Some time ago, John had been searching our trail bible for possible day hikes that we could do. That was how he discovered the Yeager Canyon Loop, a series of three short trails that make up a six-mile loop in the Prescott National Forest. He had suggested it quite a few times, but we would always find something else to hike instead. "Maybe next time," I would say. Eventually, we forgot about it.

The Yeager Canyon Trail came up again about two months ago, when we were looking for a day hike to do. This time, we actually considered it as a possibility, but it was rejected again when John checked the elevation of the hike. The trailhead was located at 7300 feet; at the time, it would be too cold for us to hike at that elevation. There would still be snow on the ground, and we didn't want to run the risk of Mary getting sick from being out in the cold.

Then, the weather began to warm up. It was getting too hot for us to hike in the desert, so I suggested that we do something up north..."How about Yeager Canyon?" I asked.

And that was that. On Saturday, March 31, we would finally hike Yeager Canyon.

The adventure began much like all of the others. At 6:30 a.m., after loading our hiking gear in the car, we left the house and began our long drive to the trailhead, stopping first for breakfast at the usual place. To get to our destination - the Mingus Mountain Recreation Area - we would take I-17 north to Cordes Junction, then merge onto State Route 69, which would take us into Prescott Valley. In Prescott, we would turn onto State Route 89A, the highway that goes over Mingus Mountain. Finally, we would take Forest Road 104 to FR 413, which would take us right to the trailhead.

Of course, that route would have taken us over two hours to get there - and that would include the ever-frustrating drive through Prescott Valley, where you are bound to hit every light red! In order to avoid the road rage, John consulted the map and found a shortcut that would cut at least a half an hour off of our trip. Just before we reached Prescott Valley, we turned right onto Fain Road, which would take us through ten miles of beautiful farm country, along a good dirt road, to Highway 89A. The plan worked beautifully, and in no time at all, we were on SR 89A and less than a half an hour from our destination.

Once we were on Mingus Mountain, finding FR 104 was easy. It was located near the turn-off for the Potato Patch Trailhead, which is the trailhead for the Woodchute Trail #102. John and I had hiked there in July 1999, just after returning from our honeymoon, so we were already familiar with the area. Instead of turning left, though, we turned right and drove along a good dirt road for a mile and a half - this road took us higher up onto Mingus Mountain, where there was still a little bit of snow on the ground. Then, we turned right onto FR 413; we took this road for 0.8 miles until we ended up at a parking area that appeared to be the trailhead, though it didn't fit the description that John had found on-line. After parking the car, John jumped out and looked around. Seconds later, he found the trail sign for the Yeager Canyon Trail #28, which had been knocked over. We had found the trail!

Although we arrived at 8:15 a.m., we didn't start hiking until 8:30, as we had to prep for the hike. We had to make sure that everything was packed, including our lunch and our water, and we also had to change Mary's diaper and put sunscreen on her little fair face. Then, we had to put her in the carrier; for the purpose of this trip, we decided to bring the "Limo" to try it out as a day-hiking carrier, since it would be much lighter without all of the backpacking gear in it. Naturally, it was still big and bulky, but at least Mary was comfortable. Once Mary was strapped into it, it was time to begin our hike.

Now according to the directions that John had found on-line, the trail began at a fenced wildlife watering station, but there wasn't anything like that at the parking area. We didn't it until we began hiking, for it was actually located a few feet up the trail. At that point, the trail seemed to turn right and go right past the watering station, so we followed it and ended up in a nice camping area...overlooking a cliff. The trail ended there. "I don't think this is the trail," John said, so we turned around and went back to the watering station. After scouring the area for a minute or two, John found a path that went into the forest behind the watering station. He followed it for a few feet and finally found the trail sign, which had not only been knocked over but had been shot up, too. We propped it up against a tree at the start of the trail so that others would be able to find it, too.

The trail began with a very gentle downhill trek through a ponderosa pine forest. Since we had gotten such an early start, it was very cool outside, especially as we hiked through the shadows under the canopy of pines - but that didn't last long. After three-tenths of a mile, we came to the junction with the Yeager Cabin Trail #111, which would be part of our six-mile loop, and trail #530, on which we had no information (it wasn't even on the map). Soon after the trail junction, we left the cover of the forest and began the long switchbacks into the canyon.

Almost immediately after we began our descent into the canyon, the trail became very exposed, which gave us a beautiful view of the city of Prescott, below Mingus Mountain. We could also see Highway 89A...and a bit later, we could hear the noise from the highway, too - that was definitely one of the downsides of that trail. You just can't get the full effect of the wilderness experience when you can hear cars zipping by on the highway.

The views, however, made up for the noise. Not only did we have stunning views of Prescott, but we also had nice views of the canyon. During our descent into Yeager Canyon, we took a break on a precipice that overlooked the canyon. We were still 800 feet or so from the bottom, so it was a long way down - that was enough to give us a feeling of vertigo as we looked down onto the tops of the pine trees below us. And if that wasn't enough to give us a sense of how high up we were, there were little birds with green backs and gray wings flying above the treetops, below our feet. It was very delightful to watch them flitting around so peacefully from one tree to another, but in the same breath, it was dizzying!

And, of course, John looked at me and asked, "How'd I do?" Once again, he had succeeded in bringing us to a pretty place.

We continued our descent into the canyon. Although the trail dropped a total of 1300 feet over two miles, it certainly didn't feel like we went down that far. We had read that the switchbacks were steep, but in fact they weren't that steep at all. They were easy enough that we were able to get a good clip going, so we reached the creek at the bottom of the canyon by 9:30. Once we reached the creek, we found ourselves right next to the highway, and a few feet below it. For the next quarter of a mile or so, the trail paralleled the highway and the creek as it made its way towards the next trailhead, where Trail #28 ended and Trail #533 began. Even though we were next to the highway, I did find that this part of the trail was very pretty; here, we were back in the ponderosa pines, shaded by a canopy of tall trees just as we had been at the top of the trail. Despite the noise from the highway, I enjoyed the nice walk through the forest.

Then, we came to the west trailhead, where we would start the next leg of our journey: Little Yeager Canyon Trail #533, which would take us another two miles uphill to Forest Road 105. Unfortunately, the trailhead was unmarked, as was the trail. Had it not been for another pair of hikers, we wouldn't have been able to find the trail right away - we asked them which way to go, and they replied, "Follow us!"

We didn't follow them, though. Instead, we decided to take a short break before beginning the long climb uphill. Carefully, John lowered the Limo to the ground under the shade of a tree - Mary was sound asleep inside (we took lots of pictures of her, because she looked so cute with her mouth hanging wide open as she slept...). What a change from some of her earlier trips, when she used to fuss a lot, or when she would sleep through the whole trip. Now that she was getting older, she was beginning sightsee more and take in the scenery around her; and when it was time for a nap, she would simply fall asleep without the need for a bottle in her mouth. She had also spent a good portion of this trip babbling away, as though she was giving a narrative of her adventures - that is so much nicer to listen to than fussing!

Around 10:00 we got going again. As we left the trailhead, John muttered something about "pigs", and as I looked around I could see what he meant: the trailhead looked like a dumping ground. There was trash everywhere - everything from pieces of paper and plastic bags to recliners and car parts. What an eyesore! Seeing all of that trash really ruined the experience for us.

We left the trash behind as we began to hike the Little Yeager Canyon Trail #533, which would take us back uphill and out of the canyon over the next two miles. The trail would gain a total of about 800 or 900 feet before ending at FR 105. It would be less steep than Trail #28, but despite that it was still going to be a long uphill climb. For the first quarter of a mile, though, before the first switchback, the trail was very steep, but it soon leveled out as it switchbacked up the mountain.

Despite the fact that it was a long uphill climb, it wasn't that bad at all. In fact, like the Yeager Canyon Trail #28, Trail #533 gave us more spectacular views of Prescott and of Mingus Mountain. I found myself stopping every so often so that I could either admire the view, take pictures, or catch my breath!

The trail continued to switchback until we reached a saddle, at which point John announced that we only had about 300 feet more to climb on that trail before we came to FR 105, so we kept going, onwards and upwards. Eventually, the trail flattened out just before we came to FR 105, where the trail ended at a marked trailhead. Again, John found that the trail sign was there but had been knocked over, so he propped it up against a tree to mark the trail.

We were going to stop there to take a break, but we decided to keep going until we found the next and final portion of our loop: the Yeager Cabin Trail #111. To get there, we would have to walk a little way on FR 105...and hope that no one had knocked over the trail signage! Fortunately, Trail #111 was the easiest of the three trails to find; we found it only a few hundred feet up the road, marked with a large brown forest service road sign.

We stopped to take a break in the shade a few feet from the sign, but when a chilly breeze picked up, we decided to go somewhere else for our break. We went through the gate at the trailhead and found a shady spot out of the wind just inside the fence, where we sat down and ate Power Bars while we rested. I played around with our cameras (both the still and the digital cameras) to experiment with the timer setting on them. I found a soft patch of dirt in which to plant my hiking stick, and after unscrewing the knob on the top...voilà! I had a "tripod" on which to put the camera! I was able to screw the hiking stick into each of the cameras and take family pictures by using the timer!

Mary was also wide awake and getting playful during that part of the hike. She became fascinated with John's hat, so he put it on her head to see how she would react. It was so big on her that all we could see was the hat with little hiking boots sticking out from underneath it! John stuck the digital camera underneath the hat to see if he could get a picture of her reaction - of course, she was smiling!

Once we were fully rested, we started hiking again. To prepare ourselves for that trail, which was only 1.8 miles long, John consulted the trail profile that he had found on-line. According to the information we had, the trail would immediately drop 120 feet; then, it would gently climb back up again until we came to the junction with Trail #28. We would have to climb 450 feet, then, over two miles - it sounded like this would be the easiest of the three trails.

Trail #111 started out easy enough. As promised, the trail immediately dropped 120 feet into a drainage as it followed the contour through the forest. Then, it immediately climbed back out again...steeply! Soon, it dropped down into another drainage then back out again...steeply. Unlike the first two trails, there was absolutely nothing gently about the climbs on this trail. At one point, I pointed out to John that "for a flat hike, this is certainly a steep trail!" He completely agreed with me; he, too, was starting to get tired.

Now that's not to say that this was a bad hike. In fact, it was actually a very pretty trail. Once again, we were out of the exposed areas and back into the forest, where we were shaded by ponderosa pine trees. Occasionally, we had to hike in some exposed areas, but for the most part, Trail #111 remained in the forest. The terrain was also very nice, as it wasn't as rocky as the first two trails. Most of the trail was covered with dried pine needles and dead oak leaves.

But still we trudged on, despite the onset of fatigue and a touch of hypoxia (I was getting a little dizzy - it had been a while since we had hiked at that elevation!). Towards the end of the trail, we encountered a group of hikers - the fourth group of the day - who stopped us to ask us about the trail. They thought that they were on a little nature loop trail, so it came as quite a shock to them when we told them that Trail #111 covered a distance of two miles one way. "But is there a loop that we can take?" they asked. John explained to them that the only way to make it a loop would be to either hike the whole six-mile Yeager Canyon Loop, or to hike to FR 105 and take that back to FR 413. "Oh, no we don't want to do that," they said. "We thought that this was a loop." (Perhaps if they had taken a map...)

They ended up following us back to the trail junction; that was when we stopped to eat lunch, and they continued on towards the trailhead.

By that time, John and I were exhausted. We had been doing very well up until we reached Trail #111, and the steep climbs had taken a lot out of us. Fortunately, we had just completed our last steep climb; John checked the GPS and discovered that we only had 150 feet in elevation left to climb. I think we both breathed a huge sigh of relief then.

While Mary had a bottle, John and I ate our sandwiches and rested. Then, we put our daypacks back on again and finished the trail. We reached the car around 1:00 p.m. - a little later than we had expected, but at least in one piece! The other hikers were there, too. As we put our sleeping daughter into her car seat and put our packs into the trunk of the car, we noticed that the other hikers were looking up in the sky with binoculars. We turned around and found that there were hang gliders up in the air! There were five of them in flight, hovering around Mingus Mountain.

Once we were ready to go, we left the trailhead and drove back to Highway 89A. Instead of going back the way we had come, though, we decided to go through Jerome to SR 260, then drive through Cottonwood and Camp Verde on our way back to I-17. Although we didn't stop in Jerome, we did have a nice drive through town...and it was Mary's first ghost town! (If only she had been awake for it...)

Soon, our day's adventure was over as we arrived at home, around 3:00 p.m. We were happy that we had finally hiked Yeager Canyon; it wasn't one of our best trails, but it was pretty, and the important thing is that we had fun doing it.

Return to Naked in the Woods.