Thompsons Ladder

The author, along with Lila Wright and Kwi Johnson, hiked Thompsons Ladder Trail on 5 December 2012. It is necessary to cross private property to directly access the lower trailhead, and we intended to bushwhack our way across National Forest land to intersect the trail farther up the mountain. From reviewing a map showing the location of private property in the area, it appeared that we could do this most easily from Thompsons Road. However, when we tried this, we came to a locked gate barring the road before we reached the point we intended to start bushwhacking.

We then drove back on Thompsons Road to Julie Lane and continued until that road ended at Oak Creek Utility Corporation's Well #1, located at the edge of National Forest land (identifying information shown at right, photograph below).

Parked at the end of Julie Lane

From the well, we headed north, following a pretty distinct trail, for about one-tenth of a mile, before turning generally southeast and following cairns for another three-tenths of a mile. The trail was occasionally hard to follow along this section, but with a little effort at times, we could always find the next cairn.

After just four-tenths of a mile from the Oak Creek Utility well, at the bottom of a rather steep, rocky descent, we came to Thompsons Ladder Trail. It was not obvious at first what trail it was; however, having a choice of heading uphill or downhill, we chose to go up the trail, and about a hundred yards ahead found a metal sign, such as is usually found at trailheads, identifying the trail as Thompsons Ladder.

We were now traveling along the north wall of Munds Canyon and for the first three-tenths of a mile, the trail sloped fairly gently uphill; it then climbed steeply for around a tenth of a mile, heading generally northeast, before turning back to the west to follow along a fairly gentle uphill slope interspersed with short, sharp climbs and a rock slide. After this it headed steeply uphill to the northeast to climb around and cross above a rocky outcropping that on my map is called Thompsons Point.

We paused often to rest and take in the tremendous, ever-changing, view below. The photograph here (right) shows Kwi looking out the mouth of Munds Canyon into Oak Creek Canyon. The Black Hills are visible in the distance.

As we climbed around Thompsons Point we had a clear view of Wilson Mountain across Oak Creek Canyon and we could trace the path we had followed on a recent hike on North Wilson Trail.

Wilson Mountain as seen from Thompsons Ladder Trail

Lila and Kwi are shown below gazing across the canyon at Wilson Mountain.

Kwi (left) and Lila (right) looking at Wilson Mountain across Oak Creek 

Canyon

From below, it appears that Thompsons Point is the canyon rim. However, once you reach it, you are faced with another nearly 200-foot climb to reach the top. The following photograph was taken from just above Thompsons Point.

Looking out the mouth of Oak Creek Canyon from behind Thompsons Point

Looking to the east we could see Mormon Mountain in the distance.

Looking up Munds Canyon to Mormon Mountain from behind Thompsons 

Point

When we did top out on the rim, we lost all signs of the trail. According to the map I use in my GPS, Thompsons Ladder Trail continues for another mile and rises another hundred feet to end at Roundup Tank. We had no desire to hike another mile, so the absence of any discernible trail troubled us not at all. We just headed along the rim until we came to a good viewpoint and stopped for lunch.

I ate lunch and set my alarm for a 30-minute nap. Upon awakening, I took some time to enjoy the view from our vantage point. We could see a section of Hwy 89A as it wound its way down Oak Creek Canyon toward Sedona and, looking on across Sedona, to Granite Mountain, peering over the the Black Hills in the distance.

Looking out the mouth of Oak Creek Canyon from a viewpoint near the 

point where Thompsons Trail tops the rim

We then retraced our steps to where we had ascended and started our climb back down the trail. The start of the trail back down is shown in the below photograph.

Thompsons Ladder Trail leaving the rim

The trip back down was just as difficult, although not as strenuous, as the ascent had been; however, it did go a lot faster. Whereas we had stopped to rest often on the way up, we made the return trip with only one stop along the way, and that more for the view than to rest.

As we descended we wondered about the original purpose of the trail. I have been told that it was built to move cattle between the canyon and the high country. It seemed awfully steep in places for that, but we could think of nothing else that would have caused its construction. One thing is sure, by the time any cows driven up this trail reached the rim, they would have been tired and in need of food and water.

Back home, I did a little research and came up with the following information, available in the Corridor Management Plan for the Sedona - Oak Creek Canyon Scenic Highway¹:

J.J. Thompson, claimed property under America’s 1862 Homestead Act. In 1876, Thompson took squatters rights to a parcel of land across from today’s Indian Gardens Store.

After Thompson homesteaded in the Canyon, more settlers heard the call², and they came to raise horses and cattle.

When we reached the point where we had intercepted the trail at the bottom, we decided to try returning to Thompsons Road by what appeared to be a more direct route. This is shown on the included map (below, see blue line). There was no sign of a trail and no cairns to point the way, but we gave it a go. The result was that we had a much harder hike and then exited onto the road on the wrong side of the locked gate. Our original bushwhack route (green line on the map) was much easier and approximately the same distance. The red line shows the part of Thompsons Ladder Trail that we hiked, and the dotted yellow line shows our route from Hwy 89A to where we parked.

The total hiking distance from where we parked to the top was 1.6 miles (3.2 miles round trip), the maximum elevation was 6122 feet and the total ascent was 1466 feet. As shown by my GPS track, our actual total hiking distance was 3.6 miles and the total ascent was recorded as 1603 feet because of the detour we took on the way back.

1Available at: http://www.azdot.gov/Highways/SWProjMgmt/enhancement_scenic/scenicroads/PDF/cmp_89A_oak_creek_canyon.pdf

2Referring to: Zane Grey’s “Call of the Canyon”, published in 1924