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| Hiking | 4.70 Miles |
571 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.70 Miles | | | |
| 571 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | GH and I had this hike on our itinerary for our 4 night camping trip to the area. The drive to the trail head had some rough spots definitely requiring high clearance and tough LT rated tires. As we proceeded south on the drive to the trail head the scenery changed from a high desert plateau with scattered Juniper trees to a forest of mixed pine and Juniper. We saw lots of fresh elk tracks along the trail. The trail started out following FR3979K for about a mile. I was surprised to see this as an approved road on the 2015 Coconino Motor Vehicle Use Map. However I would recommend walking this section because it's a nice walk on level terrain with great possibilities for seeing elk if you are quiet. Also, there are some spots with overhanging tree limbs which would interfere with a full sized vehicle.
The trail location where it leaves the road was marked with a cairn about 30 yards past the actual location but some snooping around quickly revealed a trail of cairns through the forest. The trail has not had enough traffic to leave a visible track on the forest floor but the cairns are fairly easy to follow, especially with the aid of the gps track. The trail becomes more visible in some of the steeper areas where it descends the side of the canyon. At the bottom of the canyon the trail disappears in sand dunes along the creek bank. There are animal trails, mostly from elk, along the banks of the creek. The trail crosses a shallow part of the creek between deep pools. The HAZ gps track for this trail ends in the canyon bottom but maps show the trail continuing up the east side of the canyon. We scouted around for the continuation of the trail and didn't find any cairns marking the trail. However there was a well worn animal trail which goes south up a draw in the approximate location of the trail shown on the map. This trail connects with a road, FR63B, on top of the east rim. We only followed the trail for a short distance up the draw before turning back so did not verify that this is the actual trail that leads all the way to the east rim.
After taking a short trek up stream following an elk trail along the bank and having lunch we returned up Trail #45. The canyon bottom here is lush with trees and grass covered banks between sand dunes. The animal trails along the bank invite exploration along the canyon bottom but frequent wet crossings would most likely be required, some in deep pools. The stream had a light flow at our time of visit but may go dry during dryer months although there is probably water available in the deeper pools year around. The usual caution regarding flash floods should be taken when hiking the canyon bottom. |
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