Parking
Park at Miller Visitor Center, 4050 Red Rock Loop Road; Smoke Trail starts beside the center. Park admission is required.
Overview
About Smoke Trail
Why go
- A creekside setting on a very short walk.
- Distant Cathedral Rock view from the start.
Heads up
- It is a brief connector; longer outings continue on separate park trails.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Red Rock map
Full mapElevation3,853–3,879 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Red Rock Tour Guide
Your drive to Smoke Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Red Rock State Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this trailhead
Miller Visitor Center and Hummingbird Garden0:00 / 0:28
“Coming up is Miller Visitor Center, a useful short stop for getting to know the park's plants and wildlife.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Red Rock Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Twin Cypress and Habicamp
- Eagle's Nest and Apache Fire
- Lime Kiln Trailhead
- 4 audio storiesacross Red Rock’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Mule Deer, Gila Woodpecker, Clark's Spiny Lizard, and 10 more
- Works offlinemaps, 12 trails, 11 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Smoke Trail
A short creekside out-and-backSmoke Trail is a 0.4-mile out-and-back on the marked 0.
Smoke Trail is a 0.4-mile out-and-back on the marked 0.2-mile one-way path from Miller Visitor Center to the junction with Eagle’s Nest Trail. It’s an easy, unpaved walk along lower Oak Creek, and a quick way to get onto the park’s creekside trail network. Allow about 20 minutes if you stop to look around.
Cathedral Rock in the distanceThe first part of Smoke Trail has a distant view of Cathedral Rock.
The first part of Smoke Trail has a distant view of Cathedral Rock. It’s a quick look across the landscape, not a close-up red-rock climb or a summit walk. At the start, frame the creek corridor with Cathedral Rock beyond it; the stretch of water and green canopy gives the distant cliffs some scale.
A wildlife corridorThis route follows lower Oak Creek’s riparian strip.
This route follows lower Oak Creek’s riparian strip. The park identifies the creek corridor as an Important Birding Area and reports regular sightings of birds, mule deer, javelina, coyotes, and bobcats across the park. Keep an eye out, but treat those as possibilities rather than guaranteed trail sightings.
A name from the old ranchSmoke Trail keeps the name of the old Smoke Trail Ranch, property along lower Oak Creek that…
Smoke Trail keeps the name of the old Smoke Trail Ranch, property along lower Oak Creek that later became the park. Red Rock State Park opened and was dedicated in 1991.
Start at Miller Visitor CenterUse the visitor-center parking area; the Smoke Trail access starts beside the center.
Use the visitor-center parking area; the Smoke Trail access starts beside the center. Restrooms and a gift shop are there, along with two visitor-center picnic ramadas. Park admission is required. Pets are prohibited (service animals are allowed), and swimming and wading in Oak Creek are not allowed.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Red Rock
68 sightingsMule DeerMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
12 sightingsGila WoodpeckerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
19 sightingsClark's Spiny LizardMost seen around 9 AMSighting map
67 sightingsOrnate Tree LizardMost seen around 10 AMSighting map
41 sightingsGreater Earless LizardMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
40 sightingsSide-blotched LizardMost seen around 10 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Red Rock. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
