![]() The swampy pool is not visible from the trail, but a nearby dirt road leads to its innards. Standing at over 8,400 feet in elevation, its pine-fleeced crater contains a shallow pond. ![]() Within a half mile, the trail parallels the Walker Lake cinder cone. The 6.8-mile out-and-back trek begins in a thicket of aspens on the northwest edge of San Francisco Mountain. An understory of ferns, lupines and tall grasses laps at the legs as hikers take on the gentle inclines. Passage 34 rounds the slopes of 12,633-foot San Francisco Mountain (the Humphreys Peak Trail goes to its summit), a dormant stratovolcano, and heads north through a maze of cinder cones and lava flows. For a volcano-centric day hike, the segment of the passage that runs between Forest Roads 418 and 514 is a beauty. And finally, being caught on a mountain or in the open during a summer storm is a potentially deadly situation.Īlong its mostly easy course, the trail cuts through aspen glens, dense coniferous forests, meadows and juniper-studded rangelands. The entire passage is hemmed in by the mounds and craters of the San Francisco Volcanic Field, an 1,800-square-mile swath of the Colorado Plateau with over 600 volcanic features. Second, mountains make their own weather, often churning out thunder, lightning, high winds and rain after 11 a.m. First, temperatures will be cooler, but fickle. There are three things to know about summer hiking on Arizona’s mountain trails. Where to eat in Flagstaff? These 10 restaurants show off the city's best cooking right now What to know about hiking during Arizona's monsoon Visible low on the eastern horizon around 4 a.m., Orion the Hunter signals the hour Phoenix-area day hikers must leave the Valley to beat high-country monsoon storms. It then disappears for a few months before making its summer debut in the early morning hours of August. ![]() The iconic winter constellation with its prominent three-star belt arcs over the night sky from December to late April. Basically, if Orion has faded into the dawn, it’s already too late. View Gallery: Hiking the Arizona Trail Passage 34: San Francisco Peaks photosĪn Arizona “alpine start” - the predawn trailhead call for a mountain hike - can be timed by the stars.
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