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| Hiking | 6.67 Miles |
703 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.67 Miles | 2 Hrs 49 Mns | | 2.37 mph |
| 703 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Morning hike in Sedona. Looking to do a trail that I hadn’t done before that wouldn’t be too time consuming. Settled on the Middle Trail.
Got to the TH just before 5am. More than enough light to follow the wide tracks that take off from the Bell Rock Vista TH. Not only are the paths wide, but they are initially fenced as well so there is no danger of straying off the trail in the pre-morning dimness. Didn’t really have a route planned. I wanted to get about 6 miles and include the Middle Trail in my wanderings. I started off on the Bell Rock Pathway and then jumped over to the Big Loop Trail. Followed a use path that took me to the base of Courthouse Butte. I didn’t do any climbing, but it looks like some people have done some scrambling to get to the base of the cliffs. From the use trail I walked over to the Middle Trail and followed that to the outer edge of the Big Loop Trail.
The Middle Trail is more of a connector trail in the Bell Rock system, than an actual trail. HAZ has the trail at .39 miles long. The trail map has it at .5 miles. Not a bad trail. (It’s actually hard to find a bad trail in Sedona). I was hiking this trail going away from Courthouse Butte, which is the wrong direction for this trail. The selling point for this trail would be the views you get when you are hiking north towards Courthouse and Bell Rock. Hard to beat those views. Another selling point for this trail is the low usage it gets compared to the other trails. This is a heavily trafficked area, but this trail will let you avoid some of the crowds. Another nice thing about this trail is that it is a single track throughout. Most of the other trails in this area are 2 to 4 people wide.
From the Middle Trail, I took the Big Loop CCW to the Rector Connecter Trail. Not sure if this is a newer trail, but it is not in HAZ. Pretty neat trail that cuts between Courthouse and Bell Rock. Not that long but it deserves a description. (I also noticed that the Little Rock Trail is not in HAZ either). Got some work to do. I did a little of exploring before taking the “single track” back to the Bell Rock Vista TH. This single track (though not designated), is more of a biker path that allows riders to get around the congestion that is typical for the Bell Rock area.
Nice easy hike. I spent a lot of time fantasizing how I would make it to the top of Courthouse Butte. And that is all it is….fantasy. It looks like the south side allows for access to maybe 2/3 of the way to the top, but even that may involve some technical climbing. The top 1/3 looks to be reserved for the professionals. I had about an hour to myself, before being immersed in the masses. Encountered 31 hikers, 2 bikers and 2 runners. Wildlife included quail, coyote and a javelina. |
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Route Editor
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