Oldham Trail #1

Oldham Trail begins in Buffalo Park, Flagstaff's urban forest park, and climbs gradually up the south slope of Mt. Elden, an extinct volcano. The trail gets its name from Oldham Park, an open area near Elden's summit. From that high perspective you'll get a bird's eye view of Flagstaff and the surrounding area including mountains, deserts, and canyons as much as a hundred miles away. Some prominent features that are easily visible are Oak Creek Canyon, Sunset Crater, and the Painted Desert.

Along the lower reaches of the trail, you'll encounter boulder fields and cliffs where there are hidden crevices to explore and rocky nooks that make great places to picnic. As you climb higher, the trail takes you from a ponderosa pine forest into groves of aspen and mixed conifer stands of spruce, fir and pine.

In Oldham Park you'll see evidence of a catastrophic burn that occurred in 1977. Although the area affected by this huge wildfire still looks barren from Flagstaff, up close you can see how nature is healing from this man-made disaster.

Near Elden Summit, Oldham Trail joins the Sunset Trail which leads north across the top of Elden to Schultz Pass and south to the Elden Lookout Trail and east Flagstaff.