Forest Road 503A on Woodchute

On 3 November 2012, eight Skyliners hiked along the slope of Woodchute Mountain on Forest Road 503A. We traveled through Jerome and continued up the mountain on Hwy 89A for 2.4 miles past the hairpin turn at the fire station in Jerome to leave one car at Walnut Springs, our hiking destination at the lower end of FR 305A.. We then traveled an additional 2.7 miles on up the mountain on Hwy 89A to park at the first hairpin turn above Mescal Gulch. Parking is available on the left side of the road traveling south on 89A as we were. The trail (FR 503A) starts directly across the road from the parking area.

The first section of the hike (about eight-tenths of a mile) was up a canyon on the southeast slope of Woodchute Mountain. We were at the head of Mescal Gulch, but I could not discern from the maps available whether this canyon formed the upper part of Mescal Gulch or was instead a side canyon. On the way up the canyon, we passed two roads turning off to the right. They just led off to the bottom of the canyon and possible campsites. Near the end of our climb up the canyon, a road turned sharply back to the left. We thought this road might lead up the mountain to intersect with Woodchute Trail near Woodchute Tank. Some of the group, including the author, decided to find out and we split into two groups, one group continuing along FR 503A, the other group turning up the side road.

The old road we were following was, for most of the way, in very good condition; however, it shortly forked with a less distinct road leading up the mountain while the main road continued along the slope. Thinking that the road heading up the mountain would be more likely to connect to Woodchute Trail, we took it. Alas, it ended after about a hundred yards and we were forced to turn back and continue on the road running along the slope. By this time I had decided that it must continue along the slope until it intersected with Hwy 89A somewhere above where we had parked. No such luck. After about another half-mile, the road became rough and rocky and then abruptly ended at a capped pipe set in concrete. We turned back to join the others, having added two miles to our hike.

I took the following photograph of clouds hovering over the San Francisco Peaks as we were returning from our unproductive side trip.

A layer of clouds hovering over the San Francisco Peaks (right of center). 

Left to right are seen; Humphreys, Agassiz, Fremont and Doyle. Rees 

Peak can barely be seen just over the left shoulder of Fremont; Abineau 

is entirely hidden behind Agassiz. Kendrick Mountain can be seen 

at the left through an opening in the trees

When we reached the point where we had separated from the rest of the group, we contacted them by cellphone to let them know that we were back on the regular trail; they were waiting for us in a sunny spot at the crest of the next hill, and we hurried along to catch up with them.

When we were all together again, we paused for a few minutes for a snack break and then gathered for a group photograph before pushing on.

Left to right: Beverly Sass, Daisy Williams, Becky Fowsky, David Beach, the 

author, Donna Goodman and Jim Manning 

– photograph by the eighth hiker with the authors camera

This section of the road is clearly visible from Woodchute Trail, high atop Woodchute Mountain, and a now-deceased hike leader once pointed it out to me when we were hiking on Woodchute and told me that this road was once part of the main road between Jerome and Prescott.

From where we took the group photograph, the road we were following headed downhill at a pretty good slope, becoming badly rutted and quite rocky for a short distance. Nevertheless, it would still be easily navigable with high-clearance, 4-wheel drive vehicles.

The rough section was soon behind us and we were once again on a fairly level road with a good hiking surface. As we continued on, we met a couple out deer hunting. They indicated that they had encountered no deer but had seen a lot of bear sign. As for ourselves, we saw one hawk cruising gracefully overhead, apparently out for a late breakfast, and shared the trail with a large tarantula (see photograph at right).

Looking off to our right, we could see the road we were following as it wound its way down the mountain (top center) to where our car was parked at Walnut Springs. Hwy 89A (lower right to center) is also visible.

Our road is visible on the mountain ahead 

– Jerome is just over the mountain

Looking ahead across a deep bend in the road, I could see a section where a lot of work had been done to shore up the road where it crossed a wash (see photograph at left). This would seem to lend credence to the theory that it was once the main road to Prescott.

Soon enough we were at the start of the section of the road that leads down the mountain to rejoin Hwy 89A at Walnut Springs. This section is pretty steep and has a lot of loose rock, making it imperative that one step carefully. Nevertheless, we made good time and were soon at the end of our hike.

The GPS track for this hike is shown on the included map (below) shows the basic hike in red. According to my track that was 5.4 miles. The section in blue shows the additional two miles hiked by those of us who took the road up the mountain searching for Woodchute Trail. The magenta line shows the 2.7 miles along Hwy 89A between the two ends of the trail.

The maximum elevation for this hike was 6715 feet and the total ascent was 1232 feet.