Woody Mountain Lookout and Flagstaff Arboretum

On October l, 2016 the Skyliners had a delightful surprise hike. Seven of us drove north on I-17 to Exit 337 turned back over the freeway, right on Hwy 89A and, after half a mile, turned left on Purple Sage Road. (At least we would have if the hike leader had not been confused about going into Fort Tuthill). After 1.8 miles on Purple sage (NF 532), we turned left on NF 231 (Woody Mt. Rd.). We were looking for NF 231 C when we got to Roger's Lake, but it is unmarked now. We stopped at a new parking lot at the south end of Roger's Lake and read a sign with a map (below) that showed new trails in the area.

Posted trail map

The trail we chose was called Gold Digger. We saw on the map that it would intersect the road that goes to the top of Woody Mt. As the trail led us gently upward in a meandering fashion, we soon heard a bull elk bugle. He treated us to two more calls when Gary Jacobson answered his challenge. But we never caught sight of him or any other elk. We did sight five fleeing deer on the hike and two mule deer near the road going in.

Looking to the north, the hikers could see the cloud shrouded Lowell Observatory and the San Francisco Peaks (below).

San Francisco Peaks and Lowell Observatory

We ate a late snack when we came to the intersection with the Woody Mt. Road and then quickly proceeded up the road to the lookout on top. We were a little concerned about clouds growing darker. At the look out, we discovered it was open but unoccupied. As it had cleared up somewhat, we had sunshine and a clear view in a full circle. When we made this hike six years ago the lake showed water; but it looked dry this year.

Rogers Lake from Woody Mountain

After lunch we took our group photo (below) at the Woody Mountain Lookout, with Jim McGinnis' camera which he was able to set on a timer and join the group.

Left to right: Beverly Sass, Gary Jacobson, Daisy Williams, Karl Sink, Ellen McGinnis, Jim McGinnis and Lila Wright.

Coming back down the mountain to the intersection of the Gold Digger trail: we continued on with the trail. Just a few hundred feet down the trail off a ridge we had been on, we came to a brand new ramada, picnic table and large water storage tank (below left). Next to it is a beautiful stand of young and old aspen (below right) protected by an elk fence.

Karl chose to go along the Two Spot trail which travels in a straight line along an old rail line at the edge of the lake. The rest of us followed the upper portion of Two Spot trail which was away from traffic noise and which meandered greatly in and out of gentle: shallow canyons. Karl arrived at the parking lot at one hour before the meandering group.

Each trail intersection is well marked as shown by the photograph displayed here (right).

Lila was attempting to use the Garmin GPS but was unsuccessful in figuring out the mileage. Thankfully Jim was able to get a mileage of 8.2. Our intended hike would have been 4 miles: so we doubled that but thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful trail.

With a little research the author discovered that in November of 2010 Coconino County acquired 22,250 acres of land in and around Rogers Lake. Go to Rogers Lake County Natural Area for further information. Skyliners last hiked the Woody Mountain area in 2010, the same year the county acquired the land and had no idea what changes were coming.

At the end of our hike, we climbed back into our vehicles and retraced our route on NF231 to the Arboretum which we had driven past earlier in the morning. Only four hikers went in. Two drove on to their destination in Flagstaff and one rested in the vehicle. Inside: we headed for the butterfly house first and were rewarded with three different species of butterflies in a wonderful habitat. A posted sign (left) informed us that butterflies smell With their antennae, and taste with their feet! The butterfly season is nearly over and of course many more species can be seen during the summer months. We saw the monarch (below left) and zebra longwing (below right) along another one that was not photographed or identified. The staff was very helpful in answering our questions.

The grounds of the Arboretum were awash in autumn colors. The white ash (below left) was brilliant orange and the Maximilian sunflower (below right) was radiant yellow Apart from our group, we did not see another hiker all day and were amazed we had the whole place to ourselves. We will have to keep abreast of the county building more trails in this area in the future. It is definitely an area that offers much.

Report by Lila Wright