This year we decided to join the legions of leaf-peepers to see what is arguably the best fall color show in Arizona: the yellow aspens of Inner Basin. This very popular hike definitely did not disappoint!
Not many people know that Arizona is home to some amazing fall colors. The San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, Arizona are an extinct volcano that rises up to 12,600 feet above sea level. The peaks create an ideal habitat for aspen trees between 8,000 – 10,000 feet of elevation. There is a near perfect band that circles the entire volcano and even fills up the Inner Basin. In early October these trees turn bright yellow and bring out all the leaf peepers – including us!
We like to head north and get a taste of fall every year, so we packed up the 4Runner and drove the 2 hours on Friday night. We camped in a dispersed camping area just off the road to Lockett Meadow and planned to get up early to beat the crowds and hike Inner Basin on Saturday.
The next morning we woke up at 6 am and drove up the dirt road to Lockett Meadow. There were already quite a few cars in the parking lot and it wasn’t even 7 am. We strongly recommend getting there early during the fall color season as the Forest Service actually restricts the number of cars that get to drive up into the meadow (we camped past the point that they stop cars).
It was actually quite cold that morning, so we took our time getting ready at the trailhead and layered up for the hike. Even in the parking lot the aspens were already bright yellow. There were quite a few people who just hung around the campground to take photos.
The Inner Basin trail heads west from Lockett Meadow and goes through groves of some of the biggest aspens we’ve ever seen. The trees are tall with thick white trunks and on the first weekend in October were approaching peak color. After 1.5 miles the trail joins the Waterline Road where we opted to hang a left and climb a long a ridge to see if we could get any views of the Inner Basin.
After walking a mile down the road, we didn’t get any views that we hoped for because the trees were so dense and so tall, but walking the gently graded path on the cool fall day was just about perfect. The wind was chilly and blew tons of leaves off the trees – it was raining yellow!
Despite the morning turning to afternoon, the temperature was cooling off and clouds started rolling in. A storm was brewing and the weather forecast before we left Scottsdale on Friday said it was going to snow 6-8 inches overnight. We decided to head back to the car and head home instead of sleeping in the snow.
After we looped around Inner Basin campground we stopped to eat lunch and watch the storm roll in. The view of Lockett Meadow, yellow aspens and the San Francisco Peaks shrouded in clouds was really cool. Reminded us of a more Colorado view than Arizona!
It was an awesome day of leaf-peeping! We were super excited to catch the leaves at near-peak (the following weekend would probably have been even better) and with not-too-bad crowds thanks to snagging a campsite the night before.
While these fall yellows probably don’t match up to the multi-color fall hues in the eastern US, we’re still happy to get a taste of fall in Arizona!
