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| Hiking | 7.73 Miles |
1,567 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.73 Miles | 5 Hrs 32 Mns | | 2.19 mph |
| 1,567 ft AEG | 2 Hrs Break | | | |
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| partners | | I was pleasantly surprised Kelly was able to join me for my hike to Sedona. She suggested Wilson Mtn and though I hemmed and hawed I knew if anyone could help get me up that mountain it would be her so that would be the plan. We met at my house at 6AM for our drive north. The drive went so fast we blew by the Sedona turnoff and laughed at ourselves because: why were the windows fogging up a little, why were the trees taller and thicker and oh ya, there was that sign that said "chain up" area  . SILLY!
Soon enough though, we were at Wilson Mtn TH at Midgley Bridge. I stepped out of Tonto and  , what the heh? It was freezing. I looked thru my hike bag to see if I had anything to keep me warmer and all I had was a thin wind breaker. The cold probably would have been tolerable but the wind and projected wind gusts caused us to go for a Plan B. We didn't actually have a Plan B  but Boynton Canyon was the obvious choice.
We visited with the ranger at Boynton TH for a moment under cloud covered skies. He told us there is a new trail off of Deadman's called Mescal that he said is pretty neat so we kept that in mind for the 2nd half of our hike day. We basically had the trail to ourselves until we started heading back; then it started getting a little more crowded with all sorts of different kinds of people. Getting to the end of the canyon and sitting down to observe what laid before you was all kinds of  . The tall canyon walls with the varnished waterfall and different colors was so sweet!  (PS, Kelly brot me a very special yogurt: anybody wanna guess what flavor? are you thinking Glacier Park? if so you know it was HUCKLEBERRY.)
On our way back, we thot we would hit some of the side trails we saw. The first one took us up some pretty tough terrain. We were hoping maybe toward some Ruins but from what we could tell, no Ruins, just an incredible view  that we tried to stand upright long enough for a photograph as the wind up here was blowing big time! We scurried around a bit trying to see why we should be up here just in case we were missing something but to no avail.
We headed back down but it was a little hard to find the track back. Fortunately some other hikers had seen us and decided they needed to check it out. This worked out well as we realized we had gone down a tad too far before crossing back the way we came.
Our next little off trail was just to the creek and apparently nature's restroom as we caught a lady coming out  . Back on the main trail, Kelly spotted some ruins off to the SE and moments later you couldn't see them anymore. A little further down we took what looked like one of the wider trails to the east. It narrowed down very quickly and we turned our way through the brush. It kept seeming like the trail would end but then you would see it again.
Soon we saw a tee-shirt hanging on a bush  so we thot we might be onto something. Later we came across a straw cowboy hat just before a bit of a dead-end. Kelly went right, I went left. She was able to get up on the bedrock of the canyon wall but determined it would be too much trouble to keep moving along the canyon wall. I could have found a way up onto the bottom of the canyon wall where I had stopped but based on her recon, decided it was time to just turn back.
We took a slightly different trail back as it branched off but it led basically nowhere  until one could finally see the main trail and a hop, skip, jump later we were on our way again. Not too much further, it was my turn to spot the ruin high up in the canyon wall to the SE? (I'm a little turned around in this canyon). On our way past the edge of the hotel property we went to inspect the 4 tall colored crosses. There were also several sawed tree trunks in a circle. Must be a vortex thing  .
Next up was the trek over to the Boynton Vista. The sign said 2 miles RT. Well this satisfied us just fine and would give us a little more miles. I don't know who made the sign but they were way off base... and it was a fancy sign. It was about 1/4 mile to the Vista which was pretty crowded. We made an attempt to get up the Vista rock formation but the wind gusts scared me down after being 1/2 way up. Kelly was about 3/4 but decided to forego the final push.
This was just another absolutely beautiful hike I would HIGHLY recommend. It has so much to offer. I couldn't quit smiling and I am sure Kelly got a little tired of the "WOW" after about the 25th time  . We had a blast! So much bang for your buck!! |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
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For me, sometimes it's just as much about the journey as the destination.
Oh, and once in awhile, don't forget to look back at the trail you've traveled. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
This added a bit to the mileage. Three of us scrambled to the top, much to the chagrin of the wives and mothers in the group. Never did find the “vibe” of the vortex. Not much of a hike, but it appealed to the wide age group (4-62) and we were able to visit a vortex.
Very nice way to close our Sedona vacation.
Boynton Canyon - Sedona - Memorial Day 2012
](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall")
