Crook Trail – 13-Mile Rock to County Line

We left Cottonwood at 0700 on 12 April 2014 to hike on the section of General Crook Trail from near the Yavapai/Coconino County line to 13-Mile Rock. In order to hike downhill, we drove east on Hwy 260 to just past the county line and hiked back to 13-Mile Rock. At the point where we parked, we found a sturdy barbed-wire fence to cross and several of our hikers chose to drive back about a mile and wait for us where the trail crosses a dirt road near the highway.

Those of us who chose to cross the fence found that the bottom strand did not have barbs and it was thus easy to slither under. But when we were on the other side, we found no sign of the trail and just followed the track I had loaded onto my GPS. From hiking other sections of the trail we knew that it was marked sometimes by cairns, sometimes by chevrons (V's) nailed onto trees and sometimes just by the faint track of the old Crook Wagon Road. The GPS track I was using was supposed to follow the trail; however, past experience had indicated that the track would serve only as a general guide, at times spot on, at other times deviating by a tenth of a mile or more. The best practice for hiking this trail is to follow it as shown on the best map you can find and keep looking for the aforementioned trail markers.

We found a few interesting flowers along the way, mostly microseris  (below left) and phlox (below right).

Microseris  

Phlox

I also noticed a few claret cup cactuses just about ready to bloom, but there was nothing to compare with the myriad of blossoms we enjoyed last week on the Lower Cedar Bench Trail.

Much of the way along this section, the trail follows the old Strawberry Road, a road that predated the present Hwy 260. One must assume that in those areas the Strawberry Road followed the course of the original Crook Wagon Road.

At a place called Tin Can Draw, about 0.8 miles from where we started our hike, we passed just below a tank. At that point, we should have turned downstream and then followed closely along the highway to Apron Tank. Instead we continued straight across the draw and wound up on top of a bluff above from which we had to search for a descent. Once we had descended, however, we found a pedestrian gate in the fence at the tank, indicating where our trail crossed. A few yards away was a sign nailed onto a tree showing where we should have emerged at the tank.

The sign says: “General Crook National Recreation Trail”

Our trail followed along old Strawberry Road for about 2.8 miles from Apron Tank before leaving it to head northwest. We had paused to get our bearings and make sure we really needed to turn off the old road, it was after all easy hiking, when someone yelled, “elk!” We had disturbed a large herd of the animals, causing them to leap up and run away. I managed to get my camera out in time to snap a shot of a few of the stragglers. We estimated that the herd was well over fifty strong.

Stragglers from a large herd of elk seen on Crook Trail

After leaving old Strawberry Road we hiked along the remnants of the original Crook Trail, seeing the occasional chevron, a few cairns and some traces of the original road, for around 0.8 miles before coming to a jeep road that was easy hiking. We followed the trail signs along this road for about 1.5 miles before we once again connected with old Strawberry Road. Somewhere along the way we noted an interesting memorial (right). I have no idea what it commemorates, but it appears to be well maintained.

After reconnecting with old Strawberry Road we followed it for a little over one mile. At that point we were on a ridge between a small canyon to the north called Devils Windpipe, which feeds into Black Mountain Canyon and a larger canyon to the south which feeds into Sycamore Canyon. The ridge we were now on would eventually end at 13-Mile Rock Butte. Old Strawberry Road continues left, descending into the canyon to the south and ends at the base of 13-Mile Rock. However, the original Crook Trail continues along the crest of the ridge for a distance before descending.

We continued along the ridge on the original trail which, although now becoming quite rocky, was easy to follow. However, a little over half a mile ahead we came to another fork in the road marked by the sign shown here (left). Some of us had previously hiked on the upper trail, so we chose the lower route this time.

The trail now became considerably less rocky and we even had grass to walk on. There were a few places where trees had fallen across the trail and one or two spots where cactus had pretty much taken over. But all in all it was an easy trip down the hill until we came to the sign (right) marking the lower junction of the two trails.

Below the junction of the original rougher route and the later easier route, the trail became somewhat rougher and the last 100 yards was obstructed by brush and rocks. At this point, the present trail leaves the old road to travel along the slope of 13-Mile Rock above Hwy 260. However we were parked here and had to scramble through the brush, around the rocks and across a fence to reach one vehicle.

When we had all arrived at the parking area we paused for a group photograph before the driver of the vehicle parked here ferried the other drivers to the starting point of our hike to retrieve their vehicles.

Left to right: Beverly Sass, Lila Wright, Daisy Williams, Ruth Frazier,
 Kwi Johnson, Betty Wolters and Jim Manning – author not shown

My GPS track disclosed that this one-way hike was 8.7 miles, the trailhead elevation was 6143 feet, the elevation difference was 1208 feet and the total descent was 1672 feet.

Our hike path, with a few modifications where we deviated too far from the trail, is shown in red on the attached map (below)