The Gist

• What: Hike in Cottonwood, AZ and near Sedona, AZ

• Location: Off of the 260 on Ogden Ranch Road in Cottonwood, AZ, Google “Black Canyon Trailhead, Cottonwood, AZ” and it will come up

• Permit: No

• Difficulty: Intermediate

• Distance: 6 miles one way, but turn around and go back when you like

• Vehicle: Down a dirt road which isn’t bad. No special vehicle needed.

Just 13 minutes from our Duck Pond A-Frame is the Black Canyon Trailhead #114, located in the Prescott National Forest. The hike to the top is 6-ish miles. I say “ish” bc we got to 6 miles and our friend was done so we turned around, but according to the map we were close to the end/top. The hike is beautiful the entire trip, so stop and turn around whenever you feel like it! It will still be a great trip!

Details

• What It’s Like: This hike takes you up in altitude slowly for 6 miles. There is a lot of desert brush and great panoramic views of the mountain and Sedona red rocks in the distance. They say there are waterfalls and swimming holes some of the year, but it was dry for us in September. We didn’t encounter a single person on our hike.

• What You’ll See: We saw a tarantula and some hares at the bottom of the hike! The tarantula didn’t do anything but sit there. That was nice of it. Can you see it in the photo below? The rest of the time we didn’t see anything else, but obviously that depends on the time of day random sightings of other animals.

Getting There

• When to Arrive: Arrive early! The sun is on you most of the hike.

• What to Drive: Ogden Ranch Road is a dirt road and wasn’t too bad. I drove my truck but it wasn’t necessary. Any vehicle would have been fine.

• Directions: Google “Black Canyon Trailhead, Cottonwood, AZ” and this map will pop up. You get to the base of the trail and parking area on Ogden Ranch Road off of the AZ 260 near Verde Village just outside of Cottonwood, AZ.

Pro Tips:

Our trip was in September, so keep that in mind. It was hot by the time we were finishing up around noon.

What to Wear:

• Pants or leggings due to the brush

• Long sleeve shirt to keep from sunburn or tank/t-shirt with a load of sunscreen

• Hiking shoes

• Hat

What to Bring: Each person had their own backpack with:

• Hydration bladder. There is no drinking water available

• Snacks: We packed bars, apples, nuts

• Toilet paper and grocery bag

• Sunscreen: don’t forget the back of your neck!

• Water Things? We didn’t have waterfalls or creek when we hiked so we didn’t deal with drying off or anything. Pack accordingly if you think there will be water when you go.

What to Do: Visit the waterfalls if there are some. Otherwise, it’s just a nice desert hike with great panoramic views. You can see the Sedona red rocks in the distance.

Bathrooms: None! Pack your TP out in the bag you brought.

Afterwards

We started around 7:30am and finished at 1pm. It was great to get out there while the temps were still lower in the morning and was getting hot by noon. We headed to Old Town Cottonwood afterward for a burger, fries, coleslaw, salad, jalapeno cornbread and a chicken sandwich at Colt Grill. Since we had just done about 33,000 steps, we were ready to eat alll the things, despite the snacks!