Summer Hikes

Where do you hike when it’s hot? The hotter it is, the farther you may have to go to get up in elevation to avoid suffering from the heat. The last three summers in the Prescott area have seemed even hotter than usual. Climate change, increasing population, weather cycles, take your pick for why it’s hotter, but not many will deny the heat.

Arizona Highways 52 Best Day Hikes is divided by the four seasons, with 14 hikes listed for each. That’s a great way to do it, because you don’t want to be hiking Flagstaff in the snow and you don’t want to be hiking Phoenix when it’s 120 degrees.

Hiking in the heat puts you and the first-responders who come out to help you at risk. We constantly see in the Phoenix news about hikers who had to be rescued, and some who’ve died, because they didn’t know not to hike in 100-degree heat.

The one Prescott-area hike that made the Arizona Highways summer section is the Groom Creek Loop, off Senator Highway. This is a wonderful hike. The views are great, there are picnic tables near the top, and the trail is so smooth in some places it’s like it’s carpeted. Don’t let that fool you; there are some tree stumps intruding into the trail that will trip you up if you’re not watching your footing.

But the Groom Creek Loop only rises from 6,400 to 7,693 feet. This may be cool for visitors from Phoenix, but when Prescott is pushing 100 degrees it may not be the best time to hike this trail. If it’s 80 in Prescott, Groom Creek Loop will be great.

On the hottest days the best hikes are about two hours away, with my preferences in Flagstaff and the Mogollon Rim. I’ve even come out of some of the lower-elevation Flagstaff hikes at over 90 degrees. Marshall Lake to Fischer Point Trail in Flagstaff, out Lake Mary Road, goes from 7,137 feet to 7,708 feet. Again, when it’s 90 degrees in Flagstaff, you may want to go higher. This is why the San Francisco Peaks Trail is my favorite summer-workout trail. This trail, part of the Arizona Trail, rises from 8,928 feet to 9,000 feet. You are up high enough that’s if it’s 90 in Flagstaff it won’t be any hotter than 80 on this trail, and the trail is spectacular for many reasons: the aspens, pines and ferns and its panoramic view of Hart Prairie are the highlights.

I have seen bear, deer and Clark’s nutcrackers on the San Francisco Peaks Trail. It has some minor up and downs, but in general it’s so flat that the 15.2-mile trail will feel like less. Another enticement is there is plenty of shade and a lot of downed trees for snack and lunch breaks.

A nice part to this trail is it’s an in-and-out hike, so you can turn around at any point if you’re not up for the full 15 miles of this segment of the Arizona Trail. There are three natural-landmark turnaround points. At two miles you come to an opening with a great panoramic view of Garland Prairie. If you’ve come this far, you want to go another half mile to enjoy this wide-open view and see the Nature Conservancy’s Garland Prairie Nature Preserve below. This is impressive because it has the largest stand of Bebb’s willow trees in the world, and Basque sheepherders have carved their names into the trees.

The second turnaround spot is at about 3.5 miles, where you can take about a half-mile detour south to the ephemeral Bismarck Lake. The south side has some great boulders where you can hide from the sun and have lunch.

At the five-mile mark is a burned-out tree that lets you know you can turn around at that point and get ten miles.

Water

I can’t emphasize enough the importance of taking enough water with you on hikes during hot days. Each person has to figure out how much water to take based on the heat, elevation, distance your doing and how well you know the trail. If it’s an urban trail or common trail where you know you will see other hikers, you can take a bit less water. If you don’t know the trail, take extra water just in case you get lost.

Hiking clubs advise taking three liters for an eight- to ten-mile hike, even at higher altitudes. Vitamin B and energy chews are also good to take in case you run low on energy.

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