Sedona’s West Fork Trail #108… A great Hike!

One of the most beautiful hikes in the Sedona, Arizona area is located at the foot of the Mogollon Rim… in famous Oak Creek Canyon, at about the 5,400 foot elevation level.   The West Fork Oak Creek Trail #108 has it all… a creek filled with trout, rocks, canyons, cliffs, wildlife, flowers, Ponderosa Pines… and even some interesting History.

To get there is simple – First, get yourself to Sedona, Arizona… then tear yourself away, and drive North on Arizona Highway 89A for 9.5 miles to the Call O’ The Canyon day area(between mileposts 385 – 384).  The map below shows the way… click on it to drill down.

 

The picture below shows where the Hike starts… the Parking Lot at the West Fork Trail Head.   The hike is roughly 6.6 miles round-trip… elevation change of about 300’… and involves crossing the West Fork 13 times.   Click here to see a very excellent Trail map of West Fork Oak Creek.

The West Fork Trail Parking Lot... Entry Fee is $10.00 for the day.

The West Fork Trail Parking Lot… Entry Fee is $10.00 for the day. Well provisioned with a gate keeper, signs, maps, bathrooms, and plenty of parking space.

After getting parked, geared up, and last bathroom breaks done… Alice & I got started…

The Trail goes this-a-way

Alice points out the way… The Trail actually starts paved for the first few hundred yards.

 

Alice points the way to continue down the Trail.   Note the high Canyon Walls… Oak Creek flows below them.

 

 

Don't forget your fishing pole...

Don’t forget your fishing pole…

 

At the beginning of the Trail, we came across this sign… A little later, we encountered what appeared to be trout fingerlings.

 

 

After hiking a few hundred yards, we came across  this bridge over Oak Creek.IMG_3333.. Where…

we encountered a small valley on the other side nestled in between Oak Creek, West Fork, and canyon walls… Here, we found the Ruins of the old  Mayhew Lodge, an early settler cabin from the 1870’s, later turned Apple Farm… then in 1926 becoming a well known Wilderness Resort Lodge.   Notable visitors included Walt Disney, Clark Gable, and Jimmy Stewart.   Click here to see archive Pictures and Brochure for the Mayhew Lodge.

Approaching Mayhew Lodge

Alice approaching the original location of Mayhew Lodge. The building immediately ahead was a chicken coop… and the red cliff on the right held a hand-chiseled ‘cool’ room for produce.

The below sign is located at the Mayhew Lodge’s original location at the joining of Oak Creek and it’s West Fork, and provides more information & background on the Lodge.   For a more readable sign, click on picture to expand in a new window..

Click on picture to read.

‘Click’ on picture to expand for readability purposes.

Moving on, we are now approaching the West Fork of Oak Creek.   This is a mountain stream, cold clear water, traversing through a rocky canyon, surrounded by 1,000 ft. cliffs, shadowed by 100′ Ponderosa Pines.IMG_3343  Note the Cliffs… Ponderosa Pines… Douglas Firs… Blue sky…IMG_3354Deep Forests…   We are hiking in a deep forest… part of the Red Rock Secret Mountain Wilderness… Located in the Coconino National Forest.   IMG_3367

The West Fork Trail crosses the West Fork Creek 13 times… as we approached Creek Crossing #5, we spotted the below ‘gravel nest’ of Trout fingerlings… those being the dark spots clustered together in the picture.   (Click on picture to expand for a closer look)     IMG_3369

 Below… Creek Crossing #5… looking to the South East.IMG_3374 

 Below… Creek Crossing #5… looking to the North West… a very popular resting place.IMG_3375

Continuing on, we move past Creek Crossing #5, and start looking for Crossing #6.   We are hiking under beautiful cliffs in the late afternoon sun.IMG_3379Creek crossing #6… and time for us to turn around and head back to the Trail Head.   It is getting late in the afternoon, and we have been hiking almost two hours…. going slow… adjusting to the higher elevation… huff, huff… puff, puff…  we are a little out of shape!IMG_3381

After a 20 minute rest break, we took our last looks around… and headed back.IMG_3385

Along the way, this Momma Robin thought we were a danger… so she ‘escorted’ us on ‘her’ portion of the Trail for several yards, making sure we had no designs on her nest.IMG_3391

Finally, after six creek crossings, we again passed the Mayhew Lodge ruins, reaching our starting point at the Oak Creek bridge… we are almost to the Trail Head parking lot. IMG_3393

And we’re back!   On this hike, due to time constraints, we were only able to make it to Creek Crossing #6… there were several more to go.   We would affirm that the elevation change on this Trail is minimal, so this is a more ‘easy’ hike for Alice and I.   We will come back in a future day and do all 13 crossings.

Thank you for viewing our Hike pictures… If any questions, or comments, please feel free to contact us using either the “Leave us a few words” comment section below… or by sending us an email by clicking here:   ‘Send Email’.

Jim & Alice LaPeer

Slideshow… West Fork Oak Creek Trail
To view a full-screen, high resolution slideshow of our West Fork Trail Hike, click the     ‘curved arrow’ just below the picture on the right.   To return to normal display, hit [Esc] key.  Otherwise, place cursor over the picture to display the slideshow contol buttons.     Comments are Welcomed!

Related Images:

10 thoughts on “Sedona’s West Fork Trail #108… A great Hike!

  1. Beautiful pictures..so wonderful you have this chance to enjoy all the incredible sights around you where ever, when ever you want…good for you both.

  2. Sedona is one of our fondest memories of our Arizona travels…. we’ll definitely get back there again! Great brunch at the CoffeePot restaurant too!

    • Hmm… We’ve not tried the Coffeepot Restaurant – Yet! Driven by it a couple of hundred times… With a name like that, they gotta have a great cup of coffee… as well as the view.

      Hope your travels are going well, Joe & Libby!
      Jim & Alice

    • Thanks, Lisa. Truly, the pictures don’t do justice to the country we hiked.

      Say hello to the family for us. Hope to see you in July!
      Jim

  3. Looks like a very enjoyable hike, we wish we were there with you on it. Just keep them up and you’ll be in shape in no time – next hike pics soon we hope. Baby Raya is on the way according to Grandma.

    • Hi Gary & Lisa. Good to hear from you. We have been boondocking this week, and the internet access is not as good. We found a beautiful area to camp (Boondock) in between Sedona and Cottonwood… on a old wagon road that originally ran between Jerome and Sedona. There is a trailhead here now, with a very large parking lot… and we can boondock here for 14 days. The view is gorgeous!

      Looking forward to seeing you guys in July… We’ll be home for a visit with our little Princess – and sounds like you got a new one coming soon, too!

      Jim & Alice

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.