Hike of the Month

HIKE OF THE MOΝΤΗ Trek the High Weatherford Trail

The wonderful, peculiar, shrill, lovesick cry of a bugling bull elk cuts the crisp morning air. I pause in my trek up the Weatherford Trail, high on the forested slopes of the San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, and listen. Eeeeeeeeeuuupt! There it is again, the high, squeaking, faintly ignoble mat-ing call of an antlered Adonis advertising his enthusiasm for the fall rut.

In fact it is not yet fall. It's mid-September, about a week before the official change of seasons, and the bull elk's bellowing is the only hint of autumn in a mountain environment otherwise glorying in the last flush of summer.

Purple-blue lupine, brightred paintbrush, and other wildflowers trim the trail, a gently graded route that meanders over seven vista-blessed miles from Schultz Pass Road to Fremont Saddle. Groves of aspen are dressed out in high-summer green, still awaiting a cold snap to trigger the botanical alchemy that will turn them to gold. The air temperature ranges from "Tshirt balmy" at the 8,024-foot Schultz Pass trailhead to "windbreaker breezy" at 11,354-foot Fremont Saddle.

As I stride up the first few miles of the trail, setting my own brisk pace on this solitary hike, I find myself working up a grudging respect for a man named John Weatherford. Normally I'm reluctant to admire the works of those who carve passages for motor vehicles into the natural sanctuaries of high mountain ranges. But I can't help respecting the sheer audacity, and the unquestionable tenacity, of Weatherford, an entrepreneur who constructed his namesake trail as a toll road for motoring tourists in the 1920s. His route, a feat of amateur engineering and much hard labor, made it possible for vehicles to ascend rugged slopes to the high saddles and ridges of the San Francisco Peaks. Alas, his project was completed just as the Great Depression crippled the nation and all but paralyzed tourism. The road got little use, fell into disrepair, and was eventually closed to vehicle traffic by the Forest Service and "rehabilitated" as a hiking trail.

I reach 10,800-foot Doyle Saddle (which previously was known as Fremont Saddle and vice versa) after about 5.5 miles of walking. From the vantage point of this notch on a high ridge, I savor what seems like an aerial view into the vast Inner Basin of the range as I polish off an apple and a handful of almonds. The trail continues, first along

WHEN YOU GO

To reach the Weatherford Trail from Flagstaff, travel 2.5 miles northwest on Fort Valley Road (U.S. Route 180) from its intersection with Humphreys Street to the Schultz Pass Road. Turn right and drive 5.7 miles to a well-marked parking lot at Schultz Tank. A sign directs you to the trailhead across the road from the parking lot. Summer weather in the San Francisco Peaks is often warm enough to invite hiking in shorts and T-shirts. But hikers should be prepared for sudden thunderstorms and accompanying chilly temperatures. Carry plenty of water because there are no reliable sources along the trail. After 1.5 miles on the trail, you enter the Kachina Peaks Wilderness Area, and you must keep all pets leashed. Additional information is available from the Peaks Ranger District of the Coconino National Forest at (520) 526-0866.

The trail extends to yet another high ridge, I, like many day hikers, make this my turnaround point. A few rusting remains of equipment and motor vehicle parts, presumably the legacy of Weatherford and those who traveled his route on wheels, lie among the trees near the saddle. But they are little more than curiosities now, remnants of a long-ago dream that went bust. All for the better, I muse as I take a deep breath of pinescented air without so much as a whiff of exhaust fumes. All for the best, I conclude as I tramp down the trail, knowing I'm a lot more likely to hear the clarion call of an elk than the honk of a car horn.