Secret Canyon trail #16

[owenb]

Has anyone done this trail and if so what is it like? I can't find much information on it. This is not the Secret Canyon trail most people use, #121. You can see both here: https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/coconin ... ecid=55386. 16 starts on the rim and appears to head down towards 121. I've heard stories of the 2 connecting.

Owen

[hikeaz]

@owenb
The Secret trail from FR152 DOES connect to/is one with the trail reached from Woody Mtn. Road (top). Like most redrock trails there is some loose rock; the lower part follows a creekbed for a bit, then a steep climb up to the rim. Good news is ...not many bicycles! There is an old cabin/homestead up on the rim that makes a nice side-meander.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/coconin ... ecid=55178

[owenb]

@hikeaz
Sorry I'm a little confused. The link you sent is to the Secret Mountain trail #109. Does trail #121 connect to #109 or to #16 ( or both )?

[ShatteredArm]

I would not count on this trail existing in any meaningful form. I do seem to recall some triplogs on here indicating that the going is pretty rough.

[hikeaz]

@owenb
https://data.fs.usda.gov/geodata/raster ... FSTopo.pdf
I may have confused Secret Canyon with LOY Canyon in the trail name. This map may help and also shows the location of the cabin/homestead near the 'mountain' trail.

[nonot]

(Mostly) This is known in HAZ as Sunburst canyon. Conditions are pretty raw, and at best it resembles a game trail in spots for the first mile or so. I believe it will require you to rappel several times (Edit: 9 rappels, up to 70 ft, requiring 200 ft of rope) before the "Trail", as marked, leaves the canyon bottom. Where it is hiking only in the canyon bottom there was lots of vegetation to plow through. At the point where it branches off to go to the top of the hill (maybe after 2.5-3 miles), you can see remnants of an old road on the satellite photos that line up with that part of the trail, but I've never tried that last mile and the road section is not apparent from the canyon bottom, that I noticed anyway. I doubt the FS map is accurate in mapping how that old road connects to the rim. It certainly doesn't go straight up the canyon to the rim.

[ Sunburst Canyon ]

In my opinion this is better attempted by hiking Secret Canyon trail #121 from the bottom and searching for the old road and once you get on it, follow it over the hill to see where it actually goes from there.