Hiking Point Trail | West Clear Creek Wilderness

I’ll start out by saying that hiking Point Trail in the West Clear Creek Wilderness is nothing short of an incredibly gorgeous, jaw-dropping adventure! West Clear Creek Wilderness is a stunning, rugged, dramatic, beautiful canyon carved out by the crystal clear West Clear Creek. There are limited access points into the canyon but any time spent here is bound to be memorable! We spent some time exploring the western side of the wilderness on West Clear Creek Trail by the Bullpen Day Use Area. You can read about that adventure here. After having such a great time on the west side of West Clear Creek Wilderness, we couldn’t wait to experience more!

Keep reading to watch our hiking Point Trail video below!

Quick Info:

Directions: From Camp Verde, follow the AZ-260 E for 28 miles. Turn left onto Forest Road 149 and follow it for 1.1 miles. Then turn left again. After 0.7 miles turn left again to stay on Forest Road 149. After 0.5 miles make a slight right onto Forest Road 142. Turn right at the first cross street onto Forest Road 142. After 0.9 miles turn left.

*There are several ways to get to the trailhead, all via several forest roads. You can try a Google Maps search for West Clear Creek Trail, Happy Jack AZ to get the best directions from your starting destination.

Distance: About 7 miles roundtrip with the opportunity to explore further or in the other direction.

Difficulty: Moderate to Strenuous. The initial descent is steep – like nearly vertical steep. And once you reach the canyon, the trail is a combination of slippery rocks, wading/walking through water and narrow overgrown section of trail.

Know Before You Go: The Forest Roads to reach the Point Trail parking area are bumpy and some areas are a little rough. We did see cars at the trailhead so just take it slow. Also good to know – expect to get wet if you plan on exploring West Clear Creek.

Our Experience Hiking Point Trail

After the long, slow and bumpy ride on the dirt roads we did not expect to see over forty vehicles at the trailhead for hiking Point Trail! We were definitely surprised but by the end of the hike we totally understood why.

(Spoiler Alert: This place is incredible. Stunning. Gorgeous. Amazing.)

The path for hiking Point Trail begins near the Coconino National Forest sign at the end of the parking area. Immediately, the trail begins by descending about 800 feet to the bottom of the canyon carved out by West Clear Creek. The descent is so steep that it’s nearly vertical! We used our hands to lower ourselves down the obstacles. Seeing so many people of such a range of hiking abilities put in such an effort to get down into this canyon was a good indication of the beauty we were about to experience!

After about a half mile of literally climbing down Point Trail we reached the floor of the canyon. Wow! The huge boulders, crystal clear water, and the beautiful towering canyon walls dotted with green trees made us instantly
realize that this hike was really something. We were overwhelmed with appreciation for the stunning natural beauty that surrounded us as well as the excitement to get exploring!

At the bottom of the steep trail down to the canyon, it was a bit crowded. We were kind of waiting in line to cross to the other side. But when you’re somewhere this beautiful it’s easy to be patient.

Hiking Point Trail at this point consisted of boulder hopping and just walking through the water. Luckily, the weather was nice and warm so a refreshing walk through the water was welcomed!

Short Side Canyon Adventure

We continued rock hopping and following the canyon for about a quarter mile before we reached a canyon junction. Another hiker said we should definitely go check it out. To cross into the side canyon you have to wade through waist deep [beautiful, refreshing, and clear] water. Or, do like Shane – dive in and swim across!

Just a short walk later we entered a breathtaking cathedral like area. It was really a sight to see! The walls of the rounded canyon surrounded us and reached high up to the sky. Such a beautiful formation. Imagine a waterfall in there…

Continuing Hiking Point Trail

We waded back across the creek and continued hiking Point Trail. From this point, we noticed that the traffic on the trail thinned out – a lot. We saw only a few groups as we hiked further through the canyon.

The trail followed the beautiful West Clear Creek through lush areas of vegetation, over fun boulders, and through the water itself all the while being surrounded by the impressive canyon walls. It was truly magical just to be here and to be seeing and experiencing this!

Hiking Point Trail continues to be absolutely amazing. We made it about 3.5 miles one way on our day hike through the canyon, hiking through incredible scenery the entire way.

Hike it Later – Pin it Now

There were numerous times where we were left speechless and of course we exclaimed “This is amazing” and “That’s so beautiful” at least a hundred times.

We encountered lots of lush sections of trail as well as numerous opportunities to take the trail through the water instead. And of course, there were some pretty epic swimming holes!

This one in particular was cool because it had a rock wall to climb up before jumping off and it was super deep. We had a lot of fun!

After about 3.4 miles hiking Point Trail, we followed the trail along the left canyon wall and found the walls of petroglyphs. They were pretty cool.. some were authentic, some weren’t. And that is where we decided to turn around and make the beautiful hike back.

Hiking Point Trail was unbelievably beautiful and super adventurous. We couldn’t have even began to imagine the beauty that we encountered. And we couldn’t have asked for a better day. Definitely one of our favorite hikes in Arizona so far!

Thanks for Keeping Up with The Lost Longboarder!

If you would like to see more gorgeous hiking adventures, check out the articles below:

• Hiking to an Oasis on Black Canyon Trail
• Hilton Lakes Trail
• Backpacking Peeler Lake
• Warner Valley Trailhead: Volcanism at Work

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