AZ-Wet+Beaver+Creek+Wilderness--Bell+Trail

Also see Wet Beaver Creek Wilderness
 * =Birding in Arizona=

Yavapai County
=Wet Beaver Creek Wilderness= =Bell Trail= Rimrock, Arizona 86335 Bell Trail webpage Bell Trail map Wet Beaver Creek Wilderness webpage Wet Beaver Creek Wilderness location map

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Wet Beaver Creek WA--Bell Trail
Coordinates: 34.6784996, -111.7001867 eBird links: Hotspot map View details Recent visits My eBird links: Location life list Submit data

About Bell Trail
This trail is the only developed route into Wet Beaver Creek Canyon and the Wilderness Area it shelters. It is a very popular trail with hikers and anglers who come to enjoy the solitude and other rewards offered by a clear cool stream flowing through a scenic desert canyon. For the most part, the trail follows a route along a bench well above the streambed.

A number of side trails, however, lead down to the waterside and indicate the location of good swimming holes or popular fishing spots. If you take advantage of these well-used detours, you'll find a number of places along the stream where deep water holes alternate with bubbling riffles to invite you to take a dip or wet your line. At one point the trail leaves the canyon bottom to wind high along an escarpment of red sandstone and offer scenic views of the riparian area, the canyon and the surrounding mountains and valleys.

Most people who come to this trail hike only the first 3.3 miles to Bell Crossing, taking advantage any one of several access paths that branch off the main trail and lead down to the stream. After crossing the Wet Beaver Creek, the Bell Trail climbs the canyon's south wall to a high, grassy plateau where it winds through pinyon juniper stands and open grasslands offering views that stretch all the way to the Sedona Red Rocks Country and the San Francisco Peaks. Eleven miles from the trailhead at Beaver Creek, Bell Trail ends at Forest Road 214.

Drive 40 miles south of Flagstaff on I-17. Leave the interstate at the AZ-179 interchange. Turn east under the highway and drive about 1.5 miles east to the old Beaver Creek Ranger Station turnoff. Turn north about a quarter mile to the parking lot and trailhead. From Bell Trail web page

Tips for birding Wet Beaver Creek Wilderness
The campground can be a quicker alternative to birding the creek than hiking the trail. While the day use area on the west side of the road is less crowded and has access to hiking trails, the campground itself can be good for its feeders. Look for mixed flocks in migration and for flocks of juncos and other sparrows in winter.

The Wet Beaver Creek Trail is beautiful and can be very good birding, but can be crowded in warm weather. Both Zone-tailed and Common Black-Hawks are common here. This is a great spot to view breeding birds in the arid juniper habitat on the north side of the trail as well as the lush riparian on the south side. Listen for Cactus and Canyon Wrens singing from the slopes above. Wintering flocks can be impressive. If you're inclined, come prepared to enjoy fantastic (though cold) swimming holes. From Northern Arizona Audubon Society

About Wet Beaver Creek Wilderness
This tucked away desert oasis is the smallest of four major canyons that cut the Coconino National Forest's red rock rim country. Though it may be small, the scenery you'll find here is none the less impressive. Much of the narrow steep-sided gorge Wet Beaver Creek Canyon has carved into the Colorado Plateau's southern face is quite remote and few people venture into its inner depths. The easiest access is upstream from the canyon mouth along a well used hiking trail. Even in this case reaching the gorge's more remote upper stretches is no easy task. Continuing upstream beyond where the Bell Trail climbs out of the canyon and out of the wilderness requires swimming or wading a number of cold water pools which stretch from wall to canyon wall.

Most of those who come here confine their visit to the area's lower, more accessible reaches which provide a popular place to swim, fish, camp, and hike in a picturesque, setting. Others venture upstream of Bell Crossing where the solitude deepens as you venture further from this area's more popular haunts. From Wet Beaver Creek Wilderness web site

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|| L896248 US US-AZ US-AZ-025 34.6784996 -111.7001867 Wet Beaver Creek WA--Bell Trail