The Trailblazers had a Grand Canyon camping trip planned the weekend of October 4-6, but because I couldn't make that I looked into scheduling a day hike that Saturday. Flagstaff seemed too cold and the Valley too hot, and I hadn't been to Sedona in a while, so that's where I started looking for a route. The year before I'd been on Dave French's Munds Mountain hike, and I remembered enjoying it, and so a repeat seemed like a fine idea.

The Grand Canyon trip got cancelled because of the federal government shutdown but I didn't get as many late registrations as you might think. But we did end up with ten hikers, and that's a nice sized group.

To avoid driving to the Schnebly Hill trailhead, Dave's hike had started at the crossing of Schnebly Hill Road and FR 153A. I originally intended to start at the trailhead this time but a stop at the Schnebly Hill Vista put a stop to that. We could see that the road ahead was steep and treacherous, and that the few cars on it were just creeping along. And so, back to FR 153A we went. Our route would be FR 153A to the Schnebly Hill trail, then Schnebly Hill to the Munds Mountain trail, and then to the summit. Simple, right? Except that none of my maps showed exactly where the forest road and the trail connected.

The view from this vista was fantastic but it also let us see how poor the road to our intended trailhead was. Where's that Plan B? [photo by John]

Here we are at Plan B, also known as FR 153A, making the usual round of introductions. [photo by Wayne]

Ready to depart: Jim, Lori, Monika, George, Dottie, John, Linda, Quy, Edith, and Wayne. [photo by Jim]

FR 153A is a fairly level but not particularly well-marked dirt road. Fortunately, most of the junctions were just splits in the road that soon joined back together. As to the rest, after a little discussion we got them all right. And along the way we encountered more of the fabulous red-rock scenery we'd seen from the vista.

Now we're under way! [photo by Quy]

Lori and George pause for a chat. That's Dottie and Quy right behind. [photo by Jim]

After a mild drop near the trailhead, most of FR 153A was fairly flat. That's Munds Mountain on the horizon. [photo by Quy]

A fabulous view along FR 153A. Any hike near Sedona has good scenery but this was spectacular! [photo by Jim]

That's Sedona beyond the two promontories. Breathtaking! [photo by Jim]

Along the way we flagged down a passing Pink Jeep Tour vehicle and asked the driver where to find the Schnebly Hill trail. He said it was just ahead and that when we found it, we should turn right.

"Just ahead" turned out to be a three way intersection, posing a choice of which fork to take. Good news: there was a sign on the trail to our left. Bad news: all it said was, "Trail." It didn't say which trail or where it led, only, "Trail." Useless. But the Pink Jeep driver had said to turn right, and so we did.

Linda, Edith, Jim, and Quy descend the Schnebly Hill trail. [photo by Wayne]

We noticed pretty quickly that the trail was going down not up, and that we seemed to be getting further and further form Munds Mountain. But it was a nice, scenic trail and everyone felt like continuing so that's what we did. Worst case, we'd wander around aimlessly through the fabulous scenery for five miles and then backtrack to the cars.

Jim attempts to shoot a blow-dart across the canyon. No, wait, isn't that Munds Mountain over there? Why are we going away from it? But this is such a nice trail... [photo by Wayne]

John conducts a symphony of nature. Or perhaps parts the waters. (If so, good job; there's not a drop left behind.) Dottie convinces him not to jump. [photo by Jim]

Linda, Monika, and Edith pause to admire the view. [photo by Jim]

Edith, Linda, and Dottie continue down the Schnebly Hill trail. [photo by Jim]

Jim pauses to admire the view. That's Schnebly Hill Road down below. [photo by Quy]

John, Dottie, Linda, Edith, Jim, and Monika near the bottom of the trail. [photo by Quy]

Eventually we reached a trailhead, and there we found a sign confirming that we had been on the Schnebly Hill trail. But instead of Munds Mountain we'd reached the Schnebly Hill trailhead where I'd originally planned to start the hike. So in a sense, we hadn't missed our route at all. It's just that we went down first and then up rather than the opposite. Perfect reverse planning!

Lori and George pause near the Schnebly Hill trailhead. It's at the crest of the road on the left. [photo by Jim]

After about three miles of hiking we reach the originally-planned starting point; the one with the scary access road. [photo by Wayne]

After a cross-reference of our map and the one at the trailhead our direction became clear. We needed to return to the three-way intersection and take what'd been the left fork instead of the right. So back up the trail we went.

Planning to ascend the same way we came, just making sure... [photo by Quy]

Climbing the Schnebly Hill trail, proving once again that what goes down must go up. [photo by John]

A gnarly Alligator Juniper. Well, OK, gnarlier than most... [photo by John]

We got back to the intersection at about 12:30 and, with the beautiful scenery around us, stopped for lunch. The "Trail" sign now made perfect sense. If you were coming up from the trailhead, it told you that the trail continued on that fork and not on the one for the forest road. It just hadn't made any sense when we snuck up via the road. So I guess we outfoxed 'em that time, eh?

Linda and Monika contemplate the stop for lunch. [photo by Jim]

This was the view from our lunch spot, where FR 153A and the Schnebly Hill trail intersect. [photo by Jim]

A lunch bouquet without a vase. [photo by Wayne]

Wayne, Edith, Dottie, John, and Quy converse during lunch. Note the trail marker at the left. If only it'd identified which trail! [photo by Jim]

After about a mile we came to another intersection, this time a four-way. One was the trail we arrived on, and we knew it wasn't time to turn around yet. Two were for the Jacks Canyon trail, one headed down and the other up. The Munds Mountain trail had a sign but no arrow, but since it was on the same post as the upward-pointing Jacks Canyon sign we figured they must be combined. That left one trail unidentified, and it ascended as well, but there was a log dragged across it, and so we decided it probably wasn't ours.

Edith, Quy, Dottie, Jim, and Monika ponder our next move. Lori investigates alternatives. [photo by Wayne]

Starting the final climb to Munds Mountain. [photo by Wayne]

There weren't many fall colors, but here are a few. [photo by Wayne]

Monika, Jim, George, and Dottie working their way up. The trail here was steep and rocky. [photo by Quy]

The trail to the summit was difficult and in the end, only six of us persisted to the top. The rest waited long the trail for us to return, and I made sure they had radios. This didn't lead to any problems.

As usual, the higher you go, the better the views. [photo by Jim]

Wayne, Lori, Monika, George, Edith, and Jim make it to the top of Munds Mountain. Yippee! We picked up the hikers who stayed behind on the way back. [photo by Wayne]

The top of Munds Mountain is a mesa and Dave's hike had continued along most of it. For us, though, it was already mid-afternoon and we were worried about getting back to the cars before dark. Plus, we had four hikers waiting for us on the trail further down. And we'd already added the extra distance on the Schnebly Hill trail. And I recalled that one mile along the mesa looks pretty much like another. So once we found a good spot for a group photo, we recorded the event for history, congratulated ourselves richly, and then victoriously began our descent.

Edith, Linda, Monika, and Jim take a late break heading on FR 153A, about a mile from the trailhead. [photo by Wayne]

The hike back to the cars was familiar territory and uneventful. Quy left immediately to rejoin her husband, as the two of them were camping for the weekend. Once the rest of us had reassembled, we headed back to the freeway and then into Oak Creek for some food and refreshment. Along the way we passed a family of deer, which everyone enjoyed.

We spotted a family of mule deer as we were driving back to the freeway. This was the only one that hung around long enough for a photo, though. [photo by Jim]

Here's a better shot. The mother and about five other fawns had already moved away. [photo by Jim]

Dinner was at the Marketplace Cafe in Oak Creek, a restaurant I'd found on the Internet. It's a nice upscale bistro with good food and atmosphere. Annoyingly, though, they had a lot of trouble splitting our check. Also, their Web site promised a 10% discount for mentioning the Internet, but they only allowed that for one person in a party, and not during happy hour (which it was). So mixed reviews, although the food, ambiance, and location were all good, and in the end they did treat us fairly.

Dottie, Linda, Jim, Edith, Lori, George, Wayne, and Monika taking rest and respite at the Marketplace Cafe in Oak Creek. Great hike! [photo by John]

All in all, it was a great hike. The scenery was fantastic, everyone enjoyed it, and everyone got home safely. I'd certainly do this hike again!

The first settler in Oak Creek Canyon, by the way, was J.J. Thompson, who claimed some land he called Indian Gardens. Other families then settled in an area called Crimson Cliffs, near Cathedral Rock, and in various other niches. As the population grew, the general area became known as Red Rock.

By the late 1800s the Munds family had become an important, powerful, rich, and heavily political force in the area. Munds Trail, the main road between Red Rock and Flagstaff, was named in their honor. In 1902, at the request of one T.C. Carl Schnebly, the government established a post office along this road. Schnebly suggested the name Schnebly Station, but the post office said that was too long for a cancellation stamp, and so instead he suggested his wife's name: Sedona.