Abineau-Waterline-Bear Jaw Loop

It was a beautiful, shirtsleeve-weather day when eight Skyliner hikers set out from Cottonwood on Saturday, 16 June 2012 to hike the Abineau-Waterline-Bear Jaw Loop on the north slope of the San Francisco Peaks. Seven of us left Cottonwood at 0630 and drove through Sedona to pick up Becky Fowsky.

We drove up Oak Creek Canyon, took I-40 at the airport exit, continued straight on Milton when the freeway ended, passed under the railroad overpass, took the sharp right turn and turned left onto US Hwy 180 (Humphreys Street). We drove 19.4 miles on US Hwy 180 to turn right onto FR 151. (Note that FR 151 could also be accessed at mile marker 235 but that results in a long trip on a dirt road. Pass on by.) About 1.6 miles after turning on FR 151, we came to a junction with FR 418, turned slightly left onto 418 and continued for another 3.1 miles before turning right onto the road (FR 9123J) (above, right) to the Abineau-Bear Jaw Trailhead parking lot. This road is only about 0.6 miles long and we came to a fork just before we reached the lot; we bore to the left and almost immediately were there. According to my GPS, the elevation at the parking lot was about 8540 feet.

Access is also possible from US Hwy 89. However, that involves a pretty rough 13 mile trip on a dirt road. One of our hikers recently drove both routes and recommended access from US Hwy 180.

It was warm enough at the trailhead that we felt no need for jackets. We donned our packs and set out up the mountain, walking about 250 feet from our parked cars to the trailhead. A sign warned that Abineau is the more difficult horse trail (a little later we were to see why) and a map (see next page) of the Abineau-Bear Jaw Loop was posted to show the way. For the first 0.4 miles the trails run together, leading into Abineau Canyon (very shallow here). There they split, Bear Jaw leading generally east along the foothills of Abineau and Abineau heading generally south up Abineau Canyon. The trail map posted at the trailhead and the sign where the trails split are shown below.

North-oriented trail map posted at the Abineau-Bear Jaw Trailhead

Trail sign and sign-in box – the small bottom sign points right for Abineau 

and left for Bear Jaw

Because our hike leader remembered sliding down Abineau Trail on a previous hike, he chose to go up it this time. After signing in, we followed him up the trail, at this point, fairly steep but easy to hike. The below photograph shows a typical view of the lower portion of the trail.

Lower part of Abineau Trail

Abineau measures (my GPS) 2.4 miles from the trailhead to Waterline Trail. About three quarters of a mile before we reached the top, we left the treeline and entered an open space that stretched across the bottom of the canyon and continued all the way to the top. Here the trail became even steeper and was strewn with loose gravel on a hard surface, making it very precarious. I could now understand the warning sign for equestrians at the trailhead and why our leader did not want to descend on this trail.

We were now high up the mountain slope and, once we had left the cover of the forest and climbed far enough above the fir trees to see through their tops, we got our first glimpse of the great views of deserts, mountains and prairies to our north.

View to the north from Abineau Trail

By the time our leader, followed closely by me, Lyne and then Becky, reached the top of Abineau, we were all ready to take a good rest. The other four members of our group, in contact by walkie-talkie, had stopped for a snack along the way and were father behind. A jumble of trail signs were posted at the junction to show the way from here.

Trail direction signs at Abineau/Waterline junction

The top sign (above) points back down Abineau Trail, back the way we had come. The lower sign points left for both Bear Jaw and the Inner Basin Trail.

We were actually located on the northwest slope of Abineau, with Humphreys looming over us to the southwest (196⁰ true), but a nearby sign warned that access to Humphreys from this side was prohibited.

The sun was warm and there was just enough wind to moderate the temperature, so we were in no great hurry to leave this most pleasant spot. That seemed to be a common sentiment as we were soon joined by several other hikers. We, at one time, numbered sixteen sprawled out on the ground and perched on the surrounding rocks as hikers came and went. Looking to our north, we now had an unobstructed view back down Abineau Canyon and on across the jumble of prairies mountains and desert to the northern horizon.

View from Abineau/Waterline Trails junction

Closer up, on the slope just below us was a small fir tree with extraordinary cranberry-red cones. They looked good enough to eat.

Cranberry-red cones on a small fir tree

We ate lunch there (but refrained from sampling the fir cones), enjoying the balmy weather and the great view. But, too soon, it was time to leave, so we again donned our packs and headed down Waterline Trail to the junction with Bear jaw, 2.1 miles (again by my GPS) ahead.

Looking down Waterline Trail toward the junction with Bear Jaw

While still on Waterline Trail, we paused for a group Photograph.

Left to right: Becky Fowsky, Lyne Brousseau, Kwi Johnson, Lila Wright, 

Betty Wolters (front), Name Withheld and Miriam Sterling

This was undoubtedly the easiest and most pleasant part of the hike, as we found ourselves traveling gently downhill along an old road once used to service the now abandoned waterline. Along the way, I found a spot in the trail with a deep luxurious covering of pine needles and was sorely tempted to stop for a nap. Unfortunately, I was overruled and we kept going.

The upper end of Bear Jaw was clearly marked and we had no trouble finding it. As shown in the following photograph, the upper portion of the trail is fairly steep and quite rocky. However, compared to the upper part of Abineau, composed of loose gravel on a steep, hard surface, it was a breeze and we continued to make good time.

Trail junction sign

Rocky upper portion of Bear Jaw Trail

The trail descends into Bear Jaw Canyon and climbs out the other side, runs directly north down the the west side of the canyon for a short distance, then turns to the northwest and descends gently along the slope of Abineau, crossing Reese Canyon on the way. Much of the way along the slope we seemed to be following an old road, probably a logging road. When we arrived back at the junction with Abineau Trail, we did not pause but continued on the short additional distance to the joint Abineau/Bear Jaw Trailhead at the parking lot

We made the 2.6 mile (my GPS) trip from the Waterline/Bear Jaw junction to the trailhead with only two short breaks. Our hike was done. Lila is shown below as she emerges at the trailhead. While the trail sign says the hike is 6.8 miles, my GPS gave the distance as 7.1.

Lila ending the Abineau/Bear Jaw Loop hike

We climbed into our vehicles and headed back to Cottonwood, stopping, at Miriam's urging, at the junction of the road from the parking lot with FR 418 to take the following photograph of prairie and mountains. Thank you Miriam, you have a good eye.

View of prairie and mountains from FR 418

According to my GPS track we hiked 7.1 miles, the highest elevation was 10330 feet and the total ascent was 1879 feet.

The GPS track for this hike, along with some additional information, is shown on the included map (below). At the top of the page, FR 418 is shown in magenta; the short blue track is FR 9123J, the connector to the parking lot at Abineau Trailhead; the GPS Track is shown in red; the green track shows the part of Waterline Trail that was not included as part of this loop hike; and the yellow track is the route of an old road that shows on some maps.