We will be hiking a 7.3 mile loop trail today through some of the most scenic and wild backcountry in the Red Rock Secret Mountain Wilderness area. The Sedona skies are a cool azure blue, the temperature stands at a perfect 78 degrees, and it's another great day for hiking the trails of Arizona.

Time to roll out and start kicking up a little red rock dust.

One of many spectacular views along the trail.

This view is near the junction of the Secret Canyon Trail and the David Miller Trail and is close to the last side wash crossing over a large expanse of slick rock.

Fortunately for us, a cooling breeze helps keep us relatively cool on this sunny spring day in late April. Although the Secret Canyon Trail continues on for two more miles, we turn off at the David Miller Trail junction after 2.1 miles, since our goal today is to hike the short David Miller link to Bear Sign Trail and use that to complete a loop hike back to the trailhead.

The trail crosses several shallow washes that empty into Secret Canyon.

While hiking the Secret Canyon Trail several years ago, we actually witnessed a little water flowing through these normally bone-dry washes. Unfortunately, the hike was scrubbed less than an hour after starting because of a fast moving thunderstorm and rapidly dropping temperatures. When these red rocks are slick and wet with rain, the colors really pop out and are even more breathtaking than usual.

On this sunny day, however, moving water and thunderstorms were not a concern at all.

The last two miles of the Secret Canyon Trail follow the canyon floor through a shaded canopy of ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, and sycamore; however, as we leave this trail behind at the junction, we also start to benefit from mixed shade and filtered sunlight, as we steadily gain elevation on the David Miller Trail.

Near the top of the trail at 5,500 feet, we catch up with the rest of our group and stop for a lunch break under the shade of a sprawling alligator juniper.

Built in 1999, this trail enables hikers to complete a 7.3-mile loop hike between the Secret Canyon and Bear Sign trails.

This trail was named in honor of Forest Service employee David Miller, who disappeared while hiking by himself in the Secret Mountain Wilderness area in 1997.

Despite a massive manhunt to locate him, no trace of Miller was ever found and the case remains a mystery to this day.

At this point we are about midway along the return leg of the hike on the Bear Sign Trail.

Near here we spot large stands of small Arizona cypress, with their characteristic trunks of peeling and curling bark, somewhat similar to birch trees.

Rudy, who has been playing with his new GPS for much of the hike, makes an interesting observation about smoking this bark in his younger days. Apparently he couldn't afford cigarettes at the time, so decided tree bark would be a good alternative.

The Bear Sign Trail ends at a junction with the Dry Creek Trail. The junction sign is relatively new and a bit confusing as well for hikers new to the area. A larger sign at the top of the post indicates “Dry Creek Trail” and directs the hiker to the left (North), while a smaller sign below simply says “Trail” and more or less points to the right across a dry creek bed.

Even though we are actually returning to the Vultee Arch Trailhead on the Dry Creek Trail, we do not choose the sign marked “Dry Creek Trail”. Bearing left at this point on the Dry Creek Trail would leave us stranded in a dead-end box canyon three miles to the north. We follow the direction of the sign marked “Trail”, cross the creek bed, and continue on for another 0.6 miles to the Vultee Arch Trailhead. From here it is an easy one-mile walk downhill on the Vultee Arch Road to our waiting vehicles at the Secret Canyon Trailhead.