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Submission
Recommended Users: Hikers. Two-track. 0.89 miles in length. Difficulty: Moderate. Red Reef East Trail starts in the campground between campsites #8 and #9. Cross the stepover heading east. Cross a second stepover at the intersection of the Mano Trail. Continue following the wide two-track for just 0.15 miles. Turn sharply to the right and head downhill into a large sandy wash. Cross the wash directly to pick up the trail on the other side. Continue for a couple hundred feet and reach the intersection with the Metate Trail. Continue heading east on the wide, well defined two-track for another 0.4 miles to reach the intersection with the Tipple Trail. Continuing east for another 0.10 miles will bring you to the National Conservation Area (NCA) boundary. Red Reef East Trail is used as a connector trail to the Mano, Metate, and Tipple trails, although it continues as a road beyond the NCA boundary heading east to the Silver Reef area. The trail is and old two-track, possibly a remnant of early mining days used to access claims. The views to the north are of the wild and beautiful Red Reef within the BLM Cottonwood Canyon Wilderness and the USFS Cottonwood Wilderness. Loop: For just under a 1 mile loop, take the Red Reef East Trail to Metate Trail. Turn right on Metate Trail until it intersects with the Anasazi Trail. Turn left on the Anasazi Trail and follow it for just over 0.1 miles to reach the Red Cliffs Archaeological Site. Return to the intersection of the Metate and Anasazi trails. Turn left on the Anasazi Trail and follow it until reaching the intersection of the Mano Trail. Take the Mano Trail north for 0.04 miles. Turn left at the intersection with the Red Reef East Trail and return to your starting point within the campground.
Red Cliffs Recreation Area – From I-15 Exit 22* (northbound only), turn right onto the frontage road at the end of the freeway off-ramp. Travel south approximately 2 miles. Turn right just past the sign for the Red Cliffs Recreation Area. Proceed under the two freeway tunnels, and follow the paved road into the campground. Pay a day use fee and park in one of the day use parking spaces. *From I-15 Exit 23 (southbound only), turn left on Silver Reef Road at the end of the freeway off-ramp. Turn right onto Main Street and travel south for 3.5 miles. Turn right just past the sign for the Red Cliffs Recreation Area. Proceed under the two freeway tunnels, and follow the paved road into the campground. Pay a day use fee and park in one of the day use parking spaces.
Not really worth it considering the road is probably too rough for 90% of stock vehicles. I don't suggest testing your rig out on this trail, lots of places require some thoughtful maneuvering and slow is the way to go. The area at the bottom is ok, I imagine it would be a lot better if the river was actually flowing. On the way back up to Murdock you will be shocked that you even made it down. Never had to use my front locker but absolutely used my rear.
Absolutely stunning and really fun!!
Before I get into the review just a heads up. This place is a dispersed site and there are no accommodations there.... no toilet, no garbage etc. So be prepared. If you pack it in then you pack it out.
Also this place does require good 4 wheel drive with at least moderate clearance to access. I took a Toyota Tacoma with essentially a stock setup and we did fine.
Now to the review. As I said this place is both beautiful and really fun. To be completely honest I have not seen many places as beautiful at this. The incoming stream breaks up at the top of the damn into a network of small streams and is super shallow and fun to walk through and splash around in. At the bottom of the damn the whole scene changes. There is a lush and perfectly clear pool pond with old pines sticking up from within. The pond is shallow and about 50x100 yards. On either side of the pond is dispersed camping. The west side has a nice beach that is clear and open. The east side has a slim beach between the water and the forests edge. Perfect for hanging a hammock by the water. The water is super calm and clear not a bad place fore some paddle boarding or playing fetch with a dog that likes to swim. At the bottom of the pond the scene changes yet again. The stream starts again with a natural full horseshoe waterfall. It's joined by another waterfall on the west that goes up over 100 feet this is the one most people have posted photos of. You can climb up about half way and get right into the shower if you want.
Back at the stream, the water is rowdy but calm enough that you can hop stone to stone down the deep canal. You can take this hike down the river for miles especially if your willing to get wet. Each side of the canal is a wall of stone that completely contrasts either the pond or the top of the damn.
There is tons of peace and quite, it's absolutely beautiful, and there is so so much to do in such a tiny area.
If you do choose to visit this area please take care of it and clean up after yourself. It really is a spectacular place to visit.
We went up the 1st week of September and the weather was awesome. Warm but not hot and zero bugs!
Enjoy!
Beautiful campground with hiking, swimming and photography galore! Felt very safe camping solo there. FYI the road is for 4x4s. My Jeep made it fine. I went on a busy holiday weekend & only saw a few people pass by here and there on my way to camp & 2 people at the waterfall! Only an hour from my home in PC I'll definitely be back!
Nice place, you definitely should be in a truck or something with a bit of clearance. The road is pretty rough, it reminded my wife of a river bed. Lots of rocks. We didn’t spend as much time as we had planned because it started raining. I was a little concerned with all those rocks becoming slippery when we tried to leave. Looks like it would be a good place to try fishing at the near by ponds( one of my plans I didn’t get to do) and we had our inflatable paddle boards we wanted to break out. The waterfall is nice and relaxing, we ate lunch next to it on the rocks. We’ll probably go back next summer and camp for a night or two. I had my Tacoma with a lift on it.
