Backyard and Backcountry: Fall is here! Aspen viewing in Flagstaff

Every fall, Arizonans head from the Phoenix area up to Flagstaff by the thousands to experience the changing of leaves. Like so many of my neighbors in the Phoenix area, I am a nostalgic midwesterner that misses the change of seasons. While people here in the valley can pretend that it's fall with their pumpkin spice everything, halloween decorations, and lazy Sundays spent watching football, it's still 90-ish degrees everyday until late October. Yesterday I made the drive up north with some friends to experience 2 of the things I miss most about midwestern autumn, cool air and beautiful changing leaves.

While a majority of the Coconino National Forest in Flagstaff is evergreen Ponderosa Pine, the area gets extremely beautiful every October due to the presence of Quaking Aspens, especially in the Inner Basin on the northeast side of Kachina Peaks. The aspen groves turn into almost surreal places during the fall with the white trunks and golden-orange leaves making a stark contrast with the evergreen pines and blue skies. Fall in Flagstaff is incredibly colorful and while the aspen population might not be as large as the ones in Colorado, hiking here is still an experience I am so grateful to have.

Due to the large numbers of leaf peepers making their way into the Inner Basin and the treacherous road on the way up, the US Forest Service was limiting access to the area to 50 vehicles at a time this weekend. To dodge some of the crowds, we made our way around towards the far north side of the Kachina Peaks Wilderness, to the Abineau-Bear Jaw trailhead. The trailhead sits in a large meadow north of the mountains, and is typically much less crowded than Humphreys Trail or the Inner Basin Trail due to the longer driving on some pretty rough dirt roads. I've hiked the Abineau-Bear Jaw Loop twice, a 7 mile loop with some beautiful scenery of the peaks and views out to the north of the rim of the Grand Canyon in the distance. However, this time we would only be using the Bear Jaw trail to access the Waterline Trail, which we would be following around the mountain to reach the aspen groves surrounding the inner basin.

We started our hike in the afternoon and after about a half mile of hiking reached a fork. Veering left, we followed the Bear Jaw Trail, and within a few minutes were gazing upwards and the beautiful golden leaves of aspens. Aspens are very interesting trees because their large groves are actually a single organism connected by the roots. Some biologists think that the largest living organism on the planet is actually a grove of aspens. While most of them turn a beautiful golden color during the fall, some contain hues of oranges and reds, making them some of the most beautiful fall trees in the west. We continued along the bear jaw, gaining nearly 2000 feet of elevation over 2.5 miles, until we reached the waterline trail.

The waterline trail is a wide dirt road used by the forest service to access an old waterline around the mountain. After the steep climb up the bear jaw trail, the flat, well maintained water line was very much appreciated. Trees growing on either side of the waterline made a tunnel lasting a mile or so.

As we approached the inner basin the trees began to part and beautiful views of Lockett Meadow below became visible. Looking out past the meadow we could see O'Leary Peak and Sunset Crater Volcano. We wound up hiking nearly 3 miles along the waterline trail, turning back just before reaching the junction with the Inner Basin Trail due to the setting sun. The waterline provided us with great views of the peaks and the aspens. We arrived back at the car just before darkness and made our way into Flagstaff for some Thai Food before driving back to the valley. It was only an afternoon among the changing leaves, but it finally felt like the season I love so much back home.