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Walking or biking in Phoenix heat can kill. Most heat deaths in Maricopa County happen outdoors (74% in 2025, MCDPH). If you must go on foot or by bike:
No car or no fuel?
When you can't drive, pay attention to wheels. Rolling a load uses far less energy than carrying it, and water (8.34 lb per gallon) is the heaviest thing you'll move. Look around your home, garage, and neighborhood.
It's often said that horses and donkeys are poor choices in the desert because they need so much water. That's true for horses and only partly true for donkeys.
A typical 1,100 lb horse drinks about 8 gallons a day idle at 68°F, and about 21.7 gallons a day doing moderate work at 95°F (NRC data via NDSU Extension). That's about 180 lb of water per day. A hard-working horse in heat can sweat 2–4 gallons an hour (UMN Extension). Horses also need about 1.5–2% of body weight in forage daily, roughly 15–20 lb of hay for a 1,000 lb horse (Penn State Extension).
Donkeys evolved in semi-arid lands. They can tolerate losing up to about 30% of body weight in water and recover by drinking 24–30 liters in a few minutes (WikiVet). Being smaller, a working donkey in a hot climate might need about 20 L (≈5 gal) a day, versus 40–60 L for a working horse (ICWE). But per pound, their needs are similar to a horse's, and they should be offered water at least every 4 hours in heat (The Donkey Sanctuary).
Bottom line: donkeys handle desert conditions much better than horses, so water alone isn't the main reason they're unrealistic. The bigger barriers for most people are that you probably don't have one, handling and packing an animal takes real experience, they need feed and hoof care, they're slow (about walking pace), they can't safely share fast roads with traffic, and freeways can ban non-motorized traffic (ARS 28-733). If you already keep equines, include their water, feed, and a trailer plan in your evacuation plan.
Some dogs can help pull (bikejoring or carting), but only if they're conditioned, suited, and trained. That means a fit, healthy, medium-to-large adult dog (sport rules require dogs to be at least 18 months old), a padded pulling harness (never a collar), a shock-absorbing bungee line, a vet check, and a gradual build-up (AKC). Puppies, small breeds, seniors, and flat-faced breeds are poor candidates.
Heat is the big danger for dogs. Exercise is the most common trigger of heat illness in dogs (UK Brachycephalic Working Group). Asphalt can reach about 125°F when the air is only 77°F, and 143°F at 87°F (WSU Vet Med). Use the 7-second test: if you can't hold the back of your hand on the pavement for 7 seconds, it's too hot for paws. Move only in the coolest hours, use booties, rest in shade often, and stop at heavy panting, stumbling, or drooling.
All figures are rough planning estimates, not guarantees. Distances are from OpenStreetMap routing (Phoenix city center): Payson ≈ 89 mi via Loop 202 and SR-87 (Beeline Hwy), and Flagstaff ≈ 144 mi via I-17.
| Payson (89 mi) | Flagstaff (144 mi) | |
|---|---|---|
| Days at ~12 mi/day | 8 days | 12 days |
| Dog, low (rest baseline 1 oz/lb/day = 50 oz ≈ 0.39 gal/day) | 3.1 gal (26 lb) | 4.7 gal (39 lb) |
| Dog, high (hard work in heat ≈ 1.44 gal/day) | 11.5 gal (96 lb) | 17.3 gal (144 lb) |
| Adult human (2 gal/day in heat) | 16 gal (133 lb) | 24 gal (200 lb) |
| Total, person + dog | 19–28 gal (159–230 lb) | 29–41 gal (240–345 lb) |
How we got these numbers. Dog baseline: about 1 oz of water per lb per day for a resting dog (Whole Dog Journal, citing internal-medicine norms of 50–80 ml/kg/day). Dog high estimate: a study of canine athletes found that hard exercise in hot conditions may require replacing more than 40% of total body water per day (Ruby et al., J Vet Intern Med 2018). With body water at about 60% of body weight, that's ≈24% of 50 lb = 12 lb ≈ 1.44 gal per day. Pace: our assumption of about 12 mi/day, similar to the ~19 km/day (≈12 mi) reported for working hunting dogs in that study, walked only in cool night hours. Human: Ready.gov says hot environments can double the 1 gallon per person per day baseline (Ready.gov). NIOSH advises about 1 cup every 15–20 minutes while active in heat, and no more than 48 oz per hour (NIOSH). Water weighs 8.34 lb/gal.
What this means: a 50 lb dog can't haul anywhere near this much water. Even a cart or bike trailer carrying 150–350 lb isn't realistic for one person and a dog. Both routes climb steeply: Payson sits near 5,000 ft and Flagstaff near 7,000 ft, versus about 1,100 ft in Phoenix. Higher ground is cooler, but the climb makes the trip much harder, and long stretches have few or no services. For nearly everyone without a car, the safer plan is to stay in the Valley: shelter in the coolest place you can reach, use cooling centers (dial 211), and line up a ride. Treat a long trip on foot, by bike, or with an animal as a last resort that needs pre-arranged water stops.
Nearest highway exits from each area. These are planning notes only. Before leaving, always check AZ511 and Maricopa County Emergency Management for closures and official instructions.
Every neighborhood in the Valley has people who need help and people who can give it. Preparedness is about resources and planning, not zip codes.