Kendrick Park Watchable Wildlife Trail

Kendrick Park Watchable Wildlife Trail

After seeing the sunrise at the Grand Canyon and then hiking down to Ooh Aah Point I made my way back down south. I was getting a little tired on the drive and saw a little pull off for the Kendrick Park Watchable Wildlife Trail and stopped. It turned out to be a great break and a really nice hike!

Getting Started

There are two trails at Kendrick park, a long trail and a shorter paved trail. I took the longer trail. This is one of those trails that I think would work either clockwise or counter clockwise but the counter is easier to spot as it is behind the restrooms.

Going counter clockwise the trail starts with a really nice view of an open field. Past the field is what I believe to be Horseshoe hill. Disclaimer: I didn’t really know where I was on this hike so I could be wrong on the hill names.

From here the trail does a mile long loop that starts west and then swings around to the south before circling back east. There really isn’t much difficulty at all to this hike. It is more a really nice walk in the woods. From what I have seen it isn’t very crowded either so if you are looking for a quick nature get away it could be perfect.

Did I leave Colorado

I admit that I am not the sharpest marble in the bag but I had no idea that Northern Arizona resembled Colorado so much. The hike through this section of the National Forest looked just like a hike I would do here, complete with Aspen trees.

It really was just a nice hike. There were some placards around that talked about the animals that you might see but I didn’t see any on my trip. Mostly I was just surprised at how much it reminded me of my home hikes.

Now to say that I was a little upset by this because I had driven so far to get a bit of warm weather was an understatement.

I’m actually just joking and I had a really nice time on the hike. I didn’t bring my gaiters though and ended up with a big ole chunk of snow that ran down into my shoe. Rookie move on my part for sure!

The trail ends on the south side with another great view. This time I think it might have been the Kachina Peaks that I was seeing at the end of the hike.

Again I could be wrong on the names so if you do know feel free to leave the corrections in the comments.

That wrapped up this quick nice hike through the woods. A great break from driving and good way to get the blood moving and reenergizing me on the road trip.

Elevation and Distance

If you don’t have the AllTrails app you might want to check it out, I really love mine. It records your progress and is a great way to search for hikes that are nearby and gives you difficulty measurements. According to AllTrails today’s hike was around 1.30 miles and had a total elevation gain of about 36 feet including undulations. That put the high point at around 7,938 feet. I was also moving for a total of 33 minutes.

I am a Pro member of AllTrails and love it. If you are interested in the platform, please consider using my affiliate link for AllTrails. It gives me a small commission with no extra cost to you.

Effort

This was a super easy awesome hike. Just a nice walk through the woods with some great views. The hike was flat and easy to go at your own pace so nothing extra in the effort department here. A nice short walk so I didn’t record my step count on this one.

Terrain

The Trail at Kendrick Park was a hybrid of mud and snow on the day I went but it seemed to be a well defined dirt path through the woods. The mud was a bit slick the day I went but I think most days this would be a pretty easy trail to navigate. I would suggest some shoes with decent traction but most should work.

Access

Kendrick park is located in the Coconino National Forest near Flagstaff, AZ. It is located about a half hour north of Flagstaff on 180. There is a small parking area on the side of the road in the forest that can hold about 8-10 cars. There were pit toilet facilities avaialbe at the trailhead.

Wrapping up Kendrick Park Watchable Wildlife Trail

This was such a nice quick and easy hike through the woods. There were only a few people there in when I went which was a nice contrast to how busy it was at the Grand Canyon. I really enjoyed my quick stop at the Kendrick Park Watchable Wildlife Trail.

I think this trail would be easy enough for most people to be able to handle. If it is too much there is also the shorter version available. If you are looking to get away from town for a few minutes and reconnect with nature this might be the perfect hike for you!

I have added this hike and all of my hikes to the interactive map page you can find here. If you have any suggestions for hikes or comments feel free to email me at fatmanlittletrails@gmail.com. You can follow me on any of the below social media platforms. Happy Hiking!