Summary: This hike provides excellent views as you climb Bear Mountain
Challenge Level: Hard
Hiking Distance: From the parking area to the top of Bear Mountain you'll hike approximately 2 1/2 miles (one way)
Trailhead Directions: The parking for the Bear Mountain hike is shared with Doe Mountain hike. From the "Y" roundabout (the intersection of Highway 179 and Highway 89A), drive west on Highway 89A about 3 miles. Turn right on Dry Creek Road. Stay on Dry Creek Road about 3 miles to the end and a stop sign. Turn left on Boynton Pass Road and proceed about 1 1/2 miles to a stop sign. Turn left, continuing on Boynton Pass Road. The trailhead is the second trailhead on the left side, about 1 3/4 miles from the stop sign. The GPS coordinates for the parking lot are: N34° 53.616'; W 111° 51.910'. The trailhead is across the road from the parking area
Description: Bear Mountain provides fantastic red rock views. Climbing from about 4500 feet at the parking lot/trailhead, there is a natural stopping place at elevation 5500 feet. The total elevation gain to the top is some 1800 feet. From the top of Bear Mountain you can see the San Francisco peaks in Flagstaff. Some hikers have reported that if you look real hard to the west, you can see Mt. Fuji (but perhaps they were exaggerating).
Photos:
Other Photos:
These photos are from Lou Camp, who followed a slightly different route to get to the top of Bear Mountain. Lou says, "Very nice hike going up via Fay canyon overlook (take a trail about half mile from Bear trailhead to the RIGHT /east and go north around mountain along west side of Fay canyon Rejoin main bear trail and go to top). 6 mi round trip vs 5 using the main trail both ways Much nicer way up. Came back main trail;800' above the end of Fay, where we usually stop, is a ledge that has an old bootlegger's cave and is where Steve N fell. The views are superb. Extra mile is worth it.
And these photos were also taken by Lou
For those of you have a GPS unit, I have the GPS data available for the hike.
Great Sedona Hikes
Last Updated December 5, 2009
Web Page by Bill Bohan (billbo@greatsedonahikes.com)