This Arizona Trail segment near Flagstaff is a great place for first timers to start
An Arizona “alpine start” — the predawn trailhead call for a mountain hike — can be timed by the stars. Basically, if Orion has faded into the dawn, it’s already too late.
The iconic winter constellation with its prominent three-star belt arcs over the night sky from December to late April. It then disappears for a few months before making its summer debut in the early morning hours of August.
Visible low on the eastern horizon around 4 a.m., Orion the Hunter signals the hour Phoenix-area day hikers must leave the Valley to beat high-country monsoon storms.
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What to know about hiking during Arizona's monsoon
There are three things to know about summer hiking on Arizona’s mountain trails. First, temperatures will be cooler, but fickle. Second, mountains make their own weather, often churning out thunder, lightning, high winds and rain after 11 a.m. And finally, being caught on a mountain or in the open during a summer storm is a potentially deadly situation.
That’s why it’s smart to follow the Hunter’s lead and head out super early to be off the peaks and into safety before noon.
Per the National Weather Service, “When thunder roars, go indoors.” For more lightning safety education, visit https://www.weather.gov/safety/lightning.
In addition to staying alive, early morning hiking has many benefits.
The crack of dawn is the best time to observe wildlife and witness the syrupy amber alpenglow the sun paints on mountain slopes.
How to hike the San Francisco Peaks section of the Arizona Trail
The San Francisco Peaks Passage 34 of the Arizona National Scenic Trail is one worth setting the alarm to experience. The Flagstaff-area favorite runs for 35.3 miles between the Weatherford Trailhead at the south edge of the peaks to Babbitt Ranch in Coconino National Forest.
Along its mostly easy course, the trail cuts through aspen glens, dense coniferous forests, meadows and juniper-studded rangelands. The entire passage is hemmed in by the mounds and craters of the San Francisco Volcanic Field, an 1,800-square-mile swath of the Colorado Plateau with over 600 volcanic features.
Passage 34 rounds the slopes of 12,633-foot San Francisco Mountain (the Humphreys Peak Trail goes to its summit), a dormant stratovolcano, and heads north through a maze of cinder cones and lava flows. For a volcano-centric day hike, the segment of the passage that runs between Forest Roads 418 and 514 is a beauty.
The 6.8-mile out-and-back trek begins in a thicket of aspens on the northwest edge of San Francisco Mountain. An understory of ferns, lupines and tall grasses laps at the legs as hikers take on the gentle inclines. Within a half mile, the trail parallels the Walker Lake cinder cone.
Standing at over 8,400 feet in elevation, its pine-fleeced crater contains a shallow pond. The swampy pool is not visible from the trail, but a nearby dirt road leads to its innards. To the east, the weathered peaks of the White Horse Hills rise over Deadman Wash.
The mostly treeless, isolated volcanic landforms top out at 9,065 feet with a choppy fringe of ponderosa pines huddled at their bases.
As this hike approaches its turnaround point at FR 514, the tree cover thins out, opening views of 10,418-foot Kendrick Peak to the west and 8,864-foot Saddle Mountain straight ahead. Both have trails to their summits.
At hike’s end across from Kelly Tank, an Arizona Trail gate marks the route’s transition into more arid terrain where junipers, brush and wide-open spaces commandeer the viewscape. Still, the mountain-borne lightning storms that happen on a near daily basis in summer are something to monitor and avoid. An alpine start helps.
Hiking the Arizona Trail Passage 34 in Flagstaff
Length: 6.8 miles out and back from Forest Road 418 to Kelly Tank.
Rating: Easy.
Elevation: 8,300-7,721 feet.
South access (Forest Road 418 trailhead): From Flagstaff, go 19.5 miles north on U.S.180 to the northern entrance for FR 151 (Hart Prairie Road) just past milepost 235. Turn right and continue 1.6 miles to FR 418. Go 1.1 miles on FR 418 to a dirt parking apron on the right. Hike begins on the north side of the road. Forest roads are maintained dirt suitable for most vehicles.
North access (Kelly Tank trailhead): From Flagstaff, go 21 miles north on U.S. 180 to FR 514 (Kendrick Park Road) near milepost 236. Turn right and continue to just past the 3-mile marker at Kelly Tank and park in the dirt lot on the right at the beginning of FR 9006R. This is directly across from an Arizona Trail gate. Forest roads are maintained dirt suitable for most vehicles.
Details: https://aztrail.org.
Read more of Mare Czinar's hikes at http://arizonahiking.blogspot.com.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: How to hike the Arizona Trail Passage 34: San Francisco Peaks
