Home
Club Info
Officers
Meeting Minutes
Library
Calendar of Events
Trip Reports
Hike Descriptions
Trip Planning Guide
Leader Info
Outdoor Links
Lessons Learned
|
Boynton Canyon Day Hike
Sedona
October 30, 2004
by Chuck Parsons
The smallest hiking group in recent memory, consisting of Darleen Lindquist,
Joe Michalides, and hike leader, Chuck Parsons, arrives at the newly
constructed and vastly enlarged parking area for Boynton Canyon, now
complete with brand-new restrooms. The timing was perfect for this hike,
since most of the forest roads leading to many of the other trailheads are
now transformed to mud quagmires and closed, due to heavy rainfall in the
area earlier in the week. We pull into a parking space on freshly rolled
asphalt at 9:15 on yet another beautiful Saturday morning in Sedona'a Secret
Mountain Wilderness Area. The temperature stands at a crisp and refreshing
55° on this fall morning in red rock country. Apparently the $5 use fees
that we have all been paying in recent years to park and hike virtually
anywhere in the Sedona area are finally being put to a good use, since
parking at this trailhead used to be very limited.
Climbing up and down through brush and boulders, the narrow trail winds
its way along the eastern face of Boynton Canyon, as it overlooks and works
its way around the backside of Enchantment Resort, one of the older luxury
resorts in the Sedona area. In the distance we see the rolling red hills of
greater Sedona, studded with numerous other buildings and resort properties.
Unseen and high above us in the cliff face, lies a hidden alcove containing
the remains of ancient Indian ruins. Unfortunately, the Forest Service was
forced to close off all public access to these ruins several years ago to
protect them from further destruction by vandals. After almost a mile of
hiking, the trail begins to closely parallel a wrought iron fence that
marks the resort property boundary, with several signs warning hikers not
to trespass on resort property.
Thankfully, we soon leave the resort and all remaining signs of civilization
behind us, as the trail drops into a wide and flat sandy wash filled with
colorful manzanita, before depositing us on the shady canyon floor. Joe
spots what he thinks may be a shallow cave on the cliff face opposite the
wash, and we all carefully pick our way around the rocks and boulders
scattered throughout the wash, as we make several false starts through
heavy brush attempting to find something remotely resembling a path. We
finally manage to bushwhack our way through the dense brush barrier and
blaze a trail (Ted Tenny would be proud) up to a rocky shelf of loose
sandstone. Carefully picking our way across this somewhat treacherous
ledge, we search in vain for the elusive cave entrance and finally concede
that we must have seen only a mysterious shadow (perhaps a cave mirage?)
from below. We work our way back down to the main trail once again.
From this point on the trail is relatively level and well marked with rock
cairns, as it bends in a generally westward direction along the cool and
shady floor of Boynton Canyon. As we penetrate deeper into the canyon, the
surrounding forest becomes ever thicker and more dense with towering
Ponderosa pines, Douglas fir, Arizona cypress, and several species of oak.
The high canyon walls on either side create an even deeper shade, allowing
the sun to penetrate and warm the canyon floor for only a few hours a day.
The trail becomes damper, and hiking is easier on the hard-packed sand of
the canyon floor. We cross a dry creek bed from time to time, and although
there is no flowing water at the moment, the standing pools and wet boulders
are all evidence of the recent 2.5 inches of rain that soaked this area
just a few days ago.
A heavy, bone-chilling dampness seems to hang in the air, and the
temperature steadily drops, as we move into deeper and deeper shade. We
started out at 55°, but the temperature would bottom out at a bracing
40° before we would emerge on the other side of this dense forest.
The tree branches are now dripping moisture all around us, as the area
takes on the look and the feel of a temperate rain forest of the Pacific
Northwest. Everything around us is thoroughly damp or soaking wet, and we
can now see our smoky breaths in the chill forest air. We have to actually
remind ourselves that we are indeed hiking in Arizona, land of blazing hot
deserts during the summer months. A dry, hot desert hike would actually be
welcome about now, as we continue to shiver in the cold, damp air of
Boynton Canyon. As we quicken our pace to keep warmer, we decide that this
will be a great hike to do during the hot summer months.
As we travel on, we begin to gain a little more elevation and the sandy
canyon floor soon becomes littered with a colorful mosaic of fallen leaves,
as the deciduous trees of the forest gradually give up their fall foliage
and prepare for the dormant winter months that lie ahead. As we approach
the three-mile point, the canyon walls begin to move in and the trail
narrows down and becomes steeper, as it climbs up and around huge boulders
covered with patches of moss and lichens. The temperature gradually begins
to warm up, as we slowly begin to emerge from the thick forest cover of
the canyon floor and into a more open, sunny area near the end of the
canyon. The trail continues to ascend, and we soon find ourselves out in
the open in the warm autumn sun on a large expanse of slickrock with a
clear view of the head of Boynton Canyon.
Boynton Canyon has long been considered one of the most colorful and
spectacular of the many red rock canyons that traverse the Red Rock-Secret
Mountain Wilderness area north of Sedona. It is easy to see why, as we
gaze up at the nearly thousand-foot high cliffs of towering Coconino
Sandstone and Kaibab Limestone that mark the head of the canyon, with
another dense stand of trees marking the canyon's end. As we look around
for a good place to sit in the warm sun and have lunch, we see a number
of our fellow hikers who had the same idea earlier. We find a good
location and sit down for a well-deserved lunch break. However, it is a
short-lived lunch site, as the cool shade cast by the fast moving
overhead sun soon overtakes us and forces us to move out even further
into the warming light.
The canyon is so narrow at this point, with the sun restricted to the
relatively short distance between the high canyon walls, that you can
literally watch the shadows creeping across the slickrock, as the
brilliant orb skirts around the jagged tops of the surrounding high cliffs,
projecting shafts of bright light into the canyon. Adding to all of this
is the growing mysticism surrounding the concept of vortices in the Sedona
area. Boynton Canyon is one of four recognized vortex sites, where the
concentration of electromagnetic energy from deep within the earth is
believed to give off special healing powers. Whatever your beliefs, you
cannot leave this breathtaking place without carrying away some kind of
special feelings towards it.
We finish lunch, as we soak up the surrounding views and the warming rays
of the afternoon sun. After lunch we decide to walk out to the far end of
the slickrock expanse to check out the views. Although called slickrock,
this sandstone surface offers very good footing on its relatively rough
and dry surface. After several hundred yards, we reach a point where we
cannot safely or easily go any further. The walk was definitely worth it,
however, as we are rewarded with stunning views looking down the spectacular
and immense expanse of Boynton Canyon, with its towering reddish-orange and
cream-colored walls of sandstone and limestone, soaring hundreds of feet into
the brilliant blue Arizona skies of this beautiful fall day and sheltering a
rich mosaic of forest cover along the full length of the canyon floor.
The afternoon sun is slowly dropping lower in the sky, as it descends behind
the cliffs at canyon's end. We briefly consider bushwhacking the extra
quarter-mile to the end of the canyon for even more great views, but decide
against it because of the time, as well as several signs sternly warning
hikers not to stray off the main trail. Reluctantly, we finally decide it
is time to start the return hike and begin the descent back down to the
cold and forested canyon floor, returning along the same trail. The sun
has managed to warm up the air in the lower canyon a bit and even evaporate
some of the excess moisture, making the hike back out much more comfortable
than the hike in earlier in the day. The trees are no longer dripping
moisture, and we can no longer see our breaths, as we slowly make our way
back out of Boynton Canyon.
Arriving back at the trailhead by 2:30 in the afternoon, we remove boots
and backpacks and settle in for the scenic drive back to Sedona, where we
decide to look for a good Mexican restaurant for an early dinner (or very
late lunch). After cruising the main drag through town for a while, we
finally settle on the Oaxaca Mexican Restaurant, perched on a small hill
overlooking the road and surrounding shops. After dinner we elect to do
some window-shopping and walk off some of those extra dinner calories. We
cruise up one side of the street and then down the other, checking out
quite a few of the shops to see if there is anything that we simply cannot
live without. Joe purchases a silver and turquoise watchband, while Darleen
buys a few gifts for her grandchildren. I decide on a half-pound of
maple/walnut fudge to indulge a sweet tooth. We carry our treasures back
to the car and sit back for the long drive back to Phoenix, leaving behind
the spectacular Red Rock-Secret Mountain Wilderness area, with its many
beckoning and colorful canyons. We will all be back again one day, when
the heat of the lower deserts once again drives us to seek out higher and
cooler areas to hike and explore in this amazing and wonderful place that
we know as Arizona.
|
Top of Page