Woodchute Mountain

This morning we drove up into Prescott National Forest on a windy road through Jerome Arizona and further up to Mingus Pass, to take FR 106 to hike the Woodchute Mountain Trail 102. Overall we hiked about 8.5 miles and 1,100 ft. 

We had read that the trail starts by hiking a mile up the road to the trailhead. Later, we realized with the gate open on the forest road we could have driven to the trailhead today.

Gate at the beginning of the trail.

This trail is a mixture of ridge lines, open slopes and pine forest. Here looking towards Sedona and the San Francisco Peaks to the north.

zoom of the red rocks near Sedona

The trail is a nice gentle grade.

We found water in a creek where the trail enters the Woodchute Mountain Wilderness. Here there is a trail going off to the left past the Woodchute Tanks, we took a side trip to look at the tanks.

First tank (or pond) we saw, 

the second tank was quite a bit larger.

Bones from an elk or deer kill near the second tank.

We returned to the Woodchute Mountain Trail, here we are looking down on the larger tank, and further in the distance is Prescott Valley.

Up on the plateau of Woodchute Mountain is a nice pine forest. Shortly after taking this photo, I saw a mountain lion running across through the forest about 70 yards in front of us.

We stopped before the trail headed down the other side of the mountain for a view and our lunch break. Looking north towards Sedona and further to the San Francisco Peaks.

partial zoom of our view:

zoom of the San Francisco Peaks:

We saw only a few wildflowers in bloom this morning:

 

Soldier Pass Loop

We drove to the Bruins Mesa Trailhead in Sedona Arizona to hike the Soldier Pass Loop Trail with a side trip to the Soldier Pass Cave in the Coconino National Forest. We went clockwise on the loop and hiked 5.6 miles with  1,050 ft overall gain. Most of this route is in the Red Rock Secret MountainWilderness.

View or red rocks from the parking lot

We started on the Cibola Pass Trail and were soon seeing fabulous rock formations as we headed to the Soldier Pass Trail.

There were quite a few bright red paintbrush in bloom along the trail.

A sink hole

Some of the pools at the Seven Pools

More rock formations as we continued on the trail.

Going up the side trail to the Soldier Pass Cave

View of an alcove, the "cave" is mostly hidden behind the trees to the far right.

views looking out from near the alcove and cave:

The alcove:

The outer part of the alcove is an arch.

View looking out from the back of the arch:

The "cave" is also an arch in front of an alcove, here 1/2 of the arch can been seen with an upper window.

wide angle view of the arch in front of the upper part of the alcove:

view looking out from the back of the alcove:

The rock fall between the arch and the alcove wall, give an opportunity to scramble up into the cave.

Walking along a ledge in the cave, the window is on the mid left and the arch is the bottom left:

view looking out the window:

walking out to the far end of the ledge:

view from the far end of the ledge, looking back to the end we scrambled up:

some other niches near the cave area:

Back on the trail, as we headed up to Soldier Pass, we could look back at the area where the alcove and cave are located:

zoom of the alcove and cave:

views of the red rock formations as we continued up to Soldier Pass and then down Brins Mesa to the trailhead:

back at the parking lot:

some of the wildflowers and flora seen today: