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| Hiking | 6.80 Miles |
1,231 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.80 Miles | 3 Hrs 4 Mns | | 2.34 mph |
| 1,231 ft AEG | 10 Mns Break | 6 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | Great afternoon hike with Ollie. I wanted to do this one before winter road closures, while enjoying a beautiful and sunny day, and temperatures in the 60F.
We drove down on I-17 from Munds Park and took the Schnebly Hill 321 exit. After a few miles on the dirt road, we stopped at the 153A road, parked on the small pull-out and started our hike.
We went down 153A, all the way to the antennas. We saw vehicle tracks but some sections of the road are so rugged (almost like rocky stairs) that I wouldn't feel comfortable taking anything down that road other than maybe a Jeep (but that's just me  ). At the end of the road, there is a small camping area with a campfire. Then, the trail goes south and meets Schnebly Hill Trail where we met two mountain bikers. We continued south on this very trail. It's a narrow single track, rocky and slightly overgrown. Beautiful views of Sedona soon appeared and I couldn't help but taking my phone out to snap a few pictures. Admiring the views, we both got spooked by a third mountain biker coming right at us. We awkwardly crossed path (there wasn't any space to get out of the way), and Ollie and I continued on. From then on, we did not meet anyone else.
We kept hiking down Schnebly Hill Trail until we hit the junction for Jacks Canyon Trail and Munds Mountain Trail. This is where the boundary of the Munds Mountain wilderness is. The hike up Munds Mountain was a bit tricky. We kept going off trail and I could barely keep up with Ollie who, most of the time, chose to just scramble right up, showing off is great agility skills. There is a trail, it just has a lot of switchbacks that can be difficult to see. Once done with the tricky section, we walked along a saddle. We hiked up the rest of the mountain to reach the top: mainly a prairie with a few trees scattered here and there. Running out of time, we turned around before hitting the part that was burnt in the committee fire. Not sure how the fire affected the area and the trail itself. The wind started to blow and I wished I had more layers on. We came back the way we came in. We made it back to the car and on the way back met a convoy of about a half dozen off-roaders going down Schnebly Hill Rd, including a very cool vintage one with a big Mexicali Cerveza sticker on its door.
Overall, we barely saw any wildflowers, and not many animals other than cows and a few birds. Trees were mostly juniper and oak. Breathtaking views of Sedona were visible from Schnebly Hill Trail. The top of Munds Mountain didn't have nearly as exciting views. It's a fun hike though, I would definitely do it again and try to go further down Munds Mountain Trail next time. |
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