This hike near Flagstaff has a lot of goodies and few visitors. Here's how to find it
Two water holes, two canyons, two roads and some excellent views. Those are the draws for this largely ignored doubleheader backroads trek.
Using a pair of forest roads in the Beaver Creek watershed a few miles west of Stoneman Lake, the who-knew hike is easy to access off the paved Stoneman Lake Road (Forest Road 213) but is disguised by nondescript signs that give no clues to the good stuff they hide.
Located where Arizona’s central highlands meet the edge of the Colorado Plateau roughly 35 miles south of Flagstaff, Forest Roads 9241E and 80 wind through a landscape of canyons, volcanic features and acres of golden pastureland.
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The allure of this under-the-radar slice of Coconino National Forest oozes from its hybrid high-desert-meets-tall-pines environ that muddles the picture-postcard “house vistas” of Sedona and Flagstaff.
The first leg of the circuit begins at FR 9241E. Identified as a “short route” on the Coconino National Forest Motor Vehicle Use Map, the road is essentially just a gated parking area.
A ring of boulders blocks entry to the trail — a fading two-track that’s open to foot traffic and equestrian use. The weedy road traces the edge of a finger gulch at the far northeast end of Rarick Canyon, dropping steadily to where it meets a wildlife water hole.
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Tinged red by a wall of decaying volcanic stone and the trampling of elk, bobcats, skunk, racoons and domestic livestock, Cinder Tank marks the beginning of a short segment of shady ponderosa pine forest that stands in contrast to the juniper scrubland that defines much of the area.
Beyond the tank, the road gets rougher as it heads up an embankment to emerge on an airy mesa with views of 7,307-foot Apache Maid Mountain and glimpses of the layered landforms around Sedona peeking through stands of Utah serviceberry shrubs and tangles of Gamble oaks.
The road vacillates between an obvious two-track and a barely there footpath before being swallowed whole by grasses and shrubs at the 1.3-mile point. The weed-choked dead end makes for a good turnaround point.
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FR 80 is a 9.2-mile seasonal road that’s open to motorized use for high-clearance vehicles. The south end of the rough, narrow road also serves as a scenic hiking route.
From the parking area, the road heads north descending easily to an unsigned junction roughly 0.2 mile in. The right fork heads to a rustic corral and a sizable water hole called Hunting Tank. It’s a scenic detour of just over a half mile round trip and well worth a visit.
From the junction, FR 80 dips into a finger cove of Rattlesnake Canyon, then climbs to the lip of the gorge’s northeastern reaches.
High-point vistas include alligator juniper-framed looks at the Bradshaw Mountains to the west and glimpses into the sinuous, stony corridor of Rattlesnake Canyon below.
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After topping out on a breezy mound where traffic on Interstate 17 can be seen whizzing by to the north, walls of sheer basalt and pillars of contorted volcanic ejecta close in on the road as it parallels the ever-shallowing canyon to where it levels off just yards from the freeway at the 2-mile point.
While FR 80 continues north for another 7 or so miles, the canyon head serves as a fine turnaround point for sampling one of the many scenic routes that make up the more than 380,000 miles of the National Forest Road System.
How to do these hikes
HIKING FOREST ROAD 9241E
Length: 2.7 miles round trip.
Rating: Moderate.
Elevation: 6,091-6,237 feet.
Getting there: From Interstate 17, drive 19 miles north of Camp Verde and take Exit 306 for Stoneman Lake. Head east (go right) at the bottom of the off ramp and follow Stoneman Lake Road (Forest Road 213) 4.3 miles to Forest Road 9241E on the right where there’s a gate and cattle guard.
HIKING FOREST ROAD 80 AND HUNTING TANK
Length: 3.5 miles round trip as described here.
Rating: Moderate.
Elevation: 6,000-6,234 feet.
Getting there: From the Cinder Tank Road parking area, continue 0.4 mile east on Stoneman Lake Road to the parking area for FR 80 on the left.
Read more of Mare Czinar's hikes at http://arizonahiking.blogspot.com.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Flagstaff, AZ hike: Stoneman Lake Road to Cinder Tank
