|
| | | |
| |
|
| Hiking | 15.23 Miles |
2,159 AEG |
| | Hiking | 15.23 Miles | 9 Hrs 32 Mns | | 1.66 mph |
| 2,159 ft AEG | 20 Mns Break | | | |
|
|
| |
| Linked |
|
none
[ show ]
| no linked trail guides |
| Partners |
|
none
[ show ]
| no partners | | Dave Miller Loop
The saddle on Sedona’s David Miller trail has enticed me ever since I started hiking in Sedona area. I was attracted to the saddle’s remoteness (relative) and its promise of wide views down Secret Canyon.
Issue? The relative remoteness. Parking access for David Miller sits four miles up a four wheel drive road. Not that far. But I lacked a high clearance vehicle. Rent a four wheeler? Get a ride? But then the obvious - just hike the whole way.
So, this route starts at the Long Canyon trailhead, a parking spot workable due to its presence on a paved road, and a parking spot with reasonable connections up to the Dave Miller. With that parking as the start point, the route here runs in succession through Chuckwagon, FSR 152, Dry Creek Trail, Bear Sign Trail, David Miller, then back via Secret Canyon Trail, (with a side trip on HS Canyon), FSR 152 and Chuckwagon.
On the day of the hike, I started a bit before sunrise, using headlamps, navigating Chuck Wagon in the dark but with minimal difficulty. When I joined up to FRS 152, dawn broke. No sun. But still a remarkable scene. For the morning revealed a cloudy mist which wafted delicately over the top of the white and red peaks poking above the dense desert pine forest.
That density was the case all along. The forest grew very thick throughout most of the hike. A look at a satellite image reveals the (likely) reason – this loop travels almost entirely in canyon valleys and/or alongside meandering washes.
As I progressed toward the saddle, the trail ran soft underfoot, with a gradual rise as I hiked up FSR 152 to and through Dry Creek trail, Bear Sign to Dave Miller. While these trails sit some distance off the beaten path (on this leg up to David Miller I saw no other hikers), the trails run distinctly and with few undergrowth encroachments and essentially no obstructions (exception – HS Canyon).
One small navigation note. Dry Creek, Bear Sign and David Miller do descend into washes, and do not necessary rise directly on the other side. A tiny bit of discernment comes into play to pick up the trail continuations.
Now, as mentioned, for most the trail, including the route to the saddle, I hiked among dense forest. The red and white Sedona rock became visible only as it poked up above the forest, or became observable in the open washes. So the trek to the saddle featured mainly the soft serenity of an enclosing ample forest.
That changed when I rose up over the saddle. A breathtaking scene exploded out in front of me. The rock formations of Secret Canyon flew into view, expanding out in all directions, up and down, front and back, as wide as I could stretch my arms. And the expansive view telescoped out into the far distance, revealing Capital Butte and the sister rock formation with Coffee Pot. And the rolling clouds remained above, their shifting profile casting an undulating pattern of light and dark across the scene.
The promise of such views had enticed me. Needless to say, I was not disappointed.
I sat for a while, absorbing the scene and spectacle, interspersing my observation with occasional taking of some photographs. Time came to move on, to descend, a descent which offered changing views, and in contrast to the trails to that point, a fairly steep, open, rocky trail. But again a trail distinct, unobstructed, and traversed with minimal difficulty.
The forest density returned at the bottom of the descent, after which David Miller hit a junction with Secret Canyon trail. A bit further, Secret Canyon dropped into a wash, of no particular note.
Except one. HS Canyon should intersect Secret Canyon at or near the wash. But – HS Canyon is not an officially listed trail at this far end connection. Some maps may shows it, but not the maps the Ranger Stations sanction or trailhead signs display.
So even with a good 20 minutes of searching, I did not locate the intersection. I decided on Plan B; go to the other intersection of HS Canyon and Secret Canyon, a bit south on Secret Canyon trail, and hike back up to this intersection.
This reroute would take some time, so I cut out most observing and photographing, and just trekked quickly down Secret Canyon. My GPS got me to within a dozen or meters of the other intersection, and with a bit of search I found an old iron trail sign for HS Canyon.
All went well for a good bit along HS Canyon, with high peaks towering above the forest. The underbrush had encroached, a bit, at places, but no issue following the trail. Then HS Canyon just suddenly dove into a wash, and vanished, at about the point where the Ranger maps show the trail ending. Another 20 minutes of searching and bushwhacking followed, but I found no continuation.
I don’t like to be defeated (likely the case for most), but I judged another 20 minutes would get me no closer to finding the trail loop back around to the northern intersection, as loop likely might be heavily or completely overgrown.
I shrugged, and remembered that all information has value, and logged the experience. I hiked back down HS Canyon to Secret Canyon, now observing and photographing not so much the rocks and peaks, but the flowers and trees and even an ant hill. Then on back to the car.
All in, great hike, with good views, nice photography, and relatively (let’s say modestly) remote.
And the good information – cross-check a bit more thoroughly. Such a cross-check would have revealed before I hiked that the Ranger maps didn’t show a complete loop. I would then have studied the GPS tracks of those who had made the loop, studied those much more closely for clues as to the HS Canyon complete loop. I would have then either felt more comfortable the trail had grown obscured, or better yet, found the trail. |
| _____________________
| | |
|
|
|
Route Editor
Route Scout
Bear Sign 
No flow but plenty of clear pools in bedrock
