Rim Tank Basin

RIM TANK BASIN

Coconino National Forest.

FR677 ends at the edge of West Clear Creek Wilderness

After a few yards of hiking on Forest Road 677, one might wonder, “For this I missed the church rummage sale?.”  But like a dusty toss off salvaged from a neighborhood tag sale, this hike polishes up nicely.

Gamble oaks frame Rim Tank

From its start point at State Route 260 east of Camp Verde in Coconino National Forest, the rough dirt two-track’s origin isn’t all that impressive. Dusty, rutted and fronted by an overhead powerline and the constant whoosh of highway vehicles, the trailhead doesn’t scream epic hike ahead.

Weedy Salmon Lake Tank appears early in the hike

 The best plan, though, is to trudge on, because this trek’s treasures start to shake out after about a half-mile.

White prairie asters bloom August-October

A brief uphill walk lands on a ridge above Salmon Lake Basin, a green pastoral depression ringed by junipers and barbed wire.  While ephemeral Salmon Lake isn’t located in the basin—it sits to the southeast across SR 260--the weedy swale of Salmon Lake Tank appears adds a watery twist to the sprawling pasture. 

Ledge overlooking West Clear Creek Wilderness

A faint road leads to the tank and a corral strung together with twigs, wire and a metal gate.  The basin itself is a largely shade less, yawning valley peppered with enormous alligator juniper trees with gnarled canopies arching over fields of wildflowers and tall grasses.

Rim Tank near the edge of W. Clear Creek Wilderness

The road twists through the basin and begins an easy climb revealing hazy glimpses of the Bradshaw Mountain to the south San Francisco Peaks in Flagstaff and Sedona’s red rock formations in the north.

Highpoint view: Apache Maid(L) & Buckhorn Mtn (C)

At the 2.2-mile point, where Forest Road 142G spins off to the left, Ponderosa pines and Gamble oaks encroach upon the juniper grasslands, taking over the landscape with a woodsier atmosphere. This trip continues straight ahead on FR667 (not signed) to the hike’s  highest elevation where first peeks of the massive gorge of West Clear Creek can be seen at the edge of Rim Tank Basin. 

Bradshaw Mountains over Salmon Lake Basin

This scenic viewpoint with silhouettes of 7,307-foot Apache Maid Mountain and 6,674-foot Buckhorn Mountain dominating the horizon, marks the descent into the basin’s verdant, drainage-carved woodlands. At the bottom of the first dip, Forest Road 677B heads off to the  right. FR 677 veers left and swings by a linear wildlife water tank contained by an earthen dam before making its final descent to a bucolic scene anchored by the reflective pool of Rim Tank and hike’s premier attraction at the edge of West Clear Creek Wilderness.

Ponderosa pines shade the last mile of FR677

A pastoral scene in Rim Tank Basin

Roughly paralleling State Route 260, but not easily seen from the road, the long, 13,600-acre wilderness waterway runs east-west from Bull Pen Ranch in the high desert Verde Valley to the pine swaddled headwaters of Clover and Willow Creeks on the Mogollon Rim.

Wildlife waterhole on FR 677 near FR677B

A maze of footpaths and roads lead to the chiseled chasm. Popular hiking routes include the West Clear Creek trail—a wet-boots hike that traces the creek’s west end—and the Maxwell, Calloway and Tramway trails that make short, insanely steep descents into remote finger canyons on the Rim. Additionally, a web of dirt roads—like FR 677-- creep up to promontories overlooking the vast water-sculpted wilds for big-picture looks into the enormity of the water-carved wilderness. 

Gamble oaks along FR 677

Corral in Salmon Lake Basin

Annual goldeneye color the landscape through October

 

Forest Road 677 culminates at a spectacular ledge that hangs more than 1,000 feet above the midsection of the West Clear Creek Wilderness.

The rocky perch teeters over talus slopes spilling from eroding canyon walls. A sugar dusting of junipers protruding from the wreckage--their roots holding tenuous grips—form spotty curtains of green among rock slides and broken clefts. It’s a breathtaking finale to a hike that starts with a sputter and ends with a bang.

Alligator junipers grow large in Salmon Lake Basin

LENGTH: 7 miles round trip (out-and-back)

RATING: moderate

ELEVATION: 5,905 – 6,252 feet (876 feet of accumulated elevation change)

GETTING THERE:

From the Interstate 17 in Camp Verde, take the State Route 260 exit 287 and travel 24.8 miles east (toward Payson) on SR 260 (Zane Grey Highway) to Forest Road 677 on the left at milepost 243.  This is just before where a power line crosses the highway. Park in any of the of the nearby dirt road pull outs or behind the cattle guard gate (close it behind you).