Walker Basin Trail

On 4 February 2015 the author along with Lila Wright, Collene Maktenieks, Joyce Arregui and one unnamed hiker scouted Walker Basin Trail. We drove north on I-17 and took the Sedona Exit. From there we turned to the southeast on Forest Road 618, drove 4.9 miles and turned left onto FR 9201C. This turnoff is marked by a Forest Service sign (right). Leaving one of our three vehicles at the intersection, we drove 0.8 miles east on FR 9201C, high clearance vehicles required, and parked a second vehicle at the trailhead. We then returned to FR 618 and continued south for another 4.8 miles to FR 214, the road to Cedar Flat.

This turnoff was also prominently marked by a Forest Service sign (left). We turned onto FR 214 and followed it for 9.5 miles to a convenient parking area at a large corral located near Cedar Flat Tank. Cedar Flat Tank is located about 0.1 mile from the road and could easily be overlooked. However, one cannot miss the corral. The corral is located on the right side of the road and a large loading chute, sturdily-built of huge, iron-reinforced timbers leads from it to a spacious loading area. We parked there.

As can be seen from the above figures, the total driving distance on dirt roads was about 19.2 miles one way. None of the roads required a 4-wheel drive vehicle but high clearance vehicles are highly advised for FR 9201C and FR 214.

The corral, and its convenient, at least when cattle are not being moved, parking area is actually 0.2 miles past the unmarked Walker Basin Trailhead. As can be seen from the below photograph taken at the trailhead, there is actually room to park right at the trailhead, so we could have avoided the extra 0.2 miles hike back form the corral.

Walker Basin Trailhead at Cedar Flat

Note the indistinct road sign just to the right of the gap (gate). It tells us that we are now on FR 214B. The trail actually follows that forest road for the first 2.2 miles.

We now found ourselves hiking along a seldom driven forest road through open grassland.

Joyce leading the way along Walker Basin Trail (Forest Road 214B)

Eventually the road became a little rougher and the junipers closed in around us. But we could still see the San Francisco Peaks in the distance.

The San Francisco Peaks Peaks directly ahead above a section of the trail

Around a mile and a half into our hike we topped out above Brockett Tank where a herd of cattle were spread out enjoying the warm sun.

Cows at Brockett Tank

The road track we were following took us to a fence at the northeast corner of the fence surrounding the tank. It appeared that a gate had once existed in the fence and we could see the vestige of an old road on the other side, so we climbed the fence and started to follow it. However, a quick look at my GPS after we had gone about 450 yards disclosed that we were traveling perpendicular to our desired track and the trace of an old road was becoming ever more faint. We turned back to the fence and corrected course, but still didn't find any trace of FS 214B. We were now well past the tank and I decided to recross the fence and search for the road there while the others waited at the fence. Finding it about a 100 yards ahead, I signaled the rest of the group to cross the fence and wait there while I followed the road back to the tank to complete my GPS track. What I found was that the road reached the tank at an offset from the gap provided for cattle to enter the enclosure, so I followed along an old track to the gap, entered it and turned to take the following photograph, showing where we would have ended up had we only followed along the fence instead of crossing it.

Leaving the enclosure at Brockett Tank heading west on Walker Basin Trail

I was close enough to where we had mistakenly crossed the fence to complete my track, so I passed back through the gap shown above and followed a cattle trail (right) for a short distance to intersect the trail (FR 214B) and rejoined the group.

The trail was once again quite easy to follow (left), although it looked as though it had been many months since any vehicles had passed this way. About 2.2 miles from the trailhead at FR 214, Forest Road 214B made a 90⁰ turn to the left. Walker Basin Trail, marked by a sign showing a figure of a hiker and one of an equestrian (right) along with an arrow pointing the way, but no trail name, turned 90⁰ to the right. 

The track we were now following was no less distinct than FR 214B had been and it continued generally in the direction the old GPS track we were following led, so we continued confidently on our way toward Walker Mountain, passing through another gate (left) along the way.

Soon we came to a mountain pass at the eastern side of Walker Basin and found ourselves faced with a steep, rocky descent along the old road toward Walker Tank. From one angle I thought (perhaps imagined) that I could see just a small slice of the earthworks around the tank itself.

A little farther down the trail, while we were stopped for lunch, we could look across the basin and down into Walker Canyon. Meanwhile, at the extreme left of the below photograph, the north hump of Walker Mountain itself is visible. Our trail would lead us through a pass just to the left of this north hump. At the bottom of the basin a trail, not visible here, forks off to the right and leads to Walker Creek Tank in the canyon.

Looking across Walker Basin from the east rim

We saw a few cows at Walker Basin Tank. As was true of all the other we had seen today, these cows were just hanging around the watering hole (right) enjoying the sun. Grass was bountiful and they all looked well nourished.

We had a fairly steep climb from the tank up to the mountain pass on the west side of the basin and there were some places where one could lose the trail, at least temporarily, if not careful. But we had the old GPS track that I had created using the National Geographic overlay in Google Earth to guide us and, although it was wildly incorrect in places, it did keep us headed in the right direction. The track we were following (left) was still passable, though little used, by 4-wheel drive vehicles.

When we finally arrived in the saddle we found ourselves in a flat area thickly populated with junipers and cactus. We also found what appeared to be a fork in the track we were following. I chose the wrong fork and again had to retrace my steps in order to connect the GPS track I was making. This deviation cost me an extra 0.2 miles. From the pass at Walker Mountain the trail leads northwest across a relatively flat mesa, losing only about 300 feet in altitude in a little over 1.5 miles before starting the descent on the west side of the mountain. The trail (right), now steep, washed out, and rocky, descends at first diagonally along the slope of Walker Mountain and then follows a spine that forms the south rim of Walker Canyon.

Although it was a strenuous descent, the rocks were large and for the most part firmly embedded. That greatly reduced the likelihood of a fall. However, there was still the danger of getting a foot caught in a crack which can cause serious damage to an ankle.

We were all very happy to at last see the box holding the sign in sheet that signified the lower trailhead. There is no sign in sheet at the upper trailhead, so we just signed out here and indicated that we had hiked the trail one way.

We all piled into my pickup, three hikers riding in the rear, for the trip back to the car we had parked at the junction of FR 618 and FR 9201C. We arrived there at about 1630. Lila and I continued on to Cedar Flat to retrieve the vehicle parked there while the other three hikers returned home. It was about 1815 when I finally arrived back home.

The actual length of this trail as shown in red on the attached map (next page) is 8.0 miles. However, because of the extra 0.2 miles we hiked from the corral and the misadventures along the way, all of which I removed from the final GPS track, we actually hiked about 8.9 miles.