West Fork Trail #108 Oak Creek

SEDONA / FLAGSTAFF, AZ

Headed out for my first hike today in northern Arizona.

This was a cool hike because it starts out with ruins from The Mayhew Lodge, opened in 1926 and closed in 1968. The main building burned down in 1980. Here is a cave carved into an enormous rock:

Here is one of the remaining out buildings:

Moving on from this, the hike follows Oak Creek, which you cross over a total of 26 times (13 times each way).

These canyons are insanely gorgeous, but it's impossible to capture the full extent of their beauty. The rock walls, dotted with pine trees, jut up all around you. The rocks in this particular canyon are either red or white, which is particularly striking when you see them juxtaposed. I attempted to capture that in the picture below, where the canyon walls in the foreground are red, and in the background, white. It's a beautiful picture, but doesn't do it justice. What I'm trying to say is, these canyon hikes are starting to be a real problem.

Here's a little better view of the red rock juxtaposed with the white. And again with that blue sky!

Trekked through some snow along the way ...

Love all the tall pines on this hike. There were also a lot of deciduous trees, which I suspect makes this hike stunning in the fall.

Finally made it to the end! If I'd have packed water shoes AND it was 40 degrees warmer, I could have waded upstream a quarter mile or so and hiked on a little further.

A couple bonus features about this trail: although you have to pay, there is plenty of parking at the trailhead with restrooms.

Total hike: 6.95 miles, 554' elevation gain.