The A.B.Young Trail leaves from the southernmost end of the Bootlegger Campground. Take steps down to the creek, find a suitable place to “boulder hop” or wade the stream, cross the creek and find an old metal sign indicating the trailhead. It immediately begins a moderately steep ascent and enters wilderness area. The shade of the creek area is quickly lost and nice views of the canyon and some interesting rock formations open up. The trail climbs 1600 feet in 1.6 miles over the 33 switchbacks to the rim of Oak Creek Canyon. At this point, the trail enters the shade of ponderosa pine and heads west for 0.8 miles on a gradual ascent (this portion of the trail not well marked), ending at the East Pocket Fire Lookout Tower. The trail is believed to have been built originally by C.S. (Bear) Howard in the 1880’s and it was reconstructed in the 1930’s by the Civilian Conservation Corp and supervised by A.B. Young.
The Hike House Sedona Trail Rating System provides actual hiker feedback and ratings of each of the Sedona hiking trails. The cumulative trail ratings for the A.B. Young Trail submitted by fellow hikers is located above with the Trail Data. Your trail feedback and ratings are an important resource for fellow hikers and provide a personal account of your trail experience from which others may learn. So please hike Sedona, help others, and rate a trail today!
