Picture Canyon Waterfall Loop

Picture Canyon's parking is within view of a water treatment plant, and some other city infrastructure, but the trails soon leave these surroundings behind and enter a pine-forested valley where wildlife might be spotted. A number of connected trails weave throughout the area. Some junctions are signed and others are not, because some of the paths are social trails rather than official trails.To efficiently find the waterfall and then the largest petroglyph panels, follow the route mapped here, which goes counterclockwise beginning with Tom Moody Trail. Follow Tom Moody to the petroglyphs and then backtrack slightly to Don Weaver Trail, which heads back toward the parking area on the opposite side of the canyon.You could complete a longer loop by taking all of the Tom Moody Trail or using the Flagstaff Loop/Arizona Trail where it passes through.

Today the year-round waterfall is fed by treated discharge from the wastewater facility, but in the past water flowed here naturally for much of the year. Perhaps that made this canyon an important cultural site for the Sinagua people. Their 1,000-year-old etchings on basalt outcrops are what Picture Canyon is named for, and many of them are still visible today.