Within the hiking history of the various configurations of the Trailblazers, the Red and Slate Mountain circuit has been visited numerous times. Reports from those trips are quite thorough and do not need embellishment, so this version will be photo-centric. Some basic info on each destination will be provided along with hike stats.

An old extinct volcano, one of the more than 600 volcanos that dot northern Arizona’s landscape. This unique volcano offers hikers to walk into the innards of a dormant mountain of fire. For reason not entirely understood by geologists, the northeastern flank of Red Mountain collapsed, exposing the intricate internal structure of the more than 700,000 year old cinder cone. Tiny cinders crunch underfoot along the ponderosa-shaded trail that leads into a visual striking arena of towering stone pillars and contorted lava formations. A secured six foot ladder must be climbed in order to get into the most spectacular part of the mountain, where disintegrating layers of red, ocher and black cinders create amaze of clefts and canyon to explore.

Not actually made of slate, this hill is a laccolith, or a solidified heap of lava that pushed up the earth's crust, like a blister that never broke the surface. Time has since eroded away the mountain's top layers to expose the grayish-blue igneous rock called rhyolite, which early explorers mistook for slate.