Route Editor
Route Scout
Weir's the Beef! by HAZ_Hikebot The Wier Trail provides easy access to Wet Beaver Creek as it contours from near the information board on the Bell Trail before dropping to creek level at the gaging station. The gaging station is used by the USGS to record stream-flow information. Please stay away from the gaging station and do not tamper with the equipment. The vegetation found near the junction of the Bell and Wier Trails is typical Upper Sonoran species: prickly pear, agave, catclaw and juniper. Once the trail reaches the creek the vegetation changes dramatically. The Upper Sonoran species are replaced by riparian vegetation consisting of Arizona black walnut, willow, ash, sycamore, cottonwood, canyon grape, blackberries, and poison ivy (learn to identify and avoid this three-leaved plant). The numerous deep pools in the creek contain introduced trout and bass, and the native round-tail chub. The trail continues upstream and enters the Wet Beaver Wilderness. The Wilderness is closed to the use of motorized equipment and mechanized transport, including bicycles. The trail follows the north side of the creek and ends at a large cobbled area where the creek comes in from the northeast. Check out the Official Route and Triplogs. Leave No Trace and +Add a Triplog after your hike to support this local community.
One-Way Notice This hike is listed as One-Way. When hiking several trails on a single "hike", log it with a generic name that describes the hike. Then link the trails traveled, check out the example. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
WARNING! Hiking and outdoor related sports can be dangerous. Be responsible and prepare for the trip. Study the area you are entering and plan accordingly. Dress for the current and unexpected weather changes. Take plenty of water. Never go alone. Make an itinerary with your plan(s), route(s), destination(s) and expected return time. Give your itinerary to trusted family and/or friends.
Most recent Triplog Reviews
Wier Trail #85
Nice day wandering around WBC. Out Bell, up White Mesa then looped around Split Tank and back down on Apache Maid, continued over to the creek and up to the mesa again on Bell, then back down and creek-walked downstream to exit on Wier. White Mesa trail isn't terribly scenic but it is in good condition. As with the other trails in this area, once you reach the mesa at the top of the climb the trail quickly fades away.
2016-05-28 toddak
Wier Trail #85
Long Wet Beaver Bell Loop
The Wet Beaver area has been on my list for a long time. Preferring loop hikes, I decided to tie in Long Canyon #63. Not seeing any published GPS tracks for the Long Canyon trail, I thought this would be a good opportunity to get one out on HAZ. I read about the lack of trails after the fact.
The drive up from the valley takes you through the Verde Valley. We had some concerns when driving through here, since the winds at Slide fire in Sedona had changed directions and filled the Valley with so much thick smoke, it was hard to see and could be tough to breath if hiking in this. Luckily, the closer we got to our trail, the thinner the smoke got. We only smelled it a couple of times on our hike.
We started our hike in a small lot just off FR618H, just down the street from the Beaver Creek Ranch. Joe tells me this is a house for Bad Kids. (First Hand Knowledge?) This is on the SE side of Beaver Creek.
The Long Canyon Trail #63 (not the #122 which is also in Sedona) grabs you right from the beginning with it's uphill. The majority of the elevation is gained in the first 1.5 miles. At the 2 mile mark there is a sign that warns you the trail is hard to follow after this point. Between Rock Basket Cairns and Tr 63 Carbonite signs, we made it in 6.6 miles before losing it.
You get some nice high desert views up top, as well as views into Long Canyon. With a drawn up track, we made our way over to the intersection with the Bell Trail and checked out the old out buildings. Joe got his picture taken by a Game Camera.
The Bell Trail #13 at this point follows an old 2 track going to the NW....for awhile. This lasts for a mile, until the two track just ends. We followed the drawn track through what could have been a trail at one time for .75 mile until we once again had trail. Views the closer you get to the Rim in the NW corner of the Mesa are spectacular. I saw some new areas in the Wet Beaver area that I need to explore, east of The Crack looks enticing!
Going down towards The Crack on the Bell Trail, we passed our first hikers of the day. Joe scared them off. We went off trail a couple of times on the way down, to get some views into The Crack area. There were a dozen or so people enjoying the water.
I see why the Wet Beaver area is so popular. There are plenty of opportunities to enjoy the water and the scenery. Joe pointed out one area of Tafoni that was particularly interesting.
We hit the short Wier Trail #85 to get under the Trees and get into the Creek for a bit. Joe played with a Torpedo while looking for his bolt cutters.
We also went off trail crossing the creek, to get back to the truck. There were some red slick rock areas that would be fun to play in with more time. Joe played Tarzan for a bit and we made our way back to the truck.
All in all, a fun day in the Wet Beaver Wilderness.... an area that needs some more attention, especially upstream from The Crack area.
Short Video
http://youtu.be/kUN_Qn7Ty2Q
The drive up from the valley takes you through the Verde Valley. We had some concerns when driving through here, since the winds at Slide fire in Sedona had changed directions and filled the Valley with so much thick smoke, it was hard to see and could be tough to breath if hiking in this. Luckily, the closer we got to our trail, the thinner the smoke got. We only smelled it a couple of times on our hike.
We started our hike in a small lot just off FR618H, just down the street from the Beaver Creek Ranch. Joe tells me this is a house for Bad Kids. (First Hand Knowledge?) This is on the SE side of Beaver Creek.
The Long Canyon Trail #63 (not the #122 which is also in Sedona) grabs you right from the beginning with it's uphill. The majority of the elevation is gained in the first 1.5 miles. At the 2 mile mark there is a sign that warns you the trail is hard to follow after this point. Between Rock Basket Cairns and Tr 63 Carbonite signs, we made it in 6.6 miles before losing it.
You get some nice high desert views up top, as well as views into Long Canyon. With a drawn up track, we made our way over to the intersection with the Bell Trail and checked out the old out buildings. Joe got his picture taken by a Game Camera.
The Bell Trail #13 at this point follows an old 2 track going to the NW....for awhile. This lasts for a mile, until the two track just ends. We followed the drawn track through what could have been a trail at one time for .75 mile until we once again had trail. Views the closer you get to the Rim in the NW corner of the Mesa are spectacular. I saw some new areas in the Wet Beaver area that I need to explore, east of The Crack looks enticing!
Going down towards The Crack on the Bell Trail, we passed our first hikers of the day. Joe scared them off. We went off trail a couple of times on the way down, to get some views into The Crack area. There were a dozen or so people enjoying the water.
I see why the Wet Beaver area is so popular. There are plenty of opportunities to enjoy the water and the scenery. Joe pointed out one area of Tafoni that was particularly interesting.
We hit the short Wier Trail #85 to get under the Trees and get into the Creek for a bit. Joe played with a Torpedo while looking for his bolt cutters.
We also went off trail crossing the creek, to get back to the truck. There were some red slick rock areas that would be fun to play in with more time. Joe played Tarzan for a bit and we made our way back to the truck.
All in all, a fun day in the Wet Beaver Wilderness.... an area that needs some more attention, especially upstream from The Crack area.
Short Video
http://youtu.be/kUN_Qn7Ty2Q2014-05-24 The_Eagle
Wier Trail #85
Long Canyon - Bell Trail Loop
Bruce engineered this seemingly obvious yet rarely traveled loop. Aside from a couple hours of vicious biting gnats I enjoyed the hike. The stats are reasonable. Route finding even with monster sized caged cairns is challenging for miles. I doubt this loop will appeal to casual hikers.
Long Canyon Trail #63
Climbs vigorously up to a mesa. Look back to catch some nice views heading up. Our view included smoke over Sedona and hanging low in the Verde Valley from the Slide Rock Fire. The first 2.5 miles is medium intriguing. Then it turns into an ever increasingly challenging cairn hunt. Typical Sedona mesa zone... junipers dot the rocky ankle buster landscape with prickly pair accents.
At 4.5 miles a sharp canyon edge intrigues dazed eyes. Distant Sedona views open up. This is where it turns into advance route finding. Caged cairns continue. Keep an eye out for sawed off tree limbs to hopscotch the voids. That game plan works for 1.5 miles. Just after 6 miles in whip out the bible and start praying. It's about 2 more miles to Roundup Basin Tank. If you are lucky you'll cross paths with a few cairns along the way. We did not witness more than a hundred yards of anything that could remotely be called a trail.
Bell Trail #13
Most only hike the very lower 3.3 mile portion near the creek. We tackled the middle third ( 4 to 4.5 miles ), I'd imagine only 3-5% make it here past Bell Crossing. Perhaps 1-1.12% knock out the upper third all the way to FS 214.
From Roundup Basin Tank it's an old road for 1 mile heading down. Raiders of the Lost Cairn Hunt is back in theaters for two miles until you reach the edge overlooking Wet Beaver Creek. Albeit a steep ~1.5 miles down to Bell Crossing I highly recommend this if you enjoy sweet overhead canyon views.
We finished off the lower portion taking in a bit of the Wier 85. It is a gem. While it lacks maples it may get a little more popular now that nearby Oak Creek has been torched. We hit up the undisclosed hidden secrets ( oops I posted a gps track ) to round out the loop.
Fun moderate loop!
Wildflowers
prickly pair with yellow flowers for the most part, Palmer's Penstemon
Long Canyon Trail #63
Climbs vigorously up to a mesa. Look back to catch some nice views heading up. Our view included smoke over Sedona and hanging low in the Verde Valley from the Slide Rock Fire. The first 2.5 miles is medium intriguing. Then it turns into an ever increasingly challenging cairn hunt. Typical Sedona mesa zone... junipers dot the rocky ankle buster landscape with prickly pair accents.
At 4.5 miles a sharp canyon edge intrigues dazed eyes. Distant Sedona views open up. This is where it turns into advance route finding. Caged cairns continue. Keep an eye out for sawed off tree limbs to hopscotch the voids. That game plan works for 1.5 miles. Just after 6 miles in whip out the bible and start praying. It's about 2 more miles to Roundup Basin Tank. If you are lucky you'll cross paths with a few cairns along the way. We did not witness more than a hundred yards of anything that could remotely be called a trail.
Bell Trail #13
Most only hike the very lower 3.3 mile portion near the creek. We tackled the middle third ( 4 to 4.5 miles ), I'd imagine only 3-5% make it here past Bell Crossing. Perhaps 1-1.12% knock out the upper third all the way to FS 214.
From Roundup Basin Tank it's an old road for 1 mile heading down. Raiders of the Lost Cairn Hunt is back in theaters for two miles until you reach the edge overlooking Wet Beaver Creek. Albeit a steep ~1.5 miles down to Bell Crossing I highly recommend this if you enjoy sweet overhead canyon views.
We finished off the lower portion taking in a bit of the Wier 85. It is a gem. While it lacks maples it may get a little more popular now that nearby Oak Creek has been torched. We hit up the undisclosed hidden secrets ( oops I posted a gps track ) to round out the loop.
Fun moderate loop!
Wildflowers
prickly pair with yellow flowers for the most part, Palmer's Penstemon
2014-05-24 joebartels
