Mormon Lake Stroll

{hike of the month} Mormon Lake Trail Carried Trains, Now Popular With Hikers

TWO COW ELK BROKE COVER at a stiff-legged trot, noses vacuuming the air upwind before stopping for a look about 60 yards from where Steve Shumaker and I hiked on a ghost railroad through a ponderosa pine forest near Mormon Lake in the Coconino National Forest of northern Arizona.

Once used to haul logs in the 1920s, the railroad grade today carries hikers, equestrians and an elk herd through easy flatlands, ideal for summer family outings and bike rides at 7,100 feet elevation. The 6 miles of abandoned grade strewn with rotting ties is part of the 790-mile Arizona Trail that runs north to south bisecting the state. Shumaker, 58, a Phoenix businessman, and I had no difficulty following the trail.

After failing to get a whiff of our scent, the spooked elk, noses up in the air, finally bolted.

"It looks like more elk than people use this trail," Shumaker observed.

Indeed, so many elk travel the old grade to water at Upper Lake Mary, 20 miles south of Flagstaff, that their hooves have pounded the trail bare.

We had begun our day hike where the signed trail crosses dirt Forest Service Road 132, about .3 mile west of paved Forest Service Road 90, 6 miles north of the town of Mormon Lake.

We walked north on the trail. However, south of FR 132, the grade runs for about a half-mile, skirting the base of 8,456-foot Mormon Mountain, before petering out where a logging camp once stood. The Arizona Trail continues southward.

Passing through a section posted as the Pine Grove Quiet Area with motor-vehicle restrictions, the grade curves gently around Pine Grove Hill through prime elk habitat. In good water years, elk cross FR 90 and wade up to their withers in Mormon Lake. In dry years, see them along the water's edge on Upper Lake Mary at dawn, along with deer and wild turkeys. There's no water along the trail in the Pine Grove section except at established campgrounds.

From where we rousted the elk, the Arizona Trail branches left, following the main line of old ties. After cutting the big trees, loggers pulled the steel rails but left behind nearly everything else. The old ties and nails along the grade fall under the protection of federal historic and antiquities laws, so leave them for others to enjoy.

We followed the grade as it bore through mostly young ponderosa, scrub oak and occasional grassy parks that provide food for the local elk herd. Intermittent stretches of hand-laid ballast led to gaps in the grade where trestles formerly bridged shallow washes.

About a mile from the FR 132 trailhead, the grade forked to create a short siding. We followed the line of old ties to the left to stay on the main line and the Arizona Trail.

Going north on the trail finally brought us to Pine Grove Campground, our destination. The private campground offers developed overnight campsites and water for a fee.

The old railroad grade and Arizona Trail continues northward from the campground. They skirt the eastern edge of the campground, the trail passing beneath the concrete road bridge.

After passing under the bridge, the trail curves westward, crosses Lake Mary Road and then turns north to Horse Lake and on to Marshall Lake, Walnut Canyon and Flagstaff. The Arizona Trail continues northward all the way to the Utah-Arizona border near Jacob Lake.

For a quiet hike through shaded pine woods littered with logging history, the old grade is hard to beat. Moreover, you stand a good chance of seeing elk. The Mormon Lake herd is one of the more visible in Arizona as they move to and from the water. AH