Red Rock Park to Gooseneck Bend

On 12 March 2011, fourteen Skyliners traveled north from Cottonwood on 89A and turned on Lower Red Rock Loop Road. We drove the entrance to Red Rock State Park, turned and parked alongside the road at the Lime Kiln Trailhead across from the park entrance. George and Akemi had traveled from Sedona and were waiting for us there. The below plaque is mounted at the trailhead.

Plaque mounted at Lime Kiln Trailhead at Red Rock State Park

From the trailhead Lime Kiln Trail first runs to the southeast parallel to Lower Red Rock Loop Road for about 0.1 miles, crossing a wash along the way, and then turns sharply up the slope of Scheurman Mountain. The trail climbs around 400 feet in 0.9 miles to cross a lower ridge on the south slope of Scheurman Mountain and then descends to cross Lower Red Rock Loop Road heading generally west. About 1.0 mile from Red Rock Loop Road, where Lime Kiln Trail follows a dirt road, we came to a fork in the road. At this point, we took the left fork, leaving Lime Kiln Trail. This fork is marked as 9845H, although the marker is a metal stake, partly hidden in the bushes and cannot be read until you pass it and look back. After following Road 9845H for about 0.1 miles from Lime Kiln Trail, we came to Horse Trail A. This trail actually crosses the road at this point; to continue toward Oak Creek at Gooseneck (sometimes called Horseshoe) Bend we turned left onto the horse trail. A metal stake bearing the letter A identifies the trail.

About 0.25 miles from 9845H, Horse Trail A enters an old road. We continued along this road going uphill to arrive at a saddle in the ridge overlooking Oak Creek above Gooseneck Bend. At the saddle in the ridge, we left the old road and continued on the horse trail going downhill to the southeast toward Oak Creek. About 0.25 miles from the saddle in the ridge and just above Oak Creek, the Indian ruins were visible in the cliff across a wash to our right. At this point, we could either (1) turn off the trail to the right and find a place to cross the wash and climb the hill to the cliff or (2) continue down the horse trail to a fence, apparently designed to keep stock from entering Oak Creek, and follow that up the hill to the cliff. We chose the second option.

Note the rock wall built under the overhang. This could be either 

Indian Ruins or a latter day fake?

At the bottom of the hill, part of the group made the steep climb up the hill along the fence to reach the ruins. The rest of the group continued straight ahead and found a nice lunch spot at the foot of a cliff alongside Oak Creek. We all ate lunch, some at the ruins, some alongside the creek, before heading back

After eating my lunch at the ruins, I made my way directly down the steep slope toward the creek rather than follow the fence back. I then walked up a dry wash alongside the creek to join the rest of the group before starting back. Along the way I found the below pictured log fabricated by some industrious beaver. Following lunch we all gathered for a group picture before heading back.

Left over building material from a beaver construction project

Left to right: The author, Daisy Williams, Dolly Yapp, Name Withheld, Miriam 

Sterling, Marvin Alt, Jim Manning, Unable to contact, Donna Goodman, 

Connie Woolard, Bill Woolard, Akemi Tomioka, Jan PreFontaine, George 

Everman, Lila Wright and Fran Lind – photo by George with time delay

The photograph below shows Oak Creek at the apex of Gooseneck Bend where most of the group stopped for lunch.

Apex of Gooseneck Bend in Oak Creek – photo by George

According to my GPS file, we hiked 6.6 miles. The elevation change was around 530 feet. Those who retraced the entire hike route on the return trip ascended a total about 1050 feet. For those who returned part of the way by hiking along Lower Red Rock Loop Road, and thus did not climb back across the foothill of Scheurman Mountain, the total ascent was around 750 feet.

Our GPS track is displayed on the included map (below).