Cool pines and blue skies: Try this secret hike in Arizona's Coconino National Forest
Forest roads can be sweet escape routes from the swarms of summertime recreationists that migrate from the Valley to the cool Arizona high country. Especially the ragged ones few people notice or care to explore. This is a boon for intrepid types willing to walk out into the albeit signed and plowed unknown.
Forest Road 6033C reveals no obvious destination. Its purpose is veiled in a tangle of pines.
The backwoods road a couple clicks north of the community of Clints Well on the Mogollon Rim is signed but not shown on Forest Service maps. It runs on the terraced slopes above the course of East Clear Creek in Coconino National Forest west of the popular Blue Ridge recreation area and C.C. Cragin Reservoir.
Passage 27 of the Arizona National Scenic Trail winds over Battleground Ridge through the busy hot spot on its way north to Utah. Camper convoys, boat trailers and lines of backpackers and day hikers speak to the area’s magnetism for heat-weary outdoor enthusiasts. With so many rich hiking opportunities nearby, the logic for walking on a nondescript dirt road lands squarely between why and why not.
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The FR 6033C hike is clocked from a gate just beyond the dispersed campsites on FR 9033H. Within a half mile, the road meets its first junction, where FR 6033C continues left.
From the junction, the deeply rutted track is an endless series of ups and downs that hop drainages, draws and ridges, accumulating over 1,000 feet of elevation change. For a mind-clearing, uncrowded excursion, there aren’t many distractions.
A wildlife water tank and several signed side roads that appear to disintegrate a few yards in are the only disrupters in an environment dominated by ponderosa pine trees with their signature straight-arrow trunks and rounded canopies.
Forest water tanks are often dry in summer before the monsoon rains kick in, putting wildlife at risk. Arizona Game & Fish Department receives no general fund tax dollars to maintain 3,000 wildlife waters, including created catchments around the state, and it relies on donations to deliver life-saving water to drought-stressed locations. (Not necessarily the water hole shown here.)
You can help by donating at azwildlifehero.com.
At the top of several rises, conifer-fleeced McCarty Ridge cuts a prominent profile on the southeast horizon. Except for wind-rustled branches and the scurrying of critters, it’s blissfully quiet. At the 2.5-mile point, in a shaded hollow, the road veers north and becomes sketchy enough to call it a turnaround point.
How to try this less-traveled Arizona hike
Length: 5 miles round trip.
Rating: Moderate.
Elevation: 6,894-7,132 feet (1,107 feet of elevation change).
Getting there: From the State Route 87/260 junction in Payson, go 40 miles north on SR 87 (past Clints Well) to Forest Road 9033H on the right past mile marker 292.
Creekside fun: Avoid the Water Wheel crowds on this East Verde River hike near Payson
Read more of Mare Czinar's hikes at http://arizonahiking.blogspot.com.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Coconino National Forest hike: Cool pines, blue skies
