Flagstaff hike: Alfa Fia Tank
Hiking blogger Mare Czinar likes nothing better than to hit the trail. Find more of her news and recommendations at arizonahiking.blogspot.com.
Just off Passage 34 of the Arizona Trail, a tiny pool in an alpine meadow reflects soaring peaks. Here, among disheveled barbed wire, knee-high forbs, wildflowers and infant conifers, an awe-inspiring panorama of see-forever-vistas tumbles seamlessly down exposed slopes.
On most days at Alfa Fia Tank, cool mountain air rushes over prairies with hair-whipping ferocity. These breezes are created when warm air creeps up the mountain and collides with crisp alpine drafts churning down from Arizona's highest massif. This windy cocktail swirls in airy eddies muddled with pine and the earthy scent of last year's deadfall.
Places near big mountains like this one are known to create their own weather systems. In summer, that means nippy mornings followed by cloud build-ups that often erupt in afternoon rainstorms. Whether hiked as an easy stroll from Aspen Corner or as a water-gathering detour while trekking the 36.1-mile segment of the Arizona Trail that passes below the San Francisco Peaks, the mile-long walk around Alfa Fia Tank is a revitalizing trip of astonishing beauty.
Length: 1.1 miles.
Rating: Easy.
Elevation: 8,730-8,932 feet.
Where: From Flagstaff, go north on U.S. 180 for 7 miles to Snowbowl Road. Turn right and go 5.3 miles to the parking area on the left at Aspen Corner. From the opening in the fence, take the wider trail heading right, veer left at the first fork, then continue straight past the Arizona Trail junction and follow the trails around the tank.