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.