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| | | Woods Canyon #93 to Pine Valley Ridge - Sedona, AZ | | | |
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Woods Canyon #93 to Pine Valley Ridge - Sedona, AZ
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| Hiking | 16.00 Miles |
2,875 AEG |
| | Hiking | 16.00 Miles | 7 Hrs | | 2.91 mph |
| 2,875 ft AEG | 1 Hour 30 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Woods Canyon and Beyond
This hike features a moderately rigorous collection of less-commonly-used trail sections, starting at the Woods Canyon trailhead, taking Woods Canyon to the Hot Loop Trail just up the Horse Mesa, traveling back down to pick up Jacks Canyon, then using an fairly obscure connector link to loop through the Pine Valley Ridge and Pine Valley Trails, then backward the same way (skipping Horse Mesa) to the Woods Canyon trailhead. We hike about 16 miles, with an accumulated elevation change, round trip, of about 2900 feet.
The hike offers a bit of everything – open shrublands, rim forests, tree-covered mesas, expansive views, red-rock creek beds, Sedona real estate, the horses at Jacks Canyon trailhead, Courthouse Butte – but not a lot of anyone thing. We get the varied, and a reasonable amount of spectacular.
One item, though, does occur a lot – gates, of all types. After passing, close them, both an obvious courtesy and moreover standard hiking etiquette.
The hike starts at the extreme southern end of the Visitor Center south of Oak Creek village. A trailhead marker near a single boulder announces “Woods Canyon,” followed then by an old-style metal marker with “Trail 93” cutout, then a gate, and tall grasses.
Soon, though, the trail evolves to a mixture of open shrubland of low plants and common Southwest pinyons, juniper and other short trees. This continues as you rise slowly on Woods Canyon trail, the canyon itself formed by mesas to your left and right. The mesas might be considered unremarkable: low, flat, with gently-sloping tree-covered sides – no towering cliffs, only a little of the deep reds or browns or oranges, few bands or striations revealing geologic processes. But this unremarkableness brings a wonder – what would a 300 million year time lapse reveal about why Woods Canyon presents to us tree-covered green, while in a dozen miles Courthouse Butte will present to us a completely different view.
After about 1.8 miles, you reach the Hot Loop junction, marked nicely by a sign post. The ascent pitches up to a moderate incline, bringing you after about .8 miles to another nicely marked “T” junction of Hot Loop, with one leg of the “T” ascending to Horse Mesa. Go right and follow that up (about 1.3 miles) until you judge yourself close enough to the northern rim of the mesa to go north off trail (a short bit) to overlook Jack’s Canyon and the formations beyond. Rest a bit, you will have climbed 1200 feet, but mainly to take in the view and work a few pictures.
Your view across Jacks Canyon provides an expansive panorama of Lee Mountain, Courthouse Butte, and Bell Rock. Beneath you, in Jacks Canyon itself, lies the eastern edges of Oak Creek Village, including estates on roads sufficiently private that no Google street view exists. Far in the background rise Doe, Bear and Black mountains.
Travel back down, to the “T” junction, and now proceed north. This portion of the hike weaves through the wooded slopes of Horse Mesa and the smaller mesa that stood to your left on the beginning of the hike. Of interest, red rock occasionally breaks through the vegetation, hinting that the slopes consist of rock eroded down from strata once above the tops of the mesas.
About 2.8 miles after leaving the viewpoint on Horse Mesa, the hike reaches the horse trailer area at the Jacks Canyon trailhead. With good fortune, you might observe a couple horses being groomed and readied for riding. The estates of eastern Oak Creek village will also appear to the north.
Now pick up the interconnector. This will not be reached by taking the Jack Canyon trail. Rather, look for an unmarked single red trail a couple dozen feet more north than the trailhead for Jacks Canyon. Proceed a short distance on the interconnector, cross the road, pick up the connector again, and proceed up a short hill to a gate. Here, you stand up-close to a large estate, of intriguing architecture. The gate marks the start of Pine Valley Ridge trail and a continued gentle incline.
Proceed about .9 miles, and at the bend of the trail, take a short trek off-trail to the rim for wide view of the escarpment on a southern exposure of Lee Mountain, as well as an angle view on the infamous Rabbit Ears formation. Most of us lack a deep knowledge of geology, but even the casual observer can see the bands, layers and striations in the escarpment, formed as Sedona alternated between sea, beach, river and inland environments circa 275 million years ago.
At this point, one can drop down on a relatively uncataloged “Rabbit Ear” trail, or continue on Pine Valley Ridge, to arrive at the eastern side of Courthouse Butte. Again, geology will be evident, as will a bit denser crowds. You can peruse Courthourse Butte and Bell Rock on the typical trails, as you like, but when done take Big Park Loop south to an unmarked junction with Pine Valley Trail (GPS 34.794682, -111.747949). You will travel back about 1.5 miles on Pine Valley, until you “T” into Pine Valley Ridge. Go right, and shortly you will be at the gate to the interconnector. Proceed back to the Visitor Center, but eliminating the spur up to the top of Horse Mesa. Even though you traversed these trail sections earlier, the sun will now be at a different angle, and you view will be from a different viewpoint, and the time will be later in the day. So don’t be in so much of a hurry to not practice a bit more photography, or nature viewing, or geology study, or whatever your fancy. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Because of that difficulty, I decided to attack this hike from the back side. I started from the Schnebly TH and took the Munds Wagon Trail to Schnebly Trail to Jacks Canyon Trail. I got to the Schnebly TH just after 5am. The Munds Wagon Trail is about a 4 mile trail that climbs steadily. The first two miles take place in a wash. Shaded in some spots and some nice red rock features in others. Schnebly road parallels this part of the trail. Usually there is quite a bit of traffic, thanks to Pink Jeep and other tours, but because of my early morning departure I had a quiet ascent. A little over 2 miles in, the Munds Wagon Trail departs the wash and begins to climb a bit more steadily as it makes its way to the "carousel". This is one of the highlights of this trail and a destination stop for many Pink Jeep Tours. Usually this feature cannot be visited without other cheaters (jeep riders) being present. From Munds, I took Schnebly Trail. This was my first time on Schnebly. It starts from Schnebly road, directly across from where Munds Wagon ends. The first part is rather blasé. Just a steady, but gradual climb toward a saddle. It's rocky, but joggable and fairly straight. There are no switchbacks and minimal turns as you are climbing. (This trail is very evident from Sedona as you are driving in (from the west) on 89A, an obvious cut across the top of the mountain). The thing that makes this hike worthwhile, are the views. You get a great view of Sedona! Every stop is a photo opportunity. The Schnebly Trail redeems itself once you get closer to the top. One moment I was in scrub, the next I was surrounded by pines. The trail flattens out once it reaches the trees, though there is still some occasional climbs. The trees do block the distant views, though the trail does make occasional passes by the rim to provide those Kodak moments. Schnebly ends at a 4 way juncture. There is Hot Loop fading away to the east. The trail is there, but it is pretty faint, especially compared to the other trails. There is Munds Mountain that shadows Jacks Canyon for a few 100 ft before starting a serious ascent on the backside of Munds Mountain. Then there is Jacks Canyon which starts a serious descent down a very eroded series of switchbacks (probably 300-400ft lost with these switchbacks). At times it was hard to tell the trail from an erosion channel. In fact, I'm fairly certain that I missed one of the switchbacks and used a waterway instead. Seeing this, I was somewhat concerned about the quality of the trail I would be following for the next 6 miles. As it was, once I reached the canyon floor, the quality of the trail improved quite a bit. For the next 4 miles the trail was enclosed by the valley and the trees. This limited the views, but being a desert dweller I really appreciated hiking amongst the trees. The wash was dry, but there were occasional pools of water. The trail crossed the wash multiple times, but each crossing was well cairned and made for easy crossings. Around the 11 mile mark the canyon opened and I had to deal with the elements....the sun for the first time. Prior to this, the early morning departure, some stratus clouds and the forest had kept me shaded. The expansive views were refreshing after having been closed in for the last few miles. Unfortunately there had been a fire in this area years ago and the burnt remnants still hinted at bygone views. That being said, a nice comeback was being made by the area. I thought I might get by without having to do any ascending at all, but there was a small hill I had to navigate as I made my way around the outskirts of the Village of Oak Creek. That being said, I am fairly certain that I lost more feet in elevation coming down Jacks than I gained in going up Minds Wagon and Schnebly. I got a little more mileage walking down to meet my shuttle, who was in route to pick me up. Great hike! Looking forward to doing more in this area! Only saw two squirrels and not a single other person during the entire hike.
