Kendrick Mountain Trail

hikemanth The 3.5-mile KENDRICK MOUNTAIN TRAIL Offers Sunny Vistas and a Chance to See BLUE GROUSE

THE BLUE GROUSE FLUSHED noisily from cover beside the trail. They set their stubby wings and glided like ghosts into the protection of the ponderosa pine trees that blanket the upper slopes of 10,418foot Kendrick Peak on the boundary of the Kaibab and Coconino national forests, 17 miles northwest of Flagstaff. This extinct volcano is one of the few places in the state where you can see these hefty timberline birds. The chances of seeing a “blue”—at 3 pounds, the second largest of the North American grouse—increase in autumn there, after early frosts flatten the underbrush and strip the aspens of their leaves, the historic cabin from becoming cinders in the Pumpkin Fire by wrapping it completely in heat resistant material. I found the door open for public use and the interior swept clean. At the summit, after an hour's climb on a wellmarked trail, we met a Forest Service firefinder in the steel tower. He stood watches during the fire-danger months of summer, scanning the landscape for traces of smoke. He was glad for our company and put on the coffee. We became a statistic, too, since Kendrick's firefinders count visitors. In most years, fewer than 800 hikers make the summit because the trail is not well known.

Exposing the birds. Though much of their habitat burned during the Pumpkin Fire of May 2000, the grouse are returning to Kendrick Peak. Phoenix lawyer Curtis Beckman and I traveled light with daypacks containing lunch, water and binoculars. Several trails lead to Kendrick's summit, but we chose the 3.5-mile Kendrick Mountain Trail because it's shorter, sunnier, easier and offers the best vistas. The trail begins at a parking lot and latrine at the end of Forest Service Road 190. This trail was once used to pack in supplies for firefinders staying in a 1912 one-room log cabin at 10,000 feet. The Forest Service saved The low human count suits the blue grouse that feel right at home at 10,000 feet. The firefinder said the birds forage in the small openings around his steel tower. He'd also seen a black bear a few days before.

From the tower, look 40 miles south to Bill Williams Mountain across vast ponderosa parks. To the east, view the lava slopes of Humphreys Peak just 10 miles away.

Below the summit, headed down, we met a hiker accompanied by his Australian sheepdog, Cowboy. He was training in Kendrick Peak's thin air for an 11-day expedition at the Cordillera Blanca in Peru. He told his age, 55, like a brag.

Beckman, the same age, had climbed to about 18,000 feet in the Ecuadorian Andes. They swapped climbing stories before we moved on. A flock of noisy ravens rode the thermals 20 feet above us, their shadows doing an eerie dance on the ground.

Summer and fall are best for climbing Kendrick, but beware of summer lightning storms. Plan for three hours going up, two hours down. Look into the woods near the trail, and you may see blue grouse sprinting through the brush.