Mount Elden

After going to a few trails only to see them closed due the massive amounts of snow they had in Flagstaff, visited the Snowbowl which is a ski resort and feature a few trails, Kachina trail was the one we thought of doing the walk in was interesting because we were standing on about two feet of snow! The trail became lost and we figured it would smarter and turn back and try another trail.

About two feet down!

Mount Eldon, the watchtower is in the circle. Elevation 9,301ft.

So we looked up in our trail book (Cosmic Ray’s) for another trail. We decided to do a trail on Mount Elden, The Fatman’s Loop. The trail was rocky and technical but fun, if you continued up you would hit another trail which lead up to the lookout tower which is used to spot wildfires. We made our way up through various switchbacks and snow covered trails all while meeting other fellow hikers, dogs, and even trail runners! By the third, last mile snow was beginning to cover most of the trail and it was anywhere from 2-3 feet deep! Finally reaching top it was awesome! There were two other trails you could take one two miles the other four miles. The watchtower was locked so there was access to it but was able to see many views one being Humphreys peak.

Humphrey’s peak

The descent down was finished off with the rest of Fatman’s Loop which lead back to the parking lot. The total trip was six miles from the trailhead. Was an overall awesome hike and experience definitely recommend checking it out!

Mike  

At the top!