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Sedona
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| The sandstone "beach" |
Hiking during
springtime snow melt season is one of Arizona’s most remarkable experiences. During
this brief period, water rushes through desert washes and normally dry creek
beds with an urgency tantamount to the panic hikers feel when trying to hit all
the best water-themed trails before the cascades die out. In Sedona, the well-known trails that wind around
Oak Creek, Dry Creek and their watersheds are easy-access crowd favorites. But
few venture into the isolated domain of Woods Canyon where the ordinarily parched groove of Dry Beaver Creek runs
wild for several months each year. One of the best ways to enjoy the
transient water works is to take a hike on the Wood Canyon Trail #93.
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| Dry Beaver Creek |
This trek starts
with a short walk through a lush, riparian exclosure with an easy creek crossing
before emerging in an airy, savannah-like high desert. Yucca-embellished
grasslands dominate the first two miles of the hike. The red-earth path climbs
gently, morphing from a wide two-track to slim footpaths in the shadow of Horse
Mesa. At the 2.3-mile point, the trail enters Munds Mountain Wilderness and
begins its descent to the creek bed. Over the next 1.2 miles, canyon walls
close in and the trail ducks in and out of oak-juniper woodlands with a couple
more creek hops and a traverse of an edgy-ledgy shelf above the water. The
highlight of the hike is a sandstone “beach” that appears at the 3.5-mile
point. Mounds of water-scoured russet stone slouch into the creek like melted
taffy.
This scenic, sycamore-cluttered spot at the juncture of Woods and
Rattlesnake Canyons features rushing rapids, swirling eddies and still pools
that reflect the rusty edifices and charcoal volcanic cap rock of the
surrounding mesas. The trail is reasonably easy to follow for about another
mile but you’ll need some high-end route-finding skills to make it all the way
to where the trail dead-ends at 5.25 miles.
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| Oak-juniper-cypress forest along the trail |
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| Arizona sycamore thrive along the creek |
LENGTH:
5.3 miles one-way (trail degrades after 4 miles)
RATING:
moderate
ELEVATION:
3890’ – 4310’
GETTING THERE:
From Phoenix, travel north on Interstate 17 to the Sedona-Oak
Creek exit 298. Go left (west) on State Route 179 and continue 8.5 miles to
the turn off for the Red Rock Ranger District Station on the right. The trailhead is located within the ranger
station complex in the south (lower) lot where a small metal sign indicates the
start point.
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| High desert plants along Trail #93 |
INFO & MAPS:
Coconino
National Forest
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