OK-Dawa-Arizona Cypress Loop

OK-DAWA-ARIZONA CYPRESS TRAIL LOOP

Mescal Mountain seen from Dawa Trail

Best tip for hiking in Sedona—learn to appreciate the little trails. Many of Red Rock Country’s lesser-used routes offer easy access, no fees and surprisingly available parking.

Arizona Cypress Trail

The Upper Dry Creek Area Trails are a great place to start exploring the joys of under-the-radar hiking.  

Sycamores in Dry Creek

Easy to access off Dry Creek Road and Boynton Pass Road in West Sedona, the maze of short, interconnected trails wind through classic high desert ecozones, mingling with the jumbled corridor of Dry Creek and scoured drainages.  Excellent map signs placed at all trail junctions make finding your way around so easy.

Bear Mountain seen from OK Trail

One scenic loop to try uses the OK, Dawa and Arizona Cypress trails. The simple-to-follow routes are neither secret nor hidden. They’ve been around for decades, existing in relative quiet not far from the famously popular Bear Mountain, Fay Canyon and Devils Bridge trails.  

Doe Mtn (L) and Bear Mtn seen from Dawa

Starting from the blink-and-you’ll miss-it OK Trailhead, a short access path dives into juniper-cypress forests with glimpses of Doe Mountain on the western skyline.  At the first junction, pick up the Dawa Trail (Dawa is Hopi for moon) heading west. Evidence of this trail’s former life as a dirt road pops up intermittently as it jogs between sunny meadows and deep woods. Sometimes wide, sometimes a narrow footpath.

Shaggy bark on an AZ Cypress tree

The trail makes a gradual climb to a scenic high point where views of Bear Mountain, Mescal Mountain, and the Cockscomb formation stand out in an arc of rusty stone. At the 0.8-mile point, veer left at a junction to stay on the Dawa trail as it twists down to meet the leafy corridor of Dry Creek.

Dawa Trail crosses Dry Creek

AZ Cypress Trail

Lush with manzanita and flowering shrubs, yucca and mesquite, there’s plenty of shade between breaks in the tree cover that frame mountain and wide valley views.

Chimney Rock seen from Dawa Trail

Just past a crossing of the creek, pick up the Arizona Cypress Trail (go left again), which parallels the creek.  True to its name, the route is flush with the eponymous shaggy barked conifer with distinctive geometric seed pods.

Map kiosk at the OK Trailhead

For the final leg, follow the OK Trail back to the first junction and backtrack to the trailhead where a kiosk shows an overview of the many hike options available to hikers who love solitude, options and a good leg stretch. 

LENGTH: 2.7-mile loop

RATING: easy

ELEVATION: 3,339 – 4,539 feet

GETTING THERE:

OK TRAILHEAD: From the State Route 179/89A traffic circle in uptown Sedona, go 3.2 miles west (go left) on SR 89A to Dry Creek Road.  Follow Dry Creek Road 2.8 miles to Boynton Pass Road, turn left and continue 0.5-mile to a small parking area on the left.  There’s room for 3-4 cars. A Red Rock Pass in not required at this trailhead. 

NOTE: The Sedona Shuttle does not serve this trailhead.  For info on how to use the FREE shuttle to access popular trailheads Thursday – Sunday, visit https://sedonashuttle.com

Arizona Cypress Trail: An Old Favorite

ARIZONA CYPRESS TRAIL

Scaled AZ cypress cones

Hitting a never hiked trail for the first time is always a thrill.  New views, unfamiliar terrain, and the fun of navigating an untested route are big draws for those who crave fresh outdoor experiences.  And then there are the familiar “go-to” routes. 

Trail crosses Dry Creek several times

Like polar opposites, one serves up a rush of adventure while the other is like the comfort food of hiking.  While untried adventures will always woo us, many of us hikers spend more time in the comfort zone.

Blackfoot daisies bloom March - December

Whether hiked to train for a big trek or for long-term conditioning, comfort trails are those that are a combination of convenience, familiarity, and reliable experience.

Doe Mtn. (L) and Bear Mtn. from AZ Cypress trail

 Most hikers have a favorite—the one they return to time and again, with or without a salient explanation.

Upper Dry Creek Area Trails

The Arizona Cypress Trail in Sedona checks all the boxes for a no hassle go-to trail.

The classic Sedona trail can be access by way of a large parking area with emptiness probably perpetrated by the adjacent target shooting area.  The repellant trailhead noise is a tolerant hiker’s gain leading to light traffic and easy parking—a rare treat in Sedona.

Featherplume bloom March - June

The route immediately ducks into the forest where canyon walls absorb the intermittent pop-pop of gunfire.

AZ cypress trees along the trail

This trail’s sticking power is magical elixir of solitude (unusual for a trail located down the road from Devils Bridge) and sweet scenery wrapped around a desert waterway in the Upper Dry Creek Area Trails Coconino National Forest.  

Tufted Evening Primrose bloom Apr-Sep

It’s an easy 3.8-mile out-and-back hike on AZ Cypress. But there are plenty of ways to extend the trek. The trail links up with a looped maze of eight routes that use the old standard Girdner Trail as a backbone that runs south to connect with the Western Gateway trails.  

False toadflax blooms April - August

Several crossings of Dry Creek, traipses through wildflower meadows, manzanita thickets, and highpoint vistas showcasing familiar landmarks like Cockscomb, Capitol Butte, Doe Mountain, and Bear Mountain keep things interesting but the eponymous cypress trees alone are enough to keep this trail on auto rewind.

View of Cockscomb formation from AZ Cypress

Cupressus arizonica can grow up to 90 feet tall, but most are around 40-60 feet and it’s the only cypress native to the Southwest. The deep emerald conical-shaped trees thrive at elevations between 3,000- 6,000 feet, with a preference to drop roots along intermittent streams.  The attractive evergreen has a distinctive shedding shaggy bark and scaly blue-green leaves that emit a pleasant piney fragrance.  The tree’s most distinctive feature is the woody, walnut-sized scaled cones that look as if they might encapsulate some alien lifeform.

Ash trees in Dry Creek

Even when spent, the cones can cling to branches in eerie black clumps.  It’s not just the seeds that are tenacious--scientists studying pollen trapped in ancient packrat middens say the species has been around since prehistoric times, at least since the icy Pleistocene Epoch---a testament to its namesake trail’s steadfastness.

LENGTH: 3.8 miles round trip

RATING: moderate

ELEVATION: 4,309 – 4,416 feet

GETTING THERE:

Arizona Cypress Trailhead: From the State Route 179/89A traffic circle in Uptown Sedona, go 3.2 miles west (toward Cottonwood) on SR 89A to Dry Creek Road. Follow Dry Creek Road 2.7 miles to the turnoff for Forest Road 9589 (not signed) on the left. This easy-to-miss turnoff is located a few yards south of the Boynton Pass Road/Long Canyon Road “T” intersection.Continue 0.2-mile on FR 9589 (good dirt with a few potholes) to the end and the parking circle at the AZ Cypress trailhead.  NOTE: there is a target shooting pit near the trailhead, which might frighten dogs and horses. There are no fees or facilities at this trailhead.

INFO & MAPS

https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/coconino/recarea/?recid=71954&actid=50

 

Cliffhanger-Lime Kiln Trail

CLIFFHANGER-LIME KILN TRAIL

Yucca bloom on Cliffhanger Trail

In a nutshell, the Cliffhanger Trail does what it says. The edge-hugging multi-use trail in west Sedona lives up to its name with a thrilling and scenic trip through a creek-scoured corner of Coconino National Forest where the courses of Oak, Dry and Turkey Creek collide.

A high point vista on Cliffhanger Trail

While Cliffhanger is billed as an OHV trail, it’s more of a hybrid. Part of its forked route shares space with the 15-mile Lime Kiln Trail that runs between Red Rock and Dead Horse Ranch State Parks with one fork leading to a non-motorized footpath that lands at a secluded floodplain on Oak Creek.

Basket cairns mark the Lime Kiln section of the route

The hike starts at the OHV trailhead with a short walk on Forest Road 9845A. At the bottom of a rise at a green gate, the road bends left and joins the Lime Kiln Trail that’s marked by basket cairns (rock piles wired into pillars).

Meadow and cliffs near trail's end.

Edible skunk bush fruits favored by birds and mammals

The route is also indicated with orange Cliffhanger trail posts.  The road continues downhill on a moderate grade through classic high desert vegetation.

Cat Claw bloom May - August

Yucca, red barberry, prickly pear cactus, catclaw, and gray thorn line the russet, rocky trail.  At the 1.5-mile point, the road crosses Dry Creek. 

Edible red barberry fruits are browsed by wildlife

Lime Kiln Trail crosses Dry Creek

A cliff hanging section of Cliffhanger Trail

Strewn with colorful boulders, there’s rarely any surface water, but a leafy fringe of cottonwoods, sycamores, desert willows and cypress trees springing from the sandy soils soak up subterranean moisture. Beyond the creek, the route swings back uphill on one of a continual string of ups-and-downs that add up to over 1,100 feet of total elevation change for the hike.

Stone foundations at trail's end at Oak Creek

With the serpentine course of Dry Creek below and views of Sedona rock formations all around, the road is hacked from red sandstone cliffs with steep drop-offs.  Except for the occasional juniper or pinyon pine, there’s little shade.

Willows and cypress trees line Dry Creek

That’s why is important to choose a cool day and take plenty of water on this hike. At the 2-mile point, the road splits. Lime Kiln Trail veers left following the north fork of Cliffhanger and Forest Road 9845N, the south fork of the Cliffhanger Trail, heads right.

Western patch-nosed snake crosses Cliffhanger Trail

Dry Creek winds below Cliffhanger Trail

For this trip, follow FR9845N as it rounds a knoll before starting its dive down to Oak Creek. This leg vacillates between canyon-bound grasslands and highpoints with views of the Bradshaw Mountains topping out at a sharp right bend where the route makes a severe dive on a rough, tiered track. Below, a brilliant band of green belies the Oak Creek corridor.

Engelmann's prickly pear cactus bloom May - June

Banana yucca fruits

 The short steep section lands in a pocket of juniper woodland where the road suddenly changes from rusty red to powdery gray. Up ahead at 3.3 miles, a green gate bars motorized access to the remainder of FR9845N. Hikers, bikers and equestrians are welcome to trudge the last 0.4-mile.  Tracing Oak Creek, the deeply rutted narrow road progresses to the hike’s lowest point, a grassy meadow hemmed in by the creek and vertical cliffs. 

The last half-mile of Cliffhanger non-motorized use

A native stone foundation and low walls that might have been a cabin or corral stand on the creek’s west bank.

Trees clutter around Oak Creek

View from Lime Kiln Trail

The stone ruins make for a good turnaround point, however FR9845N continues a short distance through the meadow and another faded dirt track, FR9845R offers a weedy walk through a quiet high desert creek corridor.

Banana yucca bloom April - July

LENGTH: 7.4 miles roundtrip

RATING: moderate

ELEVATION:  4,085 – 3,708 feet (1,100 feet of accumulated elevation change)

GETTING THERE:

From the State Route 179/89A traffic circle in uptown Sedona, go  8 miles west (toward Cottonwood) on SR89A to the Cliffhanger OVH trailhead (Forest Road 9845A) on the left.  This is directly across from the Sedona Wetlands Preserve near milepost 366.

INFO & MAPS:

https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/coconino/recarea/?recid=83430

 

Snake-Anaconda-AZ Cypress Loop

SNAKE-ANACONDA-AZ CYPRESS LOOP

High desert vegetation on the Anaconda Trail

If there’s such a thing as an underside of Sedona’s trail systems, it must be where the snakes are.

A velvet ash tree shades a crossing of Dry Creek

Reptilian only in their stealth and serpentine courses, the Anaconda and Snake trails are

tucked into the core of the Upper Dry Creek Area Trails which is about as close as one can get to an underside in Red Rock Country.

Agave are plentiful on the Anaconda trail

 The two short singletracks serve as customizable legs for various linear and loop hike options in a hilly parcel of Coconino National Forest not far from the juggernauts of Bear Mountain, Devil’s Bridge and Boynton Canyon.

Juniper and prickly pear cacti on the Snake Trail

The trail duo is best accessed from the isolated AZ Cypress trailhead that sits like an ignored middle child about a mile north of the congested Dry Creek Vista trailhead on Dry Creek Road.

Beehive cactus on the Anaconda Trail

View of Red Rock Secret Mountain Wilderness

One way to try these twisting paths is to tie in with the AZ Cypress trail for a moderate-rated, 3.3-mile trek.

Mescal Mountain (center, red) seen from hike high points

The benefits of hiking in this woodsy pocket begin at the roomy trailhead that’s usually free of parking quagmires.  The circuit starts with a 0.1-mile hike to the AZ Cypress/Snake junction. 

Trails are well signed

The route is well signed throughout with directional and map signage. The half-mile Snake trail marks the beginning of a mild 650-foot climb up the east flanks of a knoll above the Dry Creek drainage area. 

Doe Mountain (left) and Bear Mountain

Willows at a crossing of Dry Creek

Gradually, fantastic views of Mescal Mountain and the colorful rock formations of Red Rock Secret Mountain Wilderness peek out over a sea of junipers, fir and cypress trees. The edgy route bends to the south, exposing views of iconic Lizardhead, Chimney Rock and Courthouse Butte before connecting with the Anaconda trail. 

Shady passage of AZ Cypress Trail along Dry Creek

Over its 1.7-mile length, Anaconda lives up to its name with relentless kinks, bends and sinuous curls that land hikers at the loop’s highest points overlooking the Cockscomb formation, Doe Mountain, Bear Mountain and the distant double mesas of Wilson Mountain to the northeast. The hike’s apex territory is dominated by classic high desert vegetation. Cacti, manzanita, yucca, agave and a smattering of mesquite trees thrive among scrub oak and junipers. 

Most of the climbing happens on the Snake Trail

Heading due west, Anaconda trail stairsteps down red earth ledges to meet the AZ Cypress trail, the final leg of the hike, at the edge of Dry Creek. 

Yellow menodora bloom April - September

Now in a moister microclimate, the environment shifts from sunny and spiny to shady and succulent.  Tracing the creek for its entire 1-mile length, AZ Cypress trail is like a green tunnel replete with massive tree cover with water loving species like willows, velvet ash and sycamores tossed in for variety.

Mountain lion? Measured about 5" high.

The narrow path clings to shelves above the ephemeral waterway which flows after rains and during snowmelt season.  While this Eden-like scene undoubtedly includes actual snakes, encounters are rare. Like anywhere in Arizona, hikers probably walk by a few snakes on every trail, oblivious to their presence. Preferring to hide in brush and under rocks during the day, snakes value their peace and quiet--not unlike hikers who gravitate to places like this.

Cockscomb formation seen from Anaconda Trail

LENGTH: 3.3-mile loop

RATING: moderate

ELEVATION: 4,329 – 4,678 feet

GETTING THERE:

From the State Route 179/89A traffic circle in Uptown Sedona, go 3.2 miles west (toward Cottonwood) on SR 89A to Dry Creek Road. Follow Dry Creek Road 2.7 miles to the turnoff for Forest Road 9589 (not signed) on the left. This hidden turnoff is located a few yards south of the Boynton Pass Road/Long Canyon Road “T” intersection.

Continue 0.2-mile on FR 9589 (good dirt with a few potholes) to the end and the parking circle at the AZ Cypress trailhead. 

INFO:

Coconino National Forest
https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/coconino/recreation/hiking/recarea/?recid=71954&actid=50