Down to Earth in Lake Havasu: Arizona’s Playground
While 400 miles of stunning coastline form Arizona’s West Coast, 1,800 miles of trails are perfect territory for hiking, cycling and off-roading in Arizona’s Playground—from…
Pilot Rock Trail
Pilot Rock Trail
Overview
The Pilot Rock Trail offers a nice desert mountain walk in open terrain through a variety of scenery ending at the Pilot Rock campsites on Lake Havasu. Hike is 3.5 miles one way, 7 miles round-trip.
The trail to Pilot Rock is an old mining road that leads to a dark red lava rock outcrop in the Colorado River that was once used by steamboat pilots for navigation. Today, Pilot Rock still serves modern boaters with a navigation light that blinks from the top at night.
Details
Rating: 3.0Trailhead Location: SARA Park
GPS Coordinates: 34.440677, -114.260880
Trail Length: 7 hours
Difficulty: Moderate with climbing
Time to Trailhead: 15 minutes
Time Commitment: 3-4 hrs
Vehicle: Car
Directions to Trailhead:
Drive south on Hwy. 95 to McCulloch Blvd S (mile post 177, last signal before leaving town). Turn right and travel one mile to the second parking lot in SARA Park on the right, across from the Desert Hawks entrance road (elev 860 ft).
Trail Route Instructions:
- Follow the trail straight out from the parking area which drops into SARA CANYON wash on the left and in ½ mile, just past some old fence posts and behind a tree, a trail climbs up the left bank. (If you miss it, you will find yourself in the crack wash in about 200 yards.)
- Just up the bank, keep right at the fork and follow this trail cross country until it drops into a small wash which soon curves around to the right. There is a short trail on the left which goes over a mound into the much larger Grand Wash.
- Cross the wash and continue up the trail on the other side, bearing right, until it meets a jeep trail. Turn right and follow the jeep trail to the lake, going right when the trail forks near a tree. This is a shortcut which will rejoin the jeep trail shortly. Continue straight ahead to the Pilot Rock campsite (elev 450 ft).
- Rather than returning back along the jeep trail, the return can also be made down in the Grand Wash. Look for a burro trail leaving the jeep road on the left soon after reaching the top of the hill after you pass the tree. Walk upstream in the wash just past Big Mountain where the ridge trail comes down from the right and crosses the wash. Exit left on the ridge trail back to SARA CANYON wash, then turn right to the parking area.
- If you intend to spend more than 20 minutes within 200 feet of Pilot Rock campsite, the user fee is $10 a day for up to six (6) people, with a $2 fee for each additional person. If you intend to camp, an additional overnight fee of $10 is good until 9 a.m. the following day.
- Fee ballards, known as "iron rangers," are located onsite beside the picnic table. Funds should be deposited in the permit envelope and dropped inside the ballard. You must present a use permit upon demand to any authorized Bureau of Land Management official inspecting the site.
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