Beaverhead Flat Rd to Oak Creek/Jordan Overlook

For this 8 March 2010 hike, thirteen of us (Dolly Yapp, Anita Jackson, Daisy Williams, Miriam Sterling, Virginia Driscoll, Marvin Alt, Betty Wolters, Lila Wright, Jim Manning, Ellis Price and three others) traveled north on 89A from Cottonwood, turned right on Cornville Road and continued through Cornville to Beaverhead Flat Road. There we turned right and parked alongside Forest Road 119A.

Forest Road 119A is fairly well traveled and could be easily navigated by any truck type vehicle. Even a passenger car would be acceptable if driven with care. About 0.65 miles from the parking area we left Forest Road 119A to climb a relatively steep slope to a viewpoint that would give us an overview of the hike.

A primitive road took us part way to the top; the remainder of the climb was straightforward and not very difficult. The distance from FR 119A to the viewpoint is only about a third of a mile and the elevation change is a bit less than 200 feet. Along the way we noted that a few flowers were beginning to bloom.

These included, an admittedly scraggly looking, Indian paintbrush (below left) and a forlorn sprig of Spring parsley (below right). They were not very impressive, but they did serve as a timely reminder that spring was upon us and we would soon enough be seeking trails in the high country.

Indian paintbrush                                        Spring parsley

From the viewpoint we had a good view of the surrounding area and were able to decide, generally, where we would go on our hike. Basically, we could bear west or slightly northwest and come out somewhere along Oak Creek or we could bear southwest and come out along the Verde River. We chose the Oak Creek option and resumed our hike along the forest road until we came to a suitable place to turn toward Oak Creek.

Mingus Mountain (center) and Woodchute Mountain (right)

About 0.75 miles further along Forest Road 119A from the turnoff to the viewpoint, Forest Road 9213 leads off to the right. (NOTE: We actually turned just a bit under two tenths of a mile before reaching Forest Road 9213 and joined it a bit further on. The difference in hiking distance is insignificant; however it is possible that one might miss the road by turning early.)

This is the junction of Forest Roads 9213 and 119A. Mingus and Woodchute are visible in the distance

A power line runs parallel to and down slope from Forest Road 9213 for just under a mile. The power line then makes a 90⁰ turn toward the river. At about the same place the road also turns to the left (NOTE: Another road bears right at this point and, although we did take it for this hike, the best practice would be to continue on Forest Road 9213.) Just about a tenth of a mile after the forest road turns to the left, another road leads off to the right, going generally northwest. This is the one you want to take to repeat this hike. The road ended less than half a mile ahead; however that is not a problem if the goal, as was the case with our group, is to arrive at an overlook from which one can see out over Oak Creek. Just follow along the spine of the ridge from where the road ends until you come out at a point overlooking Oak Creek with a small community visible on the other side and Mingus Mountain showing in the distance. I heard someone refer to the community, which is accessed by Loy Road from Cornville, as “Lower Cornville.” However, Anita’s GPS software referred to it as “Jordan” and indeed it came up when I typed “Jordan, AZ” into Google. I have, thus referenced it with that name in the title of this report.

When we arrived at the Oak Creek/Jordan Overlook, we found that we were looking down on the area where we had ended our hike to Oak Creek along Cactus road on 6 February 2010. It was a really great viewpoint and we settled in for lunch and my customary nap before starting back.

During the hike back to where we were parked at Cornville Road, some of us took the way I have recommended in this report (that is without the two deviations described; however, both tracks are shown on the accompanying Google maps) in order to collect the correct the information for the GPS track.

One of our hikers collected some bits of biocrust on the way back. On learning that they were be composed of something growing from organic matter, she started to wonder just what the organic matter might be that she was carrying in her hands and finally decided to take a picture (right) and ditch the objects.

This hike was about 7.3 miles in length, including the side trip to climb to the viewpoint where I took the photograph of Mingus, with an elevation change of only about 450 feet.

The GPS track for this hike is shown on the included map (below).