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| Hiking | 5.96 Miles |
197 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.96 Miles | 2 Hrs 30 Mns | | 2.38 mph |
| 197 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Another early morning hike in Flagstaff. I decided to visit Picture Canyon, which was only about 10 minutes from where we were staying. I had driven to the TH in the past, but this would be my first time hiking here. The TH has parking for about 15 cars and maybe more if you park along the shoulder. There is also a generic trail map, some park info and a port-a-jon. It seems like the trail system has morphed over the years, especially since its initial write-up. There are 3 trails that interact in this system. There is the world renowned, (OK, maybe state renowned), AZ Trail, which passes right through the middle of the preserve. Then there is the Tom Moody Trail which creates a loop along the perimeter of the preserve. And finally there is the Don Weaver Trail which bisects the Tom Moody Trail.
Got on the trail just before 5am. There is only one trail that takes off from the TH. I followed that in for about .1 miles where there is a trail register (with a pen that doesn’t work  ), some info boards about the preserve and a short single track that leads to a small pond. Around .18 you reach a split in the Tom Moody Trail. I hadn’t read too much about this trail recently, so I wasn’t familiar with what this trail system had to offer or the best way to access it. I opted to go clockwise. This worked out great for me, because I always like to save the best for last. Continuing straight on the Tom Moody, I next came to the Don Weaver juncture at .38 miles. My goal was to the Tom Moody Trail first, so I continued north on the Moody. The trail does a gradual climb up a small hill and reaches the top at around .93 miles. The trail then continues to go straight along the hills’ slope gaining a little more elevation and intersects the AZ Trail at 1.18 (only 200 more miles to Utah)! This is when the Moody Trail starts getting nice. Prior to this, you were surrounded by commercial plants and you were very much aware that you were hiking in an urban environment.
Around 1.30 the trail starts to descend into a nicely wooded area. The trees aren’t too thick, but they provide ample shade in the early morning hours. The trail does some minor twisting and turning as it continues a gradual descent to the valley floor. At around 2.26 miles and a little over 300 ft lost the trail bottoms out when it reaches the edge of an open meadow dotted with homes. This was an unexpected transition, from the shaded slopes to the sun drenched ranch land. The trail turns sharply and the sun and the farms are quickly left behind as the trail heads back into the trees. This is where the novelty of Picture Canyon starts to separate itself from some of the other Flagstaff trails. At 2.60 you encounter the Rio de Flag. Not much more than a stream, but still very cool. Immediately thereafter, you come across the petroglyphs. This area has been chained off to help protect them. I counted about 15 glyphs in various states of repair. From what I’ve read there’s a lot more to be seen. At 2.78 there is a confluence of trails: the Moody, Don Weaver and AZ Trail all come together. This juncture is very well signed, so there is no problem figuring out which trail is which. At this point the AZ Trail piggybacks with the Moody trail, crossing the bridge and starting a moderate climb up a hill to the SE. At 3.18 the AZ Trail splits off to the south as the Moody Trail continues to climb. The grade isn’t intense, but going clockwise is probably the steeper climb. As you continue, you start to hear the sound of water and then at 3.45 you reach the waterfall. There is a decent rock ledge that you can scramble around to try to get a view of the falls. Not fantastic, but a very pleasant surprise. At that same spot, there is an old wooden trestle from a defunct railway. To be honest, I wouldn’t have been aware of it if it hadn’t been signed. Turns out part of the trail that I had been hiking was once part of the railway back in 1909. There was little evidence of that today. After the trestle, the drops down slightly, parallels the Rio de Flag for a short distance before crossing a bridge (adjacent to the aforementioned pond) and closing the Tom Moody Loop. At this point I was at 3.90 miles. If I had headed back to the TH it would have made for about a 4.1 mile hike. I still had some time left in the morning so I decided to check out the Don Weaver Trail.
From the Tom Moody split it is about .2 miles to reach the beginning of the Don Weaver Trail. This juncture is well signed. The Weaver Trail starts out unimpressively as a road that climbs a small hill. As you reach the top of the hill and begin a gradual descent you realize that the trail also acts as a road for an underground gas line.  Because of this the trail is fairly exposed with no trees in the area. You start to wonder if this “trail” is worth doing and it is in large part due to the two side trails. The first is about .2 miles in from the beginning of the Weaver and is called the Petroglyph Overlook. This is a very short excursion (maybe .02 miles) and provides a nice view of the waterfall. The next excursion was a little over .3 miles from the beginning of the Weaver and is called the “Pithouse”. This is a little longer side trip (.06) and a little less impressive. It is a fenced off area of a sunken, semi-walled structure. Continuing on the Weaver “Road” will bring you to a single track trail that veers off to the right. With excursions this is about .6 miles from the beginning of Weaver. This single track has a rocky descent down the ridge and was definitely the best part of this trail. At around .8 miles (with excursions) Weaver Trail ends when it junctures with the Tom Moody Trail. From here I retraced my steps back to the the TH. The Don Weaver Trail as an in and out from the TH would be about 2.30 mile hike, though to be honest, it would make sense to incorporate this trail into a loop instead.
Afterwards, I did some reading of the Picture Canyon Trail and discovered that I got lucky in my timing of hiking it. The use trails and poor signage that others had talked about is a thing of the past. It is obvious that at one time, people had chosen their own routes through the preserve. However, volunteers have done a fantastic job of covering up most of the use trails with pine needles and broken limbs. The Tom Moody Trail is about 5 ft wide and composed fine, sand-like cinders, so it should be easy to stay on trail, and to assist hikers, the preserve has nailed orange chevrons to trees. All the trail junctures were very well signed with. O question as to what trail you were on. There was no sign of trash within the preserve and obvious efforts were being made to reforest areas. I didn’t smell anything while I was there, though I will say I am blessed with a horrible sense of smell. Also, coming in with no expectation made each gem (Rio de Flag, petroglyphs, waterfall and old trestle) a pleasant and unexpected surprise. If you have the time to do the 4 miles hike I would definitely encourage you to do clockwise, saving the best for last. |
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: as many have mentioned, we noticed the aromas of reclaimed water and the nearby Purina dogfood factory...maybe it's worse in the canyon/waterfall area, but the smells weren't overpowering where we were. There were dark clouds around for most of the hike, but it didn't rain, and I was happy we were able to at least reach one of the points of interest in the ~90 minutes we had before we needed to head back to Phoenix.
](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall")
