Inner Basin and Waterline Trails to Bearjaw

On 14 September 2013, the Skyliners hiked from Lockett Meadow to Bearjaw by way of the Inner Basin and Waterline Trails. We left Cottonwood just after 0700 and were at Locket Meadow at about 0840. The 4.5 mile stretch of dirt road from Hwy 89A to the trailhead at Locket Meadow was in better shape than we had expected. Repairs have been performed recently and, except that it is still very narrow and has some deep ruts carved by recent heavy rains, is easy to navigate.

Camping at the meadow is available only at numbered sites which are available for $6.00 for day use or $12 for overnight camping. Free parking for hikers is provided at the trailhead.

We parked at the clearly-marked trailhead, paused just long enough to review the trailhead sign (right), and quickly headed up the trail toward Jack Smith Spring where we expected to join and turn north on the Waterline Trail.

This was my first time on the Inner Basin Trail for almost a decade, well before the 2010 Schultz fire, and I noted evidence of that fire soon after we started up the trail. Fire damage was restricted to the south side of the trail and we were soon past the burned area. Despite the devastation caused by forest fires, they do have some unique and, in their own way, appealing after effects. Here, the silent dead trees still stood sentinel while below the forest was covered with new-growth aspen along with scattered wildflowers, such as the asters shown here (above left), that are seldom seen in pristine forests.

We were soon past the burn area and back into undamaged (at least by fire) forest. The trail at first continued straight up the slope toward Jack Smith Spring through a forest of mixed vegetation, primarily pine and fir. Then, we emerged into a beautiful, almost ethereal, zone of quaking aspen and grass-carpeted forest.

Quaking aspen in a grass-carpeted forest

The trail now started a series of switchbacks and I realized that this was not the route I had followed when I last hiked on the Inner Basin Trail. I have faint memories of following the traces of an old road up the mountain slope. Now, there were no traces of old road and we were following an obviously rather newly-built and well-engineered trail, designed to minimize erosion and take the drudgery out of what was, after all, a rather steep climb, rising almost 800 feet in the first 1.7 miles.

Having plotted the old trail using a dated topographic map, I was expecting to reach Waterline Trail at Jack Smith Spring after traveling 1.7 miles on Inner Basin Trail. Unexpectedly, the newly-constructed trail brought us out on Waterline Trail 0.2 miles south of the spring. A sign posted at the trail junction (right) indicated that going south would take us to Schultz Pass Road, so we knew that we were still south of the spring and would have to head north to reach it. In any case, Bearjaw was certainly still well north to the north.

Waterline Trail, following the path of a waterline serving Flagstaff, begins at Schultz Pass, runs along the northeast slope of the San Francisco Peaks into the Inner Basin and continues north and northwest to Abineau Canyon. The below sign describes it well.

Sign posted on Waterline Trail at Jack Smith Spring

We continued the short distance on Waterline Trail to Jack Smith Spring. There we saw a good chance to combine a group photograph with an informational sign.

Left to right: David Beach. Miriam Sterling, Jerry Helfrich, Lila Wright and 

Ann Urick – author not shown

Another sign (left) provided the distances to various other points. If accurate, the distance of 3 miles given to Bearjaw meant that it would have been 3.2 miles from the point we left the Inner Basin for Waterline. However, I had plotted the distance as being 3.9 miles. As it turns out, our GPS track from where we first entered Waterline Trail to Bearjaw, perhaps a few yards beyond the Bearjaw Trailhead, measured 3.1 miles.

After only a short pause at Jack Smith Spring, we continued on toward Bearjaw. We had set that point as our goal because several of us had already hiked the section of Waterline Trail between there and the trail's end at Abineau Canyon as part of the Abineau-Waterline-Bearjaw Trails loop.

The road was not quite as well-maintained along this section, but was still in very good condition. While we saw no vehicle tracks, there was ample evidence in the way of fallen trees removed from the road, that it was being maintained well enough to permit use by waterline service vehicles. That, along with the very gentle slope and the beautiful surrounding forest, made it an absolute pleasure to hike.

View of Waterline Trail north of Jack Smith Spring

Because of the heavy forest, we had only an occasional view of anything other than our immediate surroundings. There were, however, a couple of places where openings provided farther off views. The following photographs were taken from such viewpoints.

Looking down on Lockett Meadow where we started our hike from 

Waterline Trail

Looking generally northeast from Waterline Trail north of Jack Smith Spring

We arrived at the Bearjaw Trailhead (right) at about noon. The trail we were on was mostly shaded and there was a light cool wind blowing which, coupled with perspiration from the hike, made us all a bit chilly, so we continued on past the trailhead for several yards to stop for lunch in a sunny spot with several fallen logs that would serve as seating.

There was the possibility of thundershowers, a 10% chance according to the Weather Service, and the ground was still too wet from previous rains for me to take my customary noon nap, so we were soon on our way back down the trail. As always, I noticed different things on the way back. For instance, this first hint of fall color prominently displayed along the road bank (left).

We hurried along as we neared the end of the trail because heavy clouds had gathered and we could hear the rumble of thunder in the distance. Fortunately, we received nothing more than a heavy sprinkle before arriving back at the parking lot. The rain continued to hold off for the drive back along the dirt road to Hwy 89A, a fact that pleased me immensely because I had seen a gorgeous yellow flower (right) on the drive in that I wanted to stop and photograph on the way back.

The total distance for this hike as shown by the red GPS track on the included map (below) was 9.6 miles round trip, the total ascent was 1,071 feet and the highest elevation was about 9741 feet.