Flagstaff Loop Southwest

Slow down and hike through lands that you normally see from your car window.

Trail description

Note: The 44-mile Flagstaff Loop Trail encircles town and links many established trails. Most of this section of the Loop Trail has no signs, and except for the Fort Tuthill section, it follows roads (many of them paved); several parts of it are either proposed or interim routes.

Beginning where the Flagstaff Loop Trail intersects JW Powell Boulevard, follow JW Powell Boulevard to Lake Mary Road, cross it and follow the graveled road that goes along the north side of the airport runway. Follow the fence until you reach the paved road and parking lot for the airport at 1.6 miles. Turn right and follow Pulliam Drive straight through the intersection with West JW Powell Boulevard. Keep your eye open for a dirt road coming in from the left 0.25 mile after the West JW Powell intersection.

The dirt road takes you to large concrete culverts under Interstate 17. After going under the freeway, follow the trail as it curves to the right, joining a two-track dirt road along a telephone line right-of-way. Follow the road up a gentle grade for a couple hundred feet and go left on another right-of-way. You soon reach a graveled road and you can see some maintenance buildings behind a fence. Cross the road and walk towards the fence until you reach a trail and go right. This is a major loop trail in Fort Tuthill County Park called Soldiers Trail, and you follow it for the next few miles past an equestrian riding course and campground. 

Soldiers Trail goes right at this point up a small valley and you reach the junction with the Bridge Trail, which comes in from the left. Continue straight ahead up the valley. At 5.2 miles, you reach a junction where the Soldiers Trail continues straight and the Flagstaff Loop Trail branches off to the right. Here, you leave Fort Tuthill and enter Forest Service lands. You reach Sinclair Wash, where the trees are denser and there are some small basalt rock outcrops and reach the intersection of FR 532 and Woody Mountain Road. This intersection is 5.5 miles from where you began on JW Powell Boulevard.

For the next 1.1 miles, you follow Woody Mountain Road until you reach Kiltie Lane, where you go left to follow the interim route, which follows paved roads. The buildings on the north side of Kiltie Lane are owned by W. L. Gore, which is well known to hikers and campers for making GoreTex, though the company also makes electronic and medical products. In a little less than a mile, you reach Flagstaff Ranch Road, where you go right, following it under the freeway. In roughly another mile, you reach West Route 66, where you turn right and follow the highway. There is no trail or sidewalk, so you must walk along the shoulder.

In another mile, Woody Mountain Road comes in from the left, however, you continue straight for another 0.6 mile to Railroad Springs Boulevard (there is a convenience store on the corner). Turn left (there is a steel Flagstaff Urban trail system post on the edge of the sidewalk) and walk up the hill for 0.4 mile until you reach a T intersection, where the Flagstaff urban trail continues straight into the woods. This is the end of this section of the Flagstaff Loop Trail.

Note: If you want to cut the length of this walk by a couple of miles, continue straight on Woody Mountain Road rather than turning left on Kiltie Lane. When you reach West Route 66, turn right and follow it to Railroad Springs Boulevard.

Directions

JW Powell Boulevard Trailhead: From downtown Flagstaff drive 1.7 miles south on Milton Road to Forest Meadows (the last stoplight before Milton enters the freeway); turn right, go one block and turn left on Beulah Boulevard; go 0.7 mile and turn left on Lake Mary Road; drive 1.3 miles to the intersection with JW Powell Boulevard; go left on JW Powell Boulevard for 100 yards and look for a trail on the right. This is the beginning point for this section of the Loop Trail. 

Railroad Springs Trailhead: From downtown Flagstaff drive 0.6 mile south on Milton Road to West Route 66; turn right and drive 1.4 miles to Railroad Springs Boulevard; turn right and go 0.4 mile to a T intersection with Adirondack Street. This is the end for the section of the Flagstaff Loop Trail described here and the beginning of the next section, which crosses Observatory Mesa.