Oak Creek Canyon

There are two things I can say about Oak Creek Canyon: 1- Absolutely beautiful and 2- Absolutely packed with people. Oak Creek Canyon is a 12 mile long gorge along the Mogollon Rim south of Flagstaff, Arizona. Oak Creek cuts through the gorge forming pools and small waterfalls. The gorge towers with red rock spires and is lush and green with vegetation. Due to this beauty located in such a small concentrated area Oak Creek Canyon is second only to the Grand Canyon in Arizona tourist destinations. If at all possible, visit this unique place during the week. A few things to know about Oak Creek before your visit.
Obtain a Red Rock Pass: Required for parking anywhere in the canyon for longer than 15 minutes. A pass may be obtained at the visitor center in Sedona or local gas stations. Daily passes are $5.00 and do not allow entrance into private and state entities (Slide Rock State Park, Call of the Canyon and others) If you plan on spending more than one day and visiting several locations I would suggest purchasing the
Grand Annual Pass $40.00 (50% Discount for Golden Age/Access Passport holders and America the Beautiful Senior/Access holders)This pass is valid for use as a parking permit to recreate in Red Rock Country including these sites.

• Red Rock Country Heritage Sites
• Banjo Bill
• Grasshopper Point
• Crescent Moon
• Call O' The Canyon (West Fork Trail)

In the end this will save you money, especially if you take repeated visits.

Oak Creek Canyon is a hikers dream. It has close to 100 hiking trails all within close distance of each other. The hikes range from easy to difficult to overnight backpack trips. See the following map of the area.
One hike I would highly recommend is West Fork of Oak Creek. This trail leads into a side canyon of Oak Creek and follows a small stream with tall red rock towers above. This trail is easy, the whole family can hike this. There are small stream crossings, but nothing that will get you wet if you are careful. The only downside to this hike, there is a large amount of poison ivy and poison oak alongside the trail. Remind your kiddos to keep away!!! The downside to this trail, due to its ease it is extremely busy. Start early!!!!! The trail is 3 miles one way. We turned around after about 1.5 miles.
FYI: if you don't buy the Grand Annual Pass it costs $8.00 to park in the parking lot called Call O' The Canyon.

Another spot not to miss is Slide Rock State Park.
The name says it all. This place is a lot of fun, but again incredibly busy with people. Oak Creek runs across a section of rock at this point which has created great swimming holes and natural chutes cut through the rock that you can slide down. The kids love this place!!!!! Down side to this is there is another $8.00 fee to enter.

Oak Creek also has several campgrounds. The campgrounds fill up fast and are available to reserve. We camped at the Manzanita Campground which is tent only. This was a nice little campground that sits right next to the creek. The creek is close enough for the kids to explore in. Plus it is right across the street from a challenging trail head which leads into the Wilderness area.

This is just an introduction to Oak Creek Canyon. I plan on a return visit and to post more on individual hikes in the area soon.