Jack's Canyon, Hot Loop, & Horse Mesa

Weather:  69º, sunny

About this Hike:  I am intrigued by Munds Mountain near Sedona. However, hiking Munds appears to involve many miles of hiking to the trail via Jack's Canyon, or a drive over some challenging forest roads that likely aren't suitable for my truck. 

I opted to explore Jack's Canyon / Hot Loop to Horse Mesa instead, thinking this might be a similar alternative. 

The trail starts in typical Sedona red rock. It offers some interesting canyon views while the drainages along the trail still had some standing water. This year is an interesting conundrum in that Sedona is downright hot for January, yet there is still a lot of mud and standing water as we come off a very wet holiday season. Last year at this time Sedona was cooler, but drier too. 

Eventually red rocks give way to the black rocks that define the tops of many of the mesas around Sedona. The foliage changed to high desert. By the time we were on top of Horse Mesa there was a lot of juniper, yucca, and scrubby pinon pines. The soil on the mesa was dry, yet was muddy and stuck to our boots at the same time. 

We visited an overlook and got some views of the immediate area around Horse Mesa. Bell Rock, Cockscomb, and other Sedona landmarks were in full view. Otherwise, local neighborhoods were all that loomed below. 

This was just over the two-mile point. I originally intended to go about four miles, but the map indicated the trail would move to the center of the mesa and away from any viewpoints. It was boring desert scenery, so we opted to turn around and return the way we came. 

Someday with some further research I may check out Munds Mountain. I gather the scenery is better up there, and if there's one thing I've learned, you never run out of new things to explore in Sedona.