Lake Havasu City to Flagstaff, AZ



Oak Creek Canyon near Flagstaff, AZ





After spending time in Lake Havasu City and the Phoenix area, it would have been easy to forget that we were well into fall.  But when we looked at the weather to see about going back to Utah, it was getting below freezing most nights.  Northern Arizona was still pretty moderate, so we decided to play it safe and not go back to Utah. 

We had stayed a few nights in Oak Creek Canyon near Flagstaff on our way down from Utah.  It is a beautiful canyon that extends along Arizona Highway Alt. 89 from Flagstaff to Sedona.  So we were happy to go back and spend more time hiking the canyon and visiting Flagstaff and Sedona.

Leaves in West Fork of Oak Creek

 

The weather was absolutely perfect and the maples in the canyon were in full color.  We hiked several trails but the West Fork Trail was the most beautiful.  It followed the west fork of Oak Creek for about 3.3 miles winding through a narrow canyon and crossing the creek 17 times. So that was a total of 6.6 miles and 34 creek crossings.  Good thing the boots were well waterproofed!