Ash Creek Falls is a 265-foot tiered waterfall on Ash Creek in the Pinaleño Mountains of Graham County, Arizona, in the Coronado National Forest on Mount Graham. It pours off a granite cliff in a forested canyon and is seen from an overlook partway down Ash Creek Trail 307.
The falls
The World Waterfall Database, working from lidar data, gives a cumulative drop of about 265 feet in two distinct sections of horsetailing water. Older estimates put it at 800 feet. Estimates elsewhere run lower: an Arizona Trailblazers trip report from 2009 put it at slightly over 200 feet and called it the highest perennial waterfall in southern Arizona. More falls lie farther down Ash Creek, among them Lower Ash Creek Falls.
Getting there
The upper trailhead is at the public corrals across the road from the Columbine Visitor Information Station, reached from Safford by driving 8 miles south on US 191 and then 29 miles up the Swift Trail (AZ 366). The hike is a little over 5 miles round trip, descending 1,400 feet from about 9,500 feet to an overlook at 8,100 feet, all of it regained on the way out. The upper reaches of the trail are a summer-only route. The 2017 Frye Fire badly damaged the trail, and recent HikeArizona trip logs describe overgrowth, fallen trees and fire damage; check with the Safford Ranger District before going.
When to go
The flow lasts about 3 months a year, and the creek is lively and cold during snowmelt.
On site
The route crosses Slick Rock, a sloping slab of granite where the creek slides about 50 feet; metal grates bolted to the rock give footing, and a single misstep there could cause serious injury. After flood damage, the old line near Slick Rock was bypassed, and a short use-trail leads to the falls overlook. Creek water must be purified. Bears and mountain lions live in the canyon, and Apache trout hold in the pools.
History and name
The name appears in the USGS 1986 gazetteer of Arizona place names. The trail follows parts of an old logging route and passes the site of the Mount Graham sawmill, with the remains of a logging flume and steam-engine boilers.
Nearby
Lower Ash Creek Falls is about 1.6 miles away, down the same creek. Sardine Falls is about 48 miles away and Seven Cataracts about 54.6 miles.
Distances are straight-line.