Apollo Trail No. 426

Apollo Trail is part of the Mount Elden Dry Lake Hills Trail System and the Schultz Creek Loops Trail System.

The Mount Elden/Dry Lake Hills (MEDL) trail system was dedicated in 1987. There are eight trailheads providing access to 25 designated National Forest System trails, including a segment of the Arizona National Scenic Trail, Flagstaff Loop Trail, and the historic Beale Wagon trail. The MEDL area is comprised by rugged volcanic mountains that are part of the San Francisco volcanic field, located just north of Flagstaff.

This non-motorized system provides fantastic views of the San Francisco Peaks with Humphreys Peak being the tallest in Arizona at 12,633 feet. With numerous trails that circumnavigate, climb, and descend the steep flanks of Elden Mountain and Dry Lake Hills, the MEDL system has a vast number of experiences to offer.

A variety of wildlife species ranging from elk and mule deer to blue grouse and goshawks are frequently observed in the area. A good way to get an idea of which species of wild animals live in the area is to watch the trail for their tracks or scat, although you may have a hard time sorting out coyote tracks from those of the family pets which regularly accompany their humans in this area.

The lower elevations of the area encompass a mixed pinyon-juniper woodland and ponderosa pine forest and with increasing elevation the forest changes to mixed conifer forest composed of fir and spruce. You may be surprised to encounter a couple of different kinds of cacti in this high, cold environment where they seem to do very well. The summit of Mount Elden is rather barren following the 1977 Radio Fire which scorched much of the vegetation but has slowly been recovering.