Lockett Meadow
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Fall colors in Arizona isn’t something we usually get to see often and in great quantity, so we were recommended by a friend to stop off at Lockett Meadow to see some. We happened to pass by the road for the meadow on our way back from the North Rim and had to make a quick detour.
Getting to the turn off for Lockett Meadow is a quick 25 minute drive from Flagstaff up US89 to Fire Road 545. Here we went off road and turned onto Schultz Pass Road till we found the turnoff for Lockett Meadow. This is where we had wished our friends had told us about the actual drive to the meadow. We thought it was just going to be a simple dirt road, but what it actually was ended up being a 2 mile unmaintained dirt road that is barely wide enough for two cars that goes up a mountain with a sheer dropoff in areas.
At the top we finally got to see Lockett Meadow and the aspen grove. It really was beautiful seeing all the yellow leaves of the aspen woven into the pine trees covering the mountainsides. Parking in the meadow is limited and we finally found a spot after a few minutes. Then we finally got to walk through the grove.
The grove itself is quite peaceful other than the periodic car driving through. We were fortunate to make it here shortly after noon and have the sun in the perfect position to pierce through the leaves of the aspen rising above us. We hiked around for a short time since we were getting hungry for lunch and still had to head back into Phoenix. If we had more time we would have hiked further into the mountainside, but for the limited time we had the experience was great. Once we had felt satisfied with our quick stop off we headed back down the narrow and bumpy mountain road.
We stopped by on a Wednesday around noon and there weren’t too many people there, but even so parking was scarce. The Saturday before we did try to stop here after we had lunch, but there was a line of cars waiting to drive up the mountainside. We can only imagine how bad the drive up would have been then. There aren’t any facilities up at the meadow either, just a dirty outhouse that doesn’t seem to ever get cleaned or stocked on supplies. We’re definitely we had a rental SUV for the drive with its higher clearance to deal with all the bumps. There were some brave visitors in regular cars, but they took the road very slowly.
As much as we loved the view, we likely won’t return with the current state of the road up to the meadow. It is unmaintained and is more than enough for one car, but when another vehicle passes by it is uncomfortably close to both the edge and the other vehicles. Most of the time the soft shoulder of the road drops off hundreds of feet down the mountainside. If you do plan to visit make sure you have a vehicle that is suited for off road driving and make sure to take the drive cautiously. It is a gorgeous place to visit, but there is a higher than normal risk involved with getting there.
Google Maps Link: Lockett Meadow
