Saturday, January 18, 2020

Dogie Trail and Sycamore Canyon - Hidden Sedona

Weather:  58ยบ, sunny

About this Hike:  Back in November I hiked the unimpressive Casner Mountain after an equally disappointing hike at Robbers Roost Cave (see post from November 2019 for details). 

When I was high up on Casner I could see down into a valley with lush greenery, Sedona red rock spires, and a canyon with a creekbed in the bottom.  "I should be down there hiking..." was the only thought in my mind that hot November day. 

Subsequent research revealed that ~1.5 more miles down the dirt Forest Road 525C would have taken me to a trailhead into what I learned is the Sycamore Canyon Wilderness. 

Today was my chance to check out the Dogie Trail in Sycamore Canyon.  FR-525C starts out as graded dirt and gravel and only begins to deteriorate in the last mile or so to the Dogie Trailhead.  It's still not bad though and was nothing for my Tacoma TRD OR.  A friendly couple I met at the trail had done it in a Jeep Cherokee Latitude on plain old Firestone all seasons.

Regardless, this hike afforded views of magnificent red rock formations, cow tanks, and even some snow in the shaded parts.  If I had pushed another mile, the trail would eventually have descended to the creekbed in Sycamore Canyon.  Due to time and daylight constraints, I only observed the creekbed from high above.  It was largely dry with a few icy pools of water remaining. 

I am glad to check this one off the bucket list and find myself debating if I want to eventually visit the other end of Sycamore Canyon at Parsons Trailhead near Cottonwood.  More likely, I'll go up to the head of the canyon near Williams and visit the picturesque Sycamore Falls at some time.  

No comments:

Post a Comment