Hike to the Diving Board at Oak Creek Village

Because of the many connecting trails in the area, the Diving Board hike requires some attention to detail. George Everman and I first scouted the hike last October and determined the best sequence of trails to use for this scheduled 19 December 2015 hike.

The trail, as hiked, starts at Yavapai View parking area which is located on the west side of Hwy 179 northwest of Bell Rock. To reach the parking lot, from the Village of Oak Creek, we drove north on Hwy 179 to Sedona. At the first roundabout in Sedona, at Indian Cliffs Road, we made a 180 degree turn, and returned south on Hwy 179 for about 1.6 miles to the entrance to the parking area. This parking area is located on a counterclockwise circle with parking spaces positioned along the outside perimeter on the southeast side.

The below group photograph was taken at the parking area after the hike was completed.

Left to right: (kneeling): Betty Wolters, Nita Nettleton, the author, Joanne Hennings; (standing): Gary Jacobson, Karl Sink, Chris Jensen, Daisy Williams, Dolly Yapp (front), Lila Wright, Collene Maktenieks, Ellen McGinnis, Connie Woolard, Gilliam Ashworth, Jim McGinnis, Iris Dobler, John Ashworth, Jim Manning and Beverly Sass – photograph with authors camera by a volunteer

Nineteen of a total of 22 hikers are identified in the above photograph. Jim Wagner, having a prior commitment to attend another event, had left the hike early while the rest of us were still eating lunch at the Diving Board.

From our cars, we walked clockwise around the parking circle, passing a toilet and a kiosk to reach the Yavapai Vista Trailhead (below left). We didn't actually hike on Yavapai Vista Trail, just walked to the sign and then turned sharply left onto a short connector trail (below right) that led us across a wash to Coconino Trail about 75 yards ahead.

We turned south on Coconino Trail (below left) and followed it for 0.3 miles until it ended at Slim Shady Trail (below right), passing Basalt Trailhead along the way.

We turned left on Slim Shady Trail and followed it for 0.3 miles to the junction with Made in the Shade Trail (below left). From this point, it is another 1.7 miles to the Diving Board. It is not clear just how much of this distance is actually traveled on Made in the Shade Trail. I have an old Arizona topographic map which indicates that our GPS track to the Diving Board departed from Made in the Shade Trail after 1.1 miles. The same map shows Made in the Shade Trail continuing southeast from there to connect with Canyon Ridge Circle in the Village of Oak Creek. On this old map, the last 0.6 miles of the trail we followed to the Diving Board is not shown at all. The trail (below right) became less distinct as we approached our goal. In a few places, as we crossed bare rock, it was not visible at all and we had to search for signs of a trail leaving the rock on the other side.

Eventually we turned sharply up the mountain, climbing about 350 feet in 0.3 miles. The slope up which we were hiking can best be viewed in the following photograph, taken from farther down the trail. In that photograph, the Diving Board is actually the flat top of the left shoulder jutting out from the butte shown in the photograph; the top is actually shaped roughly like a diving board.

About 1.5 miles from the Slim Shady/Made in the Shade Trail junction, the trail forks, one branch going straight ahead to a gap in the mountain (upper right in the below photograph) while the other turns sharply left and follows closely along the slope to the Diving Board.

We paused at the fork to decide whether we should continue on to the gap, only about 100 yards, to see what was on the other side, eventually deciding to do so on our way back.

The Diving Board as seen from the trail

The 0.2 miles section of trail on to the diving board ran first along the slope and then close along the cliff wall with little room to spare (below left). A small diving board-shaped formation appears at the corner of the cliff (below right), but it was not what we were looking for.

Rounding the corner we have our first close up view of the Diving Board we sought.

First view of the Diving Board

By walking out to the end of the formation we could look almost straight down on the Village of Oak Creek.

Looking down on the Village of Oak Creek from the Diving Board

We were rewarded by panoramic views from Bell Rock to House Mountain. The view below, looking across Hwy 179, shows Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte backed by Lee Mountain and Munds Mountain in the distance. In the lower right corner can be seen a small slice of the Village of Oak Creek.

Bell Rock, Courthouse Butte and a bit of the Village of Oak Creek

On the way back we paused at the gap for the following view. The outcropping at left is the backside of the butte above the Diving Board. Barely visible at the right is the cliff wall of the mountain range which contains Cathedral Rock. We did not determine for sure whether the trail continues beyond the gap to connect with Cathedral Trail at some point. We think that it does.

Jim Manning is shown viewing the Village of Oak Creek through the gap

The total hike according to my GPS was 4.8 miles including the short added hike to the gap. The highest elevation was 4616 feet and the total ascent was 656 Feet.

Our GPS track to the Diving Board is shown in red on the included map; the short blue line is the added track to the gap.