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Weekend Warriors Arizona Hiking
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If a secluded hike among the pine and oak forests of Prescott appeal to you, then you'll like this hike. This hike is located near Prescott, AZ. To get to the trailhead: from the Phoenix area, take I-17 North toward Flagstaff. At Cordes Junction, take HWY-69 towards Prescott. Once in Prescott, take HWY-89 towards Jerome. After 6.3 miles, you will reach the junction for HWY-89A towards Jerome. Take 89A 15.2 miles. Just after mile marker 333, there is a guardrail with an elevation marker for 6000 ft. Just after the guardrail, there is a difficult to see road that hairpins down on the right side. The parking area is at the bottom of this hill. Passenger cars are OK. Be Aware of: route finding. I had the darnedest time finding Trail 28, but we all have our bad days. 30 yr old Recommendation: This was a pretty ho-hum hike. The views weren't as spectacular as many of the other hikes in Arizona. However, there are very few hikers to share it with and the hike is close to the valley. This hike is rated Moderate because of some elevation gain. Elevation change: about 1000 ft gain. Distance: The loop described is 6.0 miles round trip. Time: It took us 3.5 hours of hiking (including 20 minutes to find the stupid trail). Time of year: Spring, Summer, Fall Solitude: Excellent solitude on this hike. We only saw two other hikers on a Sunday. I don't know how I had such a difficult time finding the trailhead. We were taking this hike after a story about it in the Arizona Republic. We looked far and wide for the start of Trail 28, which was clearly marked. I was looking in the wrong place. It turned out that the Trail started right at the bottom of the hill, only a few hundred feet from the road. Since I wasn't having any luck finding Trail 28, we decided to take the hike backwards and found trail 533. Trail 533 exits at the South end of the parking area. There are a number of unsigned roads in the area. The trail climbs steeply South from the parking area. The views here are pretty good, so take a break once in a while to look over Prescott Valley. After climbing switchbacks for about a mile, you reach a gate at a small saddle. An additional 0.5 miles gets you to FR105. Take FR105 East (left) for 0.25 miles. The next trail you want is clearly signed as Trail 111 (also known as Yeager Cabin Trail). Trail 111 leads up and down about 2 miles to the head of Yeager Canyon. This is the most enjoyable part of the hike, as you are hiking through forests of oak and pine. After 2 miles, you will see a trail junction that leads to trail 28. Following Trail 28 down the canyon for just over 2 miles, you will eventually reach the parking area. The hike along Trail 28 provides additional views of the canyon and Prescott Valley as you make your way back to your car. Warning: If you decide to take this hike in the reverse direction, pay close attention to how far you have walked and when you are supposed to find a trail junction. They may be marked, but not necessarily obviously. The junction between FR105 and trail 533 would be particularly easy to miss if you weren't paying attention.
[View of Yeager Canyon and Prescott Valley beyond]
This write-up was done after a hike during the middle of September, 2002. |
