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| Hiking | 18.67 Miles |
1,660 AEG |
| | Hiking | 18.67 Miles | 6 Hrs 25 Mns | | 2.91 mph |
| 1,660 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Wife and I are up in Flagstaff for a couple of days. While up here I was trying to knock out another passage of the AZ Trail. Didn’t go quite as well as I had hoped. Wife dropped me off at Marshall Lake around 5:40am. I would have liked to have been on the trail even earlier, but we had a few hiccups getting out of our room and getting to the TH.
This hike (the portions that I did) can be broken down into six segments: the forest, Sandy Canyon, Walnut Canyon, open forest, Walnut Canyon Tributary and viewpoints. The forest makes up the first 6 miles of the hike. It’s very thick, almost zero sun exposure during this stretch. The trail does a great job negotiating the terrain. Hills are everywhere, but the trail never directly assaults any of them. The few times that there is notable elevation change the trail has large sweeping switchbacks. The one exception is as the trail approaches Sandy Canyon, the sweeping switchbacks turn into a more pronounced set of switchbacks. Still nothing overly aggressive. The trail itself is a solid single track. It starts out a little gravelly, but soon switches to a nice loamy soil that was incredibly cushiony to the feet. It transitions to a more traditional hard compact dirt surface, but there are enough pine needles to offer a softer surface. As the trail starts to descend to Sandy Canyon it does become a little bit rocky. I encountered about 30 elk during this stretch which definitely added to the experience. I unfortunately had a bathroom emergency during this stretch which added to the experience in a whole different way.
I got to Sandy Canyon at just under 6 miles. This juncture is very well marked. For the next mile the trail stays in the canyon offering some unique rock formations along the way. This section is very exposed with minimal tree coverage. The trail becomes very straight and becomes almost a dual track as it goes along the valley. The trail is very smooth with almost no rocks. As the trail nears a bend in the canyon there are several connections to be aware of. A giant triangle is formed as the north and south sections of the AZ Trail split at different points to connect to passage 33 of the AZ Trail. Staying on the AZ Trail #31 as you go north forms the base of the triangle. Once again, these junctures are all well signed. Almost immediately after this triangle there is another signed trail, indicating where AZ #31 leaves the canyon. At this point you’ll notice a “use” trail heading further down the canyon exploring the caves and rock formations. I wandered briefly down this use path to the first bend, taking a few pictures before returning to the #31.
I include the climb out of Sandy Canyon as part of the Walnut Canyon. The trail becomes very rocky as it climbs towards Fisher Point. Though the rockiness diminishes after the ascent, it becomes a common feature of the trail going forward. Upon reaching the top there is a well signed juncture, indicating a .1 mile side trail to Fisher Point. The views are nice, and I was surprised to see that I was looking down at the triangle that I had just left. If you have ever visited Walnut Canyon NM National Park, the canyon walls seen from Fisher Point are very similar. It’s kind of cool to think that this is the start to that canyon and what might lie between the Point and the Park. For the next 1.5 miles the trail follows the rim of the canyon offering some tantalizing glimpses below. At around 12.3 miles the trail leaves the canyon, returning only with the viewpoint side trails. It was during this section around Fisher Point that I encountered 3 bikers and 2 hikers. These were the only trail users I saw the entire day.
The next stretch is what I consider to be the open forest. This actually starts as you go along the rim of the canyon, but the canyon views are such that you are not really aware of it. This open forest is pretty much the norm for the rest of the hike. Tree coverage is fairly light, going from minimal to moderate at best. Sun exposure is a definite, especially during the middle of the day. As the trail leaves the rim, the single track loses most of the rocks and returns to a smooth compact dirt with the occasional softening of pine needles. The trail continues to do a fantastic job of going with the flow of the terrain, changing elevation very gradually. As the trail winds through the forest there will be 2 signed “viewpoint” junctures. The first is .7 miles one way and the other is .2 miles. Both offer unique perspectives of the canyon. The .7 mile trail has a cool peninsula that you hike onto with pocked marked rocks that look like they had been exposed to acid rain. Hitting all three of these viewpoints (this includes Fisher Point will add about 2 miles to the hike).
The last notable on this hike was the Walnut Canyon Tributary (as described in the trail description). This tributary is bracketed by the open forest and occurs shortly after the .2 mile viewpoint. With the exception of Walnut Canyon this stretch offers one of the few significant changes in the landscape. There is a decent drop and ascent as the trail goes from one side of the tributary to the other. As you climb the north face you start to encounter stone outcroppings common for Walnut Canyon. As you approach the top there will be an info sign talking about the ruins that lie within. There are signs that tell you to stay on trail, but it is very tempting to want to explore the surrounding area. Once the trail tops out you continue along the open forest floor towards FR 303.
This passage is described as going all the way to I-40, which would be another 4 miles. However, for me, this was my stopping point. My loving wife was waiting at FR 303 with an ice cold Dew  Little annoying with the “call to nature” and my Garmin seemed to give me more miles than I hiked. Where I stopped, I should have been at 16 miles (with the viewpoints. This would have been based on the stated miles on the trail signage). My Garmin had me at 19.5 miles This makes it hard to accurately describe features based on my Garmin mileage. When I uploaded my hike on HAZ my mileage came to 18.67. This discrepancy makes me think some of the stated miles on the signs is no longer accurate. |
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