Brigham and his friend Matt. Starting out with happy faces is good.
Me and my sweetheart ready to embark on a new trail.
Near the beginning of our hike we came across an old abandoned house (more recently used as a chicken coop) with mortared red sandstone walls. A new home for the boys! Close by was a cellar actually cut into the face of the mountain.
When we started there were warnings of icy conditions along the trail. We thought that was weird but soon found patches of snow. We had fun playing in the snow and even had a snow ball fight with some other hikers too. Not often you get to play in the snow in 60 degree weather.
The trail followed a beautiful creek. We wound our way along its banks crossing about 24 times. Sometimes we crossed on fallen logs and a few places there were stepping stones. We made it most of the way in without getting our feet very wet. But eventually a log moved or a foot slipped and our feet got wet. Fortunately the water wasn't too cold so we didn't freeze our toes off!
Does this trail make my butt look big?
The views are spectacular although you couldn't tell from our pictures (sorry we are not good with a camera but we are trying to improve - bear with us).
West Fork is 3.3 miles one way (6.6 round trip). We were only able to make it to about the 3 mile mark because the creek was too full to cross near the end of the trail. This is an easy hike. I would definitely recommend it for families. The West Fork trail head is located on 89A north of Slide Rock (Sedona). You do not need a Red Rock pass for this hike but there is a $9 fee which you pay upon entering the parking lot. There are picnic tables and restrooms available. We made use of the picnic tables and had lunch before our hike. We had a great time and the weather was perfect.
