Veit Springs Trail aka Lamar Haines Loop, AZ

To get to the trailhead, take HWY 180 north of Flagstaff to Snowbowl Rd. Turn right and follow the road about 4 miles to a pullout on the right. If it is winter, there will be signs posted that say "permit parking only". The free "Backcountry Permits" are available at the peaks ranger station.


This parking area is known as the "Lamar Haines trailhead". After parking, go through the gate and turn right up the hill. You will see 2 signs; one is a map and the other has some info about the area. At about 0.2 miles, you will reach a fork, go right (or downhill here). At 0.7 miles, you will see a plaque for Lamar Haines on a boulder. If you walk past this and head left, you will see an old log cabin and maybe a pond. The last time I was there, there was no water in the summer, and now in March, there was no water either. If you walk around the pond depression to the left of the "spring", you will see some pictographs on the rock face above a small cave. They are quite nice pitctographs.The trail is wide and easy. It would be great with kids. There is lots of exploring to do at the cabin site and around it. There are many nooks and crannies in the basalt rock faces. It would be a beautiful fall hike, as there are lots of aspens. It would also be an excellent cross-country ski in the winter, but I'm sure you would have to get a permit, so you didn't get a ticket. We parked there mid-March and didn't get a permit or a ticket, but the Snowbowl was already closed, and it was a weekday.

Veit Springs Trail is a very easy but lovely hike, which is best done in the summer or fall or a very warm spring like this one. We did encounter snow and mud, but nothing not crossable by tennis shoes.

2007-03-16 aimeeclimbs