Lime Kiln Trail from Red Rock to Dead Horse

Lime Kiln Trail was listed as a Centennial Trail by the USDA Forest Service in 2005, in celebration of the 100th birthday of the US Forest Service and we had discussed hiking it since that time. A few of us had already hiked the entire length of the trail and others had hiked various portions. We would now all hike the entire length, but split it into two separate hikes. The section of trail from Red Rock State Park to Hwy 89A at the Sedona Wastewater Treatment Facility was scheduled for today, 4 January 2014.

In the mid 1880s brothers Charles and G. M. Willard constructed a lime kiln in the White Hills above Cottonwood. The kiln was actually excavated out of a limestone ledge. It was originally about 20 feet high and had a solid, closed top. Today, the remains are about 6 feet high and the top is open. Lime Kiln Road was constructed at the same time to bring lime from the kiln to the construction sites for the Willard and Strahan houses. The Willard House is still standing; the Strahan house was demolished in 2007.^{1, 2}

Later the road was extended beyond the kiln to connect with the Oak Creek Road. Known as the Lime Kiln Cut-Off, It became a favored route for early settlers and was continued in use until the advent of the automobile.³

For our 4 January hike we drove two vehicles to the trailhead just beyond the turnoff from Lower Red Rock Road Loop into Red Rock State Park, leaving a third vehicle at the wastewater treatment facility on the way, and parked alongside the road. There is a wide shoulder at the trailhead, providing ample room to park three or four cars.

We like to take a group photograph sometime during each hike, and I forgot to do that on the last hike, so we paused at the trailhead for a group photograph before starting today's hike.

Left to right: Jim Manning, Donna Goodman, Betty Wolters, Gary Jacobson, 

Kwi Johnson, Collene Maktenieks, the author and Connie Woolard 

– photograph by Name Withheld

We were in the shade at the start of the hike and it was pretty chilly, but the first mile to the lower saddle at the south end of Scheurman Mountain is essentially all uphill and we soon warmed up. In the saddle, Lime Kiln Trail intersects with the lower end of Scheurman Mountain Trail (right) which leads across the mountain and ends at Red Rock High School.

At an elevation of 4280 feet, the saddle was the high point of our hike and, as shown in the following photograph, we could see far across the plain to Sycamore Gap at the edge of Sycamore Canyon Wilderness area.

Looking northwest from the lower saddle of Scheurman Mountain.

We followed Lime Kiln Trail on through the saddle, descended the western slope of Scheurman Mountain, crossed Lower Red Rock Loop Road and continued through the hills south of Elmerville. The following photograph shows the view looking north from the hills above Elmerville.

Looking north from Lime Kiln Trail as it crosses the hills above Elmerville

After passing Elmerville, the trail followed a dirt road and continued on past Dry Creek where we stopped for a snack. We were 3 miles from the trailhead at Red Rock.

Dry Creek Crossing

We were pleasantly surprised when George Everman met us at Dry Creek. He had decided to hike in from the wastewater treatment plant on Hwy 89A and meet us. He then accompanied us back to Hwy 89A and, on his way back home to Sedona, transported the two drivers back to the Red Rock to retrieve our vehicles.

After our snack, we continued on along the old road for about 0.8 miles to where the road made a turn to the right. At this point, the trail continues straight ahead through a locked, green gate and follows along another old road, now closed to vehicle traffic. The trail was now leading south by southwest up a gentle slope. A wash that had several weirs installed along its course ran parallel to the trail most of the way up the slope. Such structures are normally used for the purpose of measuring water flow; however, why so many weirs would be needed along the course of the same wash is a puzzle. In any event, they now serve only to control erosion. The trail reaches the top of the slope after about 0.4 miles, continues across a large level area and then turns to the southwest down a gentle slope, skirts the reclaimed water spray area, crosses Forest Road 89B⁴ and continues parallel to that road for a short distance to the Deer Pass parking area. 

Someone, obviously referring to the use of wastewater, had posted the following whimsical sign on the fence.

Whimsical sign

Looking north across the spray area from FR 89B, we had an excellent view of the Red Rock Country west of Sedona.

View north from FR 89B at the Sedona Wastewater Treatment Facility

According to my GPS track, we hiked 5.7 miles today. Our highest elevation was 4255 feet and the elevation difference was 584 feet. A single map showing the entire trail is included later in this report.

Having hiked on Lime Kiln Trail from Red Rock State Park to the Sedona Wastewater Treatment Facility the previous week, we set out on 11 January 2014 to hike the rest of the trail from the wastewater facility to Dead Horse State Park.

For last weeks hike we had parked at the Deer Pass (FR 89B) parking lot on the east side of Hwy 89A. For today's hike, because we had been told the HWY 89A underpass was clogged with mud and tumbleweed, we drove to the same area but turned onto FR 525 and parked a few yards ahead. Both are shown on the below map. A bathroom is provided at the Deer Pass parking lot. The green track at right shows a portion of the 140104 hike; the red track at left shows the beginning of the 140111 hike.

Map showing parking at the Sedona Wastewater Treatment Facility

We started our hike at about 0845 by heading southwest from the parking lot and crossing a wash to connect with Lime Kiln Trail about 0.2 miles from the underpass. We were now hiking down a gentle slope with the country ahead spread out before us with Mingus and Woodchute Mountains on the horizon.

View to Mingus and Woodchute Mountains from Lime Kiln Trail west of Hwy 89A

About 0.7 miles from the highway we passed Triangle Tank on our right. Now following an old road, we continued down the slope and crossed Spring Creek after about another 0.5 miles. Spring Creek runs down from Mooney Canyon and, even in dry weather, isolated pools of water can often be found along its length in the canyon. The trail continued along the old road for a short distance and then left it and headed cross-country in a southwest direction toward the Coffee Creek crossing, around 0.8 miles from Spring Creek. This section of trail is well-marked and easy hiking, except that we had to kick a lot of tumbleweeds aside.

Coffee Creek originates on Casner Mountain. In fact, the lower Casner Trailhead is located at Coffee Creek where it crosses Sycamore Pass Road (FR 525C). The creek runs into Spring Creek a short distance below the Lime Kiln Crossing. This is my favorite spot to stop for lunch when hiking the entire Lime Kiln Trail from Red Rock to Dead Horse; it is just over half way and is a pleasant place to stop. A stubborn old willow tree, shown in the following photograph, hanging on despite grievous injury adorns its bank.

Stubborn old willow tree

Crossing the creek, we found ourselves on another old road which the trail followed up a fairly steep slope to the top of a ridge. Except for a short section within Dead Horse Park, this was the steepest part of today's hike and we rewarded ourselves with a short rest at the top of the ridge. Looking northwest from here, we could see into Sycamore Gap, framed by Casner on the north and Black Mountain to the south.

Sycamore Pass to the west framed by Black Mountain and Casner Mountain

After a short rest we posed for a group photograph before continuing our hike.

Left to right: The author, George Everman, Gary Jacobson (rear), Collene Maktenieks, Dolly Yapp, 

Dave Beach (front), Miriam Sterling (rear), Anita Jackson, Connie Woolard, Kwi Johnson, 

Daisy Williams, Ruth Frazier, Felicia Coates, Lila Wright, Bob Coates and Jim Manning 

– photograph by Name Withheld

Figuring that the Bill Gray Road crossing would be about half way to Dead Horse Ranch, we stopped there for lunch and George, who had parked there and hiked back to join us at Coffee Creek, left us, taking three other hikers with him.

We still had about 4.7 miles to go, but the Black Hills beyond Dead Horse Ranch looked deceptively close.

Looking to the Black Hills beyond Dead Horse Ranch

The trail soon left the old road shown in the preceding photograph and started dipping in and out of washes along the slope of the hill. We were higher than the track of the old Lime Kiln Road, and we had much better views. The trail was not by any means level, dipping into and out of washes as it followed along the slope. However, neither was it very steep. It did have a fine powder surface that made walking a little difficult, somewhat like walking in loose sand.

Along the way we passed the spot where Brian Mickelson, former Cottonwood City Manager, died on the trail on 18 August 2007.⁵ The spot, 1.9 miles along the trail from Dead Horse, is marked by the two memorial plaques shown below, one on either side of the trail.

Brian Mickelson memorial plaque

Brian Mickelson memorial plaque

We were all getting a bit tired now and the boundary of Dead Horse Ranch State Park (right) was a welcome sight. From here it was just 0.3 miles to the end of the trail.

The most difficult part of the entire Lime Kiln Trail is, in my opinion, the short section Inside Dead Horse Ranch. But even this part of the trail is not overly difficult, just a little rocky as it follows the route of the old, washed-out road above the kiln site. And, in any case, we were soon at the site of the old kiln (left) and the rest of the trail was easier.

We had parked one vehicle at the trailhead. However, most of us would have to hike another 0.8 miles to be picked up at the gate. The cost to park vehicles within the park is $7.00 each, so we had left all but one at the Safeway parking lot.

The State Park Service hands out a patch (right) to those who complete the entire Lime Kiln Trail. I did not know about the patch the last time I hiked the trail, so I made sure to get one this time.

According to my GPS track we hiked 9.0 miles today. Our highest elevation was 3948 feet and the elevation difference was 656 feet.

For the entire Lime Kiln Trail, from Red Rock State Park to Dead Horse Ranch State Park, the distance is 15 miles, the highest elevation is 4255 feet and the elevation difference is 863 feet.

The included map (below) shows the trail from Red Rock to Hwy 89A (Deer Pass parking lot) in green, the trail from Hwy 89A (FR 525 parking lot) to Dead Horse Ranch in red in red and the 0.5 mile section connecting the two by way of the Hwy 89A underpass in blue.

1National Forest Service Trail Description for Lime Kiln Trail #82

2The Verde Independent, October 15, 2009

3National Forest Service Trail Description for Lime Kiln Trail #82

4Forest Road 89B (also known as Deer Pass Road) starts at Hwy 89A, directly across the highway from FR 525, and leads east.

5 http://www.dianejoens.com/bmickelsen_memorial.htm