Scott Warren - 100 Classic Hikes in Arizona

100 CLASSIC HIKES IN

ARIZONA

(Warrens) book highlights the most scenic and rewarding hikes in the state.

Tucson Citizen

100 Classic Hikes in Arizona is a great guidebook when it comes to planning your next hike. It also would be a good idea to keep a copy in your backpack while traveling through Arizona. It provides a good deal of information for the foot traveler in all of us.

Daily Times, of Farmington, NM

Scott S. Warren deliverswith good directions and fabulous photographs. Distance, difficulty, hiking time, elevations, managing agencies and recommended season are blended with history, high points and step-by-step details. Picking a trail is easy.

Sweat

100 CLASSIC HIKES IN

ARIZONA

Grand Canyon / Colorado Plateau / San Francisco Peaks / Mogollon Rim / Sedona / Sky Islands / Sonoran Desert

THE MOUNTAINEERS BOOKS is the nonprofit publishing arm of The Mountaineers, an organization founded in 1906 and dedicated to the exploration, preservation, and enjoyment of outdoor and wilderness areas.

1001 SW Klickitat Way, Suite 201, Seattle, WA 98134

2007 by Scott S. Warren

All rights reserved

First edition, 1994. Second edition, 2000. Third edition: first printing 2007, second printing 2009

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Manufactured in Hong Kong

Copy Editor: Jane Crosen, Crackerjack Editorial Services

Cover and Book Design: The Mountaineers Books

Layout: Jennifer Shontz, Red Shoe Design

Cartographer: Scott S. Warren

All photos by the author

Cover photograph: Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in southern Arizona

Frontispiece: Saguaro cactus along the hike to Wasson Peak

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Warren, Scott S.

100 classic hikes in Arizona / [by Scott S. Warren]. 3rd ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-59485-025-7

1. HikingArizonaGuidebooks. 2. TrailsArizonaGuidebooks. 3. ArizonaGuidebooks. I. Title. II. Title: One hundred classic hikes in Arizona.

GV199.42.A7W37 2007

796.5109791dc22

2007018669

Printed on recycled paper

CONTENTS

LEGEND

	Paved Road
	Gravel Road
	4WD Road
	Featured Trail
	Other Trail
	Wilderness Boundary
	Interstate
	U.S. Highway
	State Highway
	Forest Road
	Pass/Saddle
	Trailhead
	Campground
	Direction of travel
	Bridge
	Spring
	Building
	Mining camp / Mine
	Picnic Area
	Peak

INTRODUCTION

F ew, if any, states can match the variety of backcountry terrain that Arizona has to offer. From arid deserts and lush riverside thickets to tall stands of conifer and alpine tundra, Arizona has it all. For the hiker and backpacker, this diversity, combined with the many trails that have been established in Arizonas outback over the years, translates into a vast and interesting array of backcountry excursions from which to choose.

TOPOGRAPHY

Undoubtedly, it is Arizonas topography that accounts for its greatly varied terrain. Geographers identify two primary provinces in Arizona: the Colorado Plateau Province and the Basin and Range Province. Stretching across the northern and northeastern third of the state, the Colorado Plateau Province is an expansive uplift that extends into Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. This is a land sliced by deep canyons and spiked by red rock mesas and a few scattered mountain ranges. Carved over millions of years by the Colorado River, the Grand Canyon cuts across the northwestern quarter of the province, while the San Francisco Peaks reach dramatic heights near the city of Flagstaff. The somewhat gentler White Mountains rise along the ArizonaNew Mexico border to the east, and a grand escarpment known as the Mogollon Rim borders the Colorado Plateau for hundreds of miles along its southern end. Elevations in the Colorado Plateau Province range from 1200 feet in the bottom of the Grand Canyon to 12,633 feet in the San Francisco Peaks.