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West Fork Trail in Oak Creek Canyon
By Lynn | October 21, 2008
Wow! This is an incredible hike. A little crowded for the first half, but many people didn’t go all the way to the end, so it got better. (please pardon any spelling errors, for some reason the spell check isn’t working)
This is the canyon that Zane Grey, the western author fell in love with. The novel he wrote “The Call of the Canyon” was set in this little portion of Oak Creek Canyon. The West Fork Trail follows along a creek that flows into the Oak Creek. The hike is about six and a half miles with only a total slight elevation change of about 300 feet, but the entire trail goes up and down constantly, so you are actually accumulating a much higher incline if you consider the arobic effects.
West Fork is probably one of the most beautiful hikes we have taken yet, except maybe the Devils Bridge trail. The entire trip you are deep in the red rock canyon that was carved by this little creek and wind over the millinium.
You will see early into the slide show some ruins. These ruins were once home to Bear Howard, one of Sedona’s early and legendary settlers. Years later they were improved to form the Mayhew Lodge which was a getaway for many celebrities and diplomats.
You will also see a rock formation that is light colored and seems very much out of place. Look at the full series of this formation, as you may see: a fish, a mummy, or a Native American warrior. I see all three, depending on which I am looking for.
We travel deep into ponderosa pine forests, some of which feels like it gets very little sun. The temperature variance was probably about 10 degrees in some areas. The end of this trail is at an area of the canyon that narrows significanly, to become just about unpassable.
The deeper we went into this canyon, the more fall color we saw. Keep in mind as you look at the slide show that I did not enhance any of the colors. There are differences in the vibrance of some of the rock only because much of this was in shadow. We also crossed over the creek 15 times on rocks and logs that are percariously placed for passing. We got pretty good at it about half way through as we found our center of gravity to balance!
As you look at these cliffs, keep in mind that most of them soar about 500 to 700 feet. Some of the formations further out in the pictures are probably 1000 feet at least. We are right at the cliffs edge, and can reach out and touch them in most spots. This is incredible. I can only imagine what the early explorers thought when they first found this place…
Topics: Family |
October 22nd, 2008 at 11:00 am
Looks incredible! I can’t wait until Gracie gets a little bigger and we can go on trips like these. This gets me in the mood to see some snow!
October 22nd, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Very cool pic! I disagree with Matt on the snow thing, though.