Coconino National Forest Trail Guide - Bell Trail #13

Length: 21 miles (round trip)

Rating: Strenuous

Use: Hiking and Horses

Season: April to November

Hiking time: 24+ hours (round trip)

Cumulative Elevation: 2600 ft.

USGS Maps: Casner Butte, Walker Mountain

Location: 43 miles south of Flagstaff on paved and

all-weather graveled roads

Notes: No mechanized vehicles in Wilderness.

Camping and campfires are prohibited within 1/4

mile of the creek from Trailhead to 1/4 mile beyond

Beaver creek crossing. The trail is poorly marked

and hard to follow across the high plateau where

there is also no water.

For more information contact: Red Rock Ranger

District, P.O. Box 20429, Sedona AZ 86341, (928)

203-2900

This trail is the only developed route into Wet Bea-

ver Creek Canyon and the Wilderness Area it shel-

ters. It is a very popular trail with hikers and anglers

who come to enjoy the solitude and other rewards

offered by a clear cool stream flowing through a

scenic desert canyon. For the most part, the trail follows a route along a bench well above the streambed. A number of side trails, however, lead down to the waterside and indicate the loca-

tion of good swimming holes or popular fishing spots. If you take advantage of these well-used detours, you'll find a number of places along the stream where deepwater holes alternate with

bubbling riffles to invite you to take a dip or wet your line. At one point the trail leaves the canyon bottom to wind high along an escarpment of red sandstone and offer scenic views of the ri-

parian area, the canyon and the surrounding mountains and valleys. Most people who come to this trail hike only the first 3.3 miles to Bell Crossing, taking advantage any one of several ac-

cess paths that branch off the main trail and lead down to the stream. A popular swimming hole, known as the "the crack", is a short distance up the canyon from the creek crossing. After

crossing the Wet Beaver Creek, the Bell Trail climbs the canyon's south wall to a high, grassy plateau where it winds through pinion juniper stands and open grasslands offering views that

stretch all the way to the Sedona Red Rocks Country and the San Francisco Peaks. Eleven miles from the trailhead at Beaver Creek, Bell Trail ends at Forest Road 214. Trailer parking is at

the Brockett Trailhead just north of the Bell Trailhead. The trail from this trailhead connects to the Bell Trail.

Access: Drive 40 miles south from Flagstaff on Interstate 17. Leave the interstate at the AZ 179 interchange. Turn east under the highway and drive about 1.5 miles east to the old Beaver

Creek Ranger Station turnoff. Turn north about a quarter mile to the parking lot and trailhead.

Revised APR 2014

Long

Canyon

Trail

Wet Beaver Creek

Wilderness

Bruce Brockett Trail Apache Maid Trail

White Mesa Trail