Gentry Canyon, AZ

Gentry Canyon is located between Knoll Lake and Turkey Creek, on the Mogollon Rim. Gentry Canyon extends at least nine miles to Willow Creek, at the north end of Gentry Ridge near Alcatraz Point. (Willow Creek continues another 21 miles north to Clear Creek; I am not sure what the canyon's name is which Willow Creek passes through.)

Bailing from Gentry Canyon between Gentry Spring and Open Draw ranges from incredibly easy to a good blow, but it is never dangerous. A forest road is never more than 200-yds away and 150-ft up. Heck, FR 91M is only 50-yds away, and 20-ft up, from the Gentry Spring spring box!

So, you can make your Gentry Canyon loop as short as you like. That said, here’s some options:

1. Gentry Spring Loop: All on jeep trails. Anybody could do it! 2.5 miles, 200 AEG (accumulated elevation gain).


2. Bessemer Crossing Loop: Up Gentry Canyon to FR 40 at Bessemer Crossing, then loop back on jeep trails. 8.1 miles, 470 AEG.


3. The Whole Shot: Up Gentry Canyon, past Bessemer Crossing, to the junction with Open Draw. Climb out, then loop back on jeep trails. 11.0 miles, 630 AEG.


4. Visit Double Cabin Spring: Just west of Bessemer Crossing. Add one mile and 60 AEG to option #2 or #3.


5. Mega Loop: Or, from the Open Draw junction, head back up Open Draw ( https://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=21809 ) or crossover Gentry Ridge and head back up Turkey Creek ( https://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=19938 ). Both also end at the same trailhead.

Describe clockwise, from the trailhead, head north along FR 91 for a ¼ mile. Turn left (west) on the far side of an unnamed tank onto an unnumbered jeep trail that descends through an aspen grove to the floor of Gentry Canyon. Stay on the jeep across the Gentry Spring prairie/wetlands. At the spring box, turn off the jeep trail, following the canyon bottom north. Gentry Canyon immediately became tighter — rockier, with deadfall and vegetation — but never too bad.

After ¾ of a mile of minor canyon crawling, the canyon bottom opens up into wide, grassy shelves for the next 2½ miles (past Bessemer Crossing).

A ½ mile north of Bessemer Crossing, Gentry Canyon tightens up for the final mile to Open Draw. There are shallow, clear, pools with barely perceptible flow, but travel is still not bad.

At the Open Draw junction, head 150 ft. up the elk trail to FR 40G, which follows the contour line for 1¼ miles southwest to FR 40, just above Bessemer Crossing. South of FR 40, the jeep trail continues, renumbered as FR 40A. 2⅓ miles south of Bessemer Crossing, FR 40A becomes FR 91M, which continues a ½ back to the Gentry Canyon spring box. From the spring box, turn left (east) up a rocky jeep trail to the big camping area, then follow FR 91 a little over a mile back to the trailhead.

Check out the Official Route and Triplogs.

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2020-09-05 kingsnake