Woods Canyon Trail

It was a cold day with a 30% chance of snow and only 5 hikers turned out for a 12 January 2013 hike on Woods Canyon Trail. We all met at the Cottonwood Safeway parking lot, drove north on Hwy 89A, turned right on Cornville road (CR 30), drove through Cornville and turned left on Beaverhead Flat Road (CR 78), turned left on Hwy 179 and drove 1.7 miles to the Red Rock Ranger District Center. Just after turning onto the road to the complex, we came to a sign at a bend in the road telling us that the Visitors Center was further along around the bend. We instead turned right onto a side road that runs below and parallel to the road to the visitors center. Immediately after turning, a driveway led downhill to some sort of service building. We passed that by and turned instead at the next driveway which led into the parking lot for an office building. We parked at the extreme southwest corner of the lot and found that Woods Canyon Trail (above, right) started immediately in front of our car.

The trail which leads down into and across a wetland area, is well-marked along this section with signs posted every few yards. This area also contains two stream crossings with stepping stones. Mindful of the below-freezing temperature, we used extreme care to avoid getting our feet wet. On the other side of the exclosure, about 0.2 miles from the trailhead, we came to a pedestrian gate (above, left) designed to exclude motorized traffic. Looking back as we passed through the gate, we saw a sign identifying the area as Jacks Canyon Exclosure for Riparian and Wildlife Habitat (below). The exclosure had not been identified as such at the point where we entered.

Sign at entry to Jack' Canyon Exclosure

About two miles ahead we would intersect with the Hot Loop Trail and the Forest Service, anticipating that hikers might be heading for that trail, took great pains to point out that Hot Loop Trail is not in fact a loop (see photograph at left). However, in conjunction with Jacks Canyon trail and a short connector between that trail and Hot Loop, it does in fact form a loop.

At this point we were in the wide mouth of Woods Canyon at its conjunction with Jacks Canyon. Looking to the north we had a clear view past the Village of Oak Creek to the red rock formations beyond. In the below photograph you can see the top of Cathedral Rock (left), Bell Rock (right of center) and Courthouse Butte.

Looking north from the Woods Canyon conjunction with Jacks Canyon

The trail followed along the remains of an old wagon road and although we had seen only one trail sign since leaving the Jacks Canyon Exclosure, the path was clear and easy to follow. About 1.1 miles from the trailhead we came to a sign-in box (right). Despite all markings having recently been removed from the box and the sign below it, the meaning was clear and we found an up-to-date sheet inside.

After signing in we continued on our way, coming soon to a full-size wire gate across the old road that the trail still followed.

Second gate on Woods Canyon Trail, 2.1 miles from the trailhead

Some 60 yards beyond the gate we came to the junction with Hot Loop Trail. At this junction, Woods Canyon Trail continued straight up the canyon while Hot Loop turned left and headed through a pass before making its way up Horse Mesa which lies between Woods Canyon and Jacks Canyon. A sign making this clear was posted at the trail junction and just a few yards along the trail towards Horse Mesa the Hot Loop Trailhead sign was visible.

Directional sign

Hot Loop Trailhead sign

We had, meanwhile, climbed higher and had emerged out of the shadow of the canyon wall into warm sunlight. Until this point we had been hiking steadily and, for us at least, at a fairly rapid pace in order to stay warm. The sun now provided some welcome added warmth and we decided to pause for a group photograph.

Left to right: Bob Wakefield, Dolly Yapp, Jim Manning and Daisy Williams

Having left the old wagon road at the Hot Loop junction, our trail, still well-tended and easy to follow, proceeded along the north wall of Woods Canyon and entered into the Munds Wilderness area (sign at left) about 160 yards ahead.

The trail rose and fell, but never so steeply as to become very difficult, as it wound its way along the canyon wall. In the photograph below two hikers can be seen at climbing one of the steepest sections while the ever-present, ghostly-white sycamores cover the rocky bed of the canyon floor to the right.

Hikers climbing a short steep section of trail in Woods Canyon

Around 3.2 miles from the trailhead we reached the mouth of Rattlesnake Canyon. From this point, should one wish to go that way, it would be about 2.6 miles up that canyon to the gaging station where we plan to descend on a hike planned for next month; it would be five miles if one were to follow it all the way to I-17 near the Stoneman Lake Road intersection.

At the confluence of the two canyons, water rushing into Woods Canyon from Rattlesnake Canyon had worn away the north wall, forming a steep cliff. To pass this point the trail descended to the canyon floor and wound its way along a series of rock ledges at the foot of the cliff. The below photograph, looking across Woods Canyon into Rattlesnake Canyon, was taken from that ledge. Note the beautifully deformed old sycamore, bent in the direction of stream flow, shown in the foreground.

Looking across the canyon floor and into the mouth of Rattlesnake Canyon.

Once we passed the cliff at the confluence, the trail again climbed up the sloping north canyon wall and continued its undulating up and down course along the wall, now occasionally dipping again to the floor of the canyon to follow closely alongside the rocky Dry Beaver Creek streambed. This upper section of the trail was less well-maintained and we had to exercise care to avoid losing it. Of course losing the trail would always be only a temporary problem along here as there was nowhere to go but on up the canyon.

We stopped for lunch at noon, approximately a half mile from the end of the trail, and three of us decided to push on to the end before turning back. We thus ate quickly and continued on our way. Just before we reached the end of the trail we came to an ancient bent and twisted, but still sturdily defiant, Emory oak tree and stopped for a photograph.

Jim Manning leaning on an ancient Emory oak tree

I had loaded a track showing the trail and its end into my GPS and was hoping to find some official marker, perhaps an end-of-trail sign, showing that we had indeed arrived. Alas, when we did finally reach the spot, 5.4 miles from the trailhead, all we found was a cairn (below) erected on top of a large rock in the streambed.

The end of Woods Canyon Trail

We paused for a few minutes to look around at the scenery and then headed back to join the rest of the group.

Cliff walls to the north from the end of Woods Canyon Trail

The GPS track for this hike is shown in red on the included map (below). Note that the markers for the wire gate (Gate 2), the junction with Hot Loop Trail and the wilderness boundary are all grouped close together and cannot clearly be distinguished because of the map scale.

As measured from the GPS track, the total round trip hike distance was 10.8 miles, the maximum elevation was 4351 feet and the total ascent was 902 feet. We were on the trail for 7.5 hours.