, which extends from the Arizona/Mexico border to the Utah state line.

Cleveland, 78, hiked his final passage of the Arizona Trail in May. It had taken him 10 years.

Still, he was the only one of the six to hike all 800 miles, which is divided into 43 passages, ranging in length from 11 to 35 miles.

Two men dropped out early on, and three women hiked most of the trail with Cleveland.

"I was happy to get it done," Cleveland said. "It was disappointing to the extent that my three lady buddies couldn't finish it. It was nice to do it and to be able to say, 'I finished it.' I experienced areas of Arizona that very few people ever see. You can't appreciate a lot of Arizona by just riding through a highway."

He didn't hike the trail continuously but did so when he could schedule a time for all of his hiking companions to meet.

The home stretch

Cleveland's final effort was a three-day, two-night hike through the Mazatzal Divide passage, which is near Payson.

He recruited a friend, Frank Morris, to join him as he hiked his last 30 miles.

Cleveland and Morris encountered fallen trees and washed-out trails during the hike.

"The Mazatzal Divide was the most miserable," he said. "A fire had gone through there in 2004, and it was about 20 miles of fallen trees. And there was areas of the trail that were washed out."

In the beginning, Cleveland was joined by five others, who included two men and three women.

The two men were the first to drop out.

The three women — Nancie Healy, Pat Holladay and Carol Scotti — completed about 85 to 90 percent of the trail, Cleveland said.

Healy, Holladay and Scotti, who are all in their 70s, dropped out when heavy backpacking was incorporated to accommodate overnight hikes.

All three of the women credit Cleveland for keeping them on course.

"When you consider he was hiking with three women, he was the best company we could possibly have," Scotti said. "He was the total navigator. He was the GPS king. Without him, we would never have found our way."

Added Healy: "He's real laid-back. Nothing is ever too much. He's very gracious. If Pat or I were tired or lagging behind, he was always extremely considerate. He's a good traveling companion who is never stressed by any situation."

Hard-to-find trails

Cleveland researched all of the trails and contacted Arizona Trail stewards to find out about conditions and other information on the different trails.

The group hiked portions of the Arizona Trail that hadn't been finished. Today, 94 percent of the trail is complete, thanks to the efforts of the Arizona Trail Association.

At times, the group had to rely on GPS coordinates and streamers to find their way along the trail.

"Arizona Trail stewards had gone in and put streamers and things on trees to indicate where they had planned to put the trail," Cleveland said. "We knew it had to go from here to here."

Add the lack of defined trails to the logistics of getting everyone out to a trail, and it's no wonder Cleveland only hiked about four or five passages a year.

Wildlife and wildflowers

The group often needed to take two cars out to a trail — one to leave at the beginning of the passage and one to leave at the end.

But what they'd encounter on the hikes made it all worth it.

On one hike they came across wild turkey on the Hardscrabble Mesa trail and on another hike they watched elk along the Happy Jack trail.

"There was one area north of Oracle we hiked after there had been heavy rains, and the wildflowers were just thick," Cleveland said. "We were walking through acres of these wildflowers. That was a memorable section. It was a shame to be stepping on them, but you didn't have a choice."

It was more than just wildlife and wildflowers out on the trail.

Cleveland happened on sheer cliffs, soaring summits and deep canyons in Miller Peak Wilderness in the Huachuca Mountains.

He saw the grasslands of the Canelo Hills, part of the Coronado National Forest.

He took in the spectacular views of the San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff.

And he got a taste of the desert, canyons, plains, forests and other diverse lands in Grand Canyon National Park.

"When you're hiking you're enjoying being outdoors and experiencing the plants and the animals. The variety of scenery. The mountains, the desert and forests. The solitude and getting away from traffic."

Cleveland and the group rarely encountered other people out on the trail and said hiking is the perfect escape from crowds.

Scotti, Holladay and Healy all say everyone should experience the Arizona Trail. Just make sure to take someone like Cleveland along for the hike.

"He was the anchor around which everything revolved," Holladay said.