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| Hiking | 6.50 Miles |
975 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.50 Miles | 2 Hrs 50 Mns | | 2.29 mph |
| 975 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I started the hike early in the morning, before 7am, trying to avoid the heat of this hot summer day. Long Canyon trail #122 promised to be in a canyon and therefore I assumed in the shade. So I started hiking, but was a bit suspicious because no canyon was in sight anywhere. The land was flat, manzanita covered. The trail was wide, more like a promenade or an old road than a hiking trail. And of course so far no shade anywhere. That wasn't too bad because it still was early.
I kept on hiking on this plain, with mountains about as far away as they ever are in the Sedona area. After a while I heard motorized equipment at work and the promenade came upon a golf course being mowed. The trail followed the golf course for a bit, but soon we were back in the manzanitas until, with the next meander, I caught sight of the golf course one more time. You could actually smell the course before you saw it: it was watering time and the huge shoots of water on the grass filled the desert air with fresh rain smell.
I had hiked almost a mile so far. While the trail had progressed from a six-abreast promenade to a four-abreast path, I was still crossing a fairly flat area, climbing very slightly. The cliffs had come a bit closer, but calling it a canyon would be a wild exaggeration. I was wondering if it was called Long Canyon because it took so long to get to the canyon. At least it looked as if I'd ultimately get to a canyon, unlike the other Long Canyon trail in the Sedona area (#63, east of I-17) where you never get to a canyon.
Deadman Pass trail peeled off to the left and with it went all the bike tracks. A sign promised the wilderness boundary in a quarter mile. There I found a sign in sheet (nobody had signed in for the last three days -- too hot I guess) and had a last chance to admire this inappropriate golf course.
At about the one and a half mile point, the real canyon began. Arizona Cypress became more common and grew larger, with colorful trunks. For quite a while I was hiking on what seemed fine beach sand, often deep enough to remind of of hiking on dunes in Michigan. From what I understand, the sandstone here in Sedona was originally beach sand, so when it decomposes it goes back to what it started out as. The cypress forest really was quite lovely, with some very large specimens here and there. Even some shade.
The canyon grew closer and closer, the red rock and white cliffs rose higher and higher. The first large Alligator Bark Cypress was followed a bit later by the first Ponderosa Pine. As the canyon grew narrower (and more shaded and cooler), the trees grew bigger. The path continued to climb comfortably, now at times with some rocks among the sand and dust. Cardinal flowers were still blooming in this cool secluded spot, even though they were long gone most everywhere else in Sedona. Even though there wasn't any water in the creek bed, the vegetation looked lusher, almost rain forest like. (BTW, don't hike this trail when the water is high, you're crossing the creek a lot)
I was hiking through one of the most beautiful mixed forests I'd ever had hiked in, on a comfortable trail, in the cool shade, in perfect solitude. Almost perfect. Almost, except for the gnats. What Montezumaswell calls knats (killer gnats?) and I call mozzies. As soon as you stopped, they were all over you. And I'm normally ignored by flying insects, but not here.
At about the 3.2 mile mark, the trail came to a cliff. While it's possible to scramble up the cliff and go a bit further, I decided against it, since I was by myself and I hadn't seen anybody else on the entire hike.
On the way back, going down, I realized how much height I had gained: the trail was so smooth (except for the last quarter mile or so) that I hadn't realized that I was climbing steadily. from 4500 feet at the trail head to 5300 feet when I stopped. The views were different when hiking back, still mostly in the shade, still nice and cool. The cliffs glowed in the morning sunlight through the dense foliage of the pines and the oaks.
Shortly before the wilderness boundary I came back out in the sun. Ok, it was warm, the sun hot even though it only was 9 am. But somehow that long boring slog in through the manzanita and along the golf course (still watering) was much shorter going back.
Overall a great hike: the truly spectacular second half more than outweighs the boring beginning. As in many canyon hikes in the Sedona area (Boynton, Jack's and lower Woods Canyon come to mind), you first have to hike across a fairly boring flat plain, skirt developments or both before you get to where you really want to be. |
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