Bear Mountain Trail

On a sunny day with a high, thin layer of clouds providing some protection on an unseasonably warm late winter day, sixteen Skyliners hiked Bear Mountain Trail on 16 March 2013.

Thirteen hikers (Dave Beach, Miriam Sterling, Frank Lombardo, Collene Maktenieks, Anita Jackson, Dolly Yapp, Jim Manning, Donna Goodman, Daisy Williams, Betty Wolters, Lila Wright, one unnamed hiker and the author) gathered at Cottonwood and carpooled to the trailhead. From Cottonwood, we traveled north to Sedona on Hwy 89A and turned left onto Dry Creek Road. About 2 miles from Hwy 89A we passed Vultee Arch Road leading off to the right. After about another 0.85 miles (2.85 miles from Hwy 89A) we reached a stop sign. Long Canyon Road leads to the right from here. We turned left onto Boynton Pass Road, traveling another 0.6 miles to reach a second stop sign at the junction with Long Canyon road. Turning left we continued on Boynton Pass Road for about another 1.25 miles before turning into the trailhead parking lot for Doe Mountain and Bear Mountain Trails.

Three additional hikers (Becky Fowsky, Mary Gavan and a second unnamed hiker) were waiting for us there.

We crossed the road and found a graduate student ensconced in a camp chair at our trailhead. He was doing a paper on hiking in the wilderness. Apparently, the paper was trying to determine what hikers expectations were as they headed into the wilderness and whether those expectations had been met when they returned. Scholarly research on the benefits of wilderness areas seemed a good cause, and we stopped long enough to fill out a short questionnaire.

The trail leads generally headed northwest for its entire length. During the first quarter of a mile, crossing a mostly flat plain bisected by deep-cut gullies. It then continued up the slope of Bear Mountain, gently at first, but rapidly becoming quite steep and climbing 1000 feet in the next mile.

The photograph shown here (right), taken shortly after we started the climb up the steep mountain slope, shows the trail crossing the flat plain below to the parking area nestled at the base of doe Mountain.

After a hard climb we found ourselves nearing the top of the hematite-tinted sandstone (red rock) and the mountainside was littered with fallen cream-colored rock from the overlying layer. The following photograph shows hikers nearing the top of the red-rock formation.

Hikers nearing the top of the red-rock formation

When we were about a mile from the trailhead we could look southeast across a small canyon to beautiful red-rock formations on the other side and on across Sedona to Munds Mountain looming in the distance.

Red-rock formations across a small canyon and Munds Mountain looming 

in the distance beyond Sedona.

After topping the red-rock formation, the trail lead gently upward for a distance then started a steep climb once again. We were hiking along a ridge that, with intervening saddles followed by ever steeper climbs would lead us to the top of Bear Mountain which still loomed high above us.

Just over half way up the trail we topped a small summit of the ridgeline we were following and had our first glimpse of what lay on the other side of the mountain. In the following photograph, red sandstone spires arise from the bottom center pointing to Casner Mountain in the distance while the cream-colored shoulder of Bear Mountain intrudes from the right.

First view of the terrain beyond Bear Mountain

The trail was generally easy to follow with small cairns built by previous hikers placed along the way. There were occasional side paths leading off to viewpoints, but if one did take one of these in error, the mistake soon became apparent.

We became pretty scattered out on the way up the mountain, hiking in four different groups. One group decided to stop for lunch part way to the end of the trail and turn back from there. The other three groups went all the way to the “top” only to discover that it was just the end of the trail and that the highest point on Bear Mountain lay about a mile north and another 100 feet higher. No one seemed disposed to go another mile, closer to two along the course we would have had to take.

By the time I arrived at the trail's end, those who had arrived first were almost ready to start back. I ate a quick lunch and settled in for my customary nap, only to be awakened almost immediately by their departure. I reluctantly donned my pack and was on the trail shortly after they left. Betty was still with me, I think having been assigned as my keeper.

On the way back down, I stopped to photograph the Cockscomb formation and Doe Mountain from high up on Bear Mountain.

Cockscomb formation (center) and Doe Mountain just to its left

I certainly did miss that nap and was really dragging when we finally completed the hike. We had, according to my GPS hiked only 4.4 miles. However, the instrument gave our total ascent as 2037 feet. From the time we had left the plain that lies between the parking lot and the start of the climb, we climbed about 1000 feet per mile to reach the end of the trail. I don't mind climbing over 2000 feet, but I do like it to be spread out over a greater distance than two miles.

We found the graduate student still manning his post at the trailhead and paused for his follow-up questions.

After getting home and soaking in the tub for half an hour, I thought it a great hike.

Our GPS track is shown in red on the included map (below). The blue track is taken from a 2 February 2010 hike to an old still site in Fay Canyon.