West Fork of Oak Creek

Put this hike on your list to do!  This trail is very popular but worth fighting the crowds to see.  Fortunately you can beat most of the crowd by arriving early to the trailhead, which is highly recommend as the parking area will fill up fast after 10:00 a.m. on a weekend.  Speaking of parking, as of 2012, the cost to park at the trailhead is $9.00.  The only way around this fee is to buy a Red Rock Pass from various Ranger Stations in the area for $5.00 and park on the main road of Oak Creek Canyon.  The trail is located in the beautiful and popular Oak Creek Canyon near Sedona. See directions at the end of this narrative.

"Official" end of the trail at 3 miles

This trail is an out and back. Although there is the option of backpacking the entire 14 mile length; one which I hope to accomplish in the future.  The "official" trail ends at 3 miles, your turnaround point.  You will know you have reached this spot as the trail ends and further progress requires the hiker to walk in the creek.  The turnaround point is a beautiful spot where the creek has carved out a small tunnelish area, (is that a word).

The trail starts by crossing over Oak Creek via a large bridge and then turns to your left through an old apple orchard.  You then will come to an old homestead area with an interesting cabin.  The trail then turns right into the "Secret Mountain Wilderness."  This trail has several creek crossings.  Although on the official section of the trail you can manage to keep your feet dry by rock hopping across the small crossings.  This trail is simply put, beautiful.  The trail is extremely vegetated and its hard to believe you are in Arizona with how green and lush the area is.  Sandstone canyon walls tower high above, small waterfalls and inviting pools line this trail.  The trail stays pretty much right next to the creek the entire time.  The only exception is near the end at about 2.7 miles where you will climb a short but fairly steep hill onto a small ridge, you quickly descend back down and follow the trail another hundred yards.  The official trail ends at this location, where the canyon suddenly narrows and forms a tunnel like area. 

3 mile point

The day I hiked this trail, in June, there were hundreds of butterflies.  It was incredible.  There is also poison ivy along this trail, so be careful if you leave the main trail for any reason.  Also, we were able to filter the water and drink with no problems.

The group I hiked with entered the creek at the 3 mile mark and we continued upward about another 1.5 miles.  This required us to be in the creek about 60% of the time.  The other 40% was bushwhacking through a lot of overgrown vegetation.  There is no official trail to follow, although you can see some areas that have been stamped down a bit.  If you have the time and don't mind getting wet it is worth the extra time to explore up the canyon.  The canyon narrows and about 3.75 miles in is a large pool.  The pool is shallow but the beauty of the spot is incomparable. Further up at about 4.5 miles we found a pool large enough to swim in.  This is the point our group turned around and began the hike out.

This hike is easy and flat, all but the small hill toward the end.  On our hike out in the afternoon the trail was very busy.  We began our hike at 9:00 and returned to the trailhead at 3:00.  

The following photos are all past the 3 mile turnaround point.  

Just past tunnel area at 3.1 miles

Large pool. 3.75 miles in

Backpackers heading down West Fork

 

Length: 6 miles out and back (official trail)
Elevation Gain: 200 feet 
Difficulty: Easy to 3 mile point.  Past 3 miles requires walking in water, scrambling over boulders and bush whacking- that's where it gets fun.
Recommened: All hiking levels to 3 mile point
Season: Spring, Summer, Fall
Hiking Time:  2 hours to 3 mile mark.  Plan on extra time to explore and play in the water


Directions:  From Phoenix take Interstate 17 North, Exit 298, just north of Camp Verde to State Route 179 North, turn left.  Drive through Sedona to the "Y" junction with Highway 89A. (large roundabout) Turn right onto 89A,  cross the large bridge over Oak Creek that enters the canyon.  Drive 9 miles and watch for the sign for the Westfork trailhead, the trailhead and parking are on your left. The parking area is called "Call of the Canyon".

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.