Challenging hike leads explorers to hidden arch
Tucked into a sliver of space in the canyon-addled watershed of West Clear Creek, Willow Valley is a calm oasis of green in a water-carved landscape.
Within the shallow canyon, a sketchy trail known as Willow Crossing descends from an airy plateau littered with toppled trees from past wildfires, wildflower meadows and a smattering of tall pines into a narrow canyon with a totally different character.
Bound by chalky limestone walls chiseled into layer-cake-like formations, the ecozone inside the mini Mogollon Rim gorge transforms from a sunny, lightly wooded mesa into a jungle of greenery.
This tiny Eden isn’t easy to find or follow, but careful explorers are rewarded with many surprises.
A series of rough dirt roads near Clints Well in Coconino National Forest northeast of West Clear Creek Wilderness lead to a barely-there trailhead. Four-wheel drive is recommended.
To pick up the historic route, follow the old barbed wire fence to a gate near the edge of the canyon. Pass the gate (close it behind you) and pick up the obvious path leading downhill.
As the short, rocky trail descends among hairy stands of common mullein that can sprout corn-like shoots to over 6 feet high, riparian vegetation closes in on the trail.
Gambel oaks, boxelder, New Mexico locust and a tangle of the eponymous willow trees clutter the slopes. Where the trail bottoms out at a drainage, look for water-loving wildflowers and shrubs like larkspur, wild roses and red-osier dogwood.
Like all “crossing” trails on the Rim, this one hops the drainage and heads up to the opposite lip of the canyon. In between the rims, the hike’s signature attraction stands nearly obscured by tree cover and wild grapevines woven among thickets and boulders.
A delicate natural arch carved from the canyon’s sedimentary rock walls forms a fragile bridge over a fold in the disintegrating wall, revealing a glimpse of sky and ponderosa pines 400 feet above.