Since it’s getting harder every year to find trails that the Arizona Trailblazers haven’t hiked, Sandy’s Canyon seemed to be a good one to repeat. Thirteen hikers left the Valley at 6:30 AM and met up with three others at the trailhead on Lake Mary Road.

Thanks to Ted’s diligence when posting the events, we knew about the new trailhead that was built and could start the hike without further delay at 9:00 AM. Mary, who lives in Flagstaff, predicted rain around 12:30 PM. So instead of checking out the rock-climbing area as planned, we hiked right down into the canyon and toward Fisher Point.

The temperature was great for hiking and we enjoyed the easy walk in the Canyon. From the base of Fisher Point we climbed about 350 feet to reach the top. From here the views into Walnut Canyon on one side and the trail we just hiked on the other side, were spectacular.

Since some of the hikers had not been on this trail before, we checked out the big cave at the base of Fisher Point first and ventured into the side canyon to look at two more caves.

The riparian area was very lush and a few of us wanted to find out how far the trail would go. After hiking another mile, the clouds coming in became darker and we decided to turn around, catch up with the rest of the group and make our way back to the trailhead.

Once back in Sandy’s Canyon we heard thunder and saw some lightning at the far end of the Canyon in the direction of the trailhead.