CANYON OF FOOLS

CANYON OF FOOLS

Deep within the Canyon of Fools

Canyon of Fools might be the weirdest hike in Sedona.  Located in the Mescal Mountain cluster of trails northwest of town, the keynote feature of the route is a gnarly, half-mile walk through a red-earth labyrinth. Unlike other Red Rock Country hikes, this one ditches open air, ooo-ahhh vistas in favor a cloistered trudge through a dirt tunnel.  The adventure begins within a few yards of the trailhead off Boynton Pass Road where the trail ducks into a serpentine gulch that morphs from a roomy corridor into a claustrophobic, high-walled canyon with tree roots protruding in arthritic tangles.

Roots protrude from the canyon walls

Mescal Mountain

The rough-cut passage twists among flaking shelves of sandstone and side canyons sculpted into bizarre forms by running water and erosion.

Yucca fruit

You’d earn the title of fool by trying to hike here during a rainstorm for you’d surely be swept away in a torrent of mud and debris. The creepily distorted gulch is softened with a cap of wildflowers, grasses and familiar cypress-juniper woodlands. At several spots, mounds of decomposed sediments spill out like syrupy rivers of russet oatmeal, dividing the trail into easy and more difficult paths that loop around the debris and reconnect on the backside.  Once through the half-mile canyon section, the trail gradually opens into more conventional high desert terrain where it meets the Yucca Trail junction. The massive landform directly ahead is Mescal Mountain.  This is your first opportunity to consult a map to plan your return route as several trails that wend around the mountain’s base can be used to make loop hikes. With the canyon portion of the trek behind you, head left and continue hiking over slick rock and edgy paths to where the route ends at Deadman’s Pass Trail. For an out-and-back trek, this is your turnaround point. Otherwise, keep trekking north into Red Rock Secret Canyon Wilderness and Boynton Canyon or swing right for a scenic walk over an exposed mesa before picking up a connecting path to to loop back to the trailhead.

Cockscomb formation seen from Canyon of Fools Trail

Club-flower (Purple Birdbeak) blooms Aug-Oct

LENGTH: 2.25 miles one way

RATING: easy

ELEVATION: 4440' - 4640'

GETTING THERE:

From the State Route 179/89A traffic circle in Sedona, go 3.2 miles west (left)  on SR 89A to Dry Creek Road. Go 2.8 miles on Dry Creek Road, veer left at the Long Canyon Road junction and continue 0.5-mile on Boynton Pass Road to the parking turnout on the right. A Red Rock Pass is not required at this trailhead.

INFO & MAP: Coconino National Forest

http://www.sedonaredrocktrails.org/ROGS/Canyon_of_Fools_Yucca.pdf

MESCAL TRAIL

MESCAL-LONG CANYON-DEAD MANS PASS TRAIL LOOP

Sedona

A relatively new addition to the sanctioned stock of Sedona hiking trails, this one originated as a mountain bike route. As with many wheel-wrangled paths, the Mescal Trail is big on challenging terrain and vertigo-inducing exposure.  Beginning at roughly a mile into the trek, the gaping, U-shaped bend on the flanks of Mescal Mountain known as "the bowl" comes into view. Here, the trail seems to disappear into the russet sandstone making the traverse of the cliffs appear impossible. Within a few yards, a wood sign marks a brief section where the trail splits---one side is "difficult", the other "extreme". Pick your poison. Although these ratings pertain mostly to bike technicality, I chose to err on the conservative side by taking the "difficult" arm and found that, except for some slick rock and edgy narrows, it wasn't too tough. The path soon becomes clear and after another mile-and-change of semi-queasy ledge hiking, the route rounds the mountain to meet Dead Mans Pass Trail at the border of Red Rock Secret Mountain Wilderness and Boynton Canyon.  Straight ahead is the Kachina Woman vortex site---a popular spiritual retreat and platform for musicians who fill the canyons with soulful strains of Native American flute or didgeridoos. Mescal Trail ends here, however, a map at the junction shows how to use Dead Mans Pass and Long Canyon Trails for an optional loop back to the trailhead.

LENGTH: 4.8-mile loop

RATING: easy-moderate

ELEVATION:  4239' - 4723'

FEE: a Red Rock Pass is required. $5 daily fee per vehicle.

http://www.redrockcountry.org/passes-and-permits/index.shtml

GETTING THERE:

From the US89A/AZ179 traffic circle in Sedona, go 3 miles west on 89A (left, toward Cottonwood) to Dry Creek Road (FR 152C), turn

right and continue 2.9 miles to Long Canyon Road (FR 152D), turn right and go 0.2 mile to the trailhead on the right. Trail begins across the road. This route can also be accessed via the Long Canyon trailhead 0.3 mile farther up FR152D.

MESCAL-LONG CANYON-DEADMANS PASS TRAIL LOOP:

Follow Mescal Trail 2.3 miles to Deadmans Pass Trail, turn right (NE) and hike 0.9 mile to Long Canyon Trail. Turn right (S) and hike 1.6 miles back to the trailhead.

INFO: Red Rock Ranger District, Coconino National Forest, 928-203-2900
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