Date: June 9, 2014
Location: Flagstaff AZ
Hikers: Me & Jim
Directions:
Take I17 North towards Flagstaff. Take Lake Mary Road Exit. Exit 339. Take Right at end of Ramp. (There is a Circle K right at the North of the road) Follow Lake Mary Road for 5.3 miles. Look for Canyon Vista Campground on the left. Turn in. Parking is before the campground entrance. Trail head is thru the camp ground at the far end. Restrooms/ No Water
Sandy Canyon:
http://www.fs.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsinternet/!ut/p/c4/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3gDfxMDT8MwRydLA1cj72BTJw8jAwjQL8h2VAQAzHJMsQ!!/?ss=110304&ttype=recarea&recid=55034&actid=104&navtype=BROWSEBYSUBJECT&position=BROWSEBYSUBJECT&navid=110000000000000&pnavid=null&cid=FSE_003741&pname=Flagstaff+RD+-+Sandys+Canyon+Trail+%23137
Took a day off because I am maxed out on vacation hours! Yeah! Jim had the week off too so we decided to head to cooler weather. We headed to Flagstaff AZ.
This should be anywhere from a 5 - 10 mile hike. All depends on us. It is fairly flat. A few ups and downs per other trip reports. Opportunities to see caves. Best of all it should be cool temps. Today in Phoenix it will be 109.
Part of this trail is on the Arizona Trail. If you have never heard of it. There is an 800 mile trail that runs from Utah to Mexico through Arizona. There are volunteers that help improve the trails and update GPS and maps. It was a dream of a Flagstaff school teacher. http://www.aztrail.org
Similar to the Appalachian or Pacific Crest Trail. Not something I would want to do but I would like to hike portions of it over my future years. I did once think about doing the Pacific Crest Trail and read the book Wild - From lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. But after doing these 50 new hikes I realize that I don't like the unknown and that hike for 6 months is way to much unknown for me.
We found the trailhead easily and started the hike at 9:30. We figured we would hike for a couple hours then turn around. Hit some place for lunch and then head back to Phoenix.
The Trail starts out with amazing views. To our left is lava rock. This is the rim of Walnut Canyon. Straight ahead is the view of the San Francisco peaks with a little snow on the top and future in the distance are the woods.
We hiked down in the pine trees to the bottom of this canyon and yes, there is Sand. We walked for about a mile on a path that had grass growing up between it. Rumor is the weeds could be poison oak or sumac? Read that in a trip report so we stayed away from it. There were still some wild flowers in bloom.
The smell of the pine trees was wonderful and it was actually cool thru the shaded woods. That did not last because once you hit the bottom on the canyon it is wide open with the sun hitting you. But on a day in the 70's this was nothing.
After walking thru the pine trees we come to an open field. To the North is the sign pointing us to the East thru Sandy's Canyon to Fisher point in two miles. On the South side the marker tells us we could go to Marshall Lake. We continue along the path.
We see the Arizona Trail marker on the tree. This is pretty cool to think that we are on the portion of an 800 mile. Jim and I discussed that our idea of Camping is at a Motel 6 and 800 mile hikes would involve something a little less accommodating. Not gonna happen.
We travel along the sandy bottom heading East for about 1 mile. We finally hit a fork in the road. Funny this sign does not say Fisher Point. I guess they assume you know not to go to Flagstaff. Getting smarter in my old age. I pull out my trip reports. It says at a fork take a right.
This is our view straight ahead. We decide not to explore that area and stay on the trail. Off we go to the right.
We immediately saw amazing rock formations and a cave. That must be the cave that people talk about. The canyon looks like something that is the Grand Canyon area. We went in and explored the caves for a while. Took some pics and enjoy the cool temp cave. The pictures looking into the cave were blurry because of the sun shining thru the crevice. It was very unique.
We sent Tina a picture and told her we found the Wave Cave. NOT.
Not quite the shot from the Wave Cave but still pretty cool shots from inside out.
We walked around the side of the rocks on another path but decided to turn back since we had our sights on Fisher point. As we started up the hill we were back in the woods and away from Sandy Canyon.
It was beautiful. Lots of trees, shade and amazing blue sky sticking out. Many of the trees had fallen down. The trail is well maintained and we had no problems finding our way.
We hit some up hills and then welcomed by switch backs. We knew this trail was 1.5 miles so perfect for us to get to the top and have a snack. That would be the end of our hike and then off to lunch. What do we always do on hikes? Talk about food. Isn't that why we hike? Oh, no it is for Grand Canyon hike training. We went from Johnny Rockets Burger to the Casino Buffet Crab Legs to maybe just Wendys for Chili. We are such a cheap date.
There were some nice switch backs up and at 4.5 miles in and the altitude that we are not use to we were breathing a little heavy.
We made it to the summit and took a right to the end of Fisher Point.
Our view from the top. The picture does not do it justice. The wild thing is we could see right down to Sandy Canyon where we found the fork and the cave. We joked about jumping to get there quicker.
The views were nice. We could see to the West and also to the North. People mentioned you could see the Grand Canyon but I didn't.
We stopped for about 15 minutes. Had a protein bar and grapes. Its amazing what a few grapes will do to you. It was nice just hanging out and enjoying the view.
We really are lucky to live in a state where you travel about 2 hours and you are looking at this. Seriously...way Cool!
We headed back and took some pictures along the way. This was the view of the San Francisco Peaks. The Mount Humphrey summit hike may be in our future!! There was snow on the top.
Jim saw this cactus growing out of a rock on the way up. Blooming in the late spring!
Jim saw a Horny Toad and made me turn around to take the picture. It was HUGE and had a knife. HA HA. It did not. Funny toads don't bother me. We took some pictures and as we continued to walk a baby one walked across the path. More pictures. I did not scream. Guess it is just snakes and lizards.
We continued to walk and we saw a bunch of Horse Trail riders. A company off of Lake Mary Road was heading up to Fisher point with a family. The Mom looked bored and her face was very red. The Daughter had a helmet on in case of crash and the Dad was pulling up the rear. The front horse with the guide was huge. It was pretty cool to see them. Guess that is why it said Equestrian Pass on the trail marker.
Back down we continued. We made it to the juncture and looked back to see the cliff that we were at on top. Looked higher from the top.
We headed back the same way we came. We saw a woman hiking towards us but other than that no one else. We were in the direct sun with a nice breeze.
In the sand we could see the horse prints. We also noticed some deer prints that were fresh. We did not see any.
We hit the section with the woods and continued up out of the Canyon. We made it back to the pasture and headed back towards the campground.
It was a really pretty hike and different than our usual hikes in Phoenix. Jim said maybe he would return to do this one again. It gave us the distance that I am looking for with some hills here and there.
Sandy Canyon:
http://www.fs.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsinternet/!ut/p/c4/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3gDfxMDT8MwRydLA1cj72BTJw8jAwjQL8h2VAQAzHJMsQ!!/?ss=110304&ttype=recarea&recid=55034&actid=104&navtype=BROWSEBYSUBJECT&position=BROWSEBYSUBJECT&navid=110000000000000&pnavid=null&cid=FSE_003741&pname=Flagstaff+RD+-+Sandys+Canyon+Trail+%23137
Took a day off because I am maxed out on vacation hours! Yeah! Jim had the week off too so we decided to head to cooler weather. We headed to Flagstaff AZ.
This should be anywhere from a 5 - 10 mile hike. All depends on us. It is fairly flat. A few ups and downs per other trip reports. Opportunities to see caves. Best of all it should be cool temps. Today in Phoenix it will be 109.
Part of this trail is on the Arizona Trail. If you have never heard of it. There is an 800 mile trail that runs from Utah to Mexico through Arizona. There are volunteers that help improve the trails and update GPS and maps. It was a dream of a Flagstaff school teacher. http://www.aztrail.org
Similar to the Appalachian or Pacific Crest Trail. Not something I would want to do but I would like to hike portions of it over my future years. I did once think about doing the Pacific Crest Trail and read the book Wild - From lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. But after doing these 50 new hikes I realize that I don't like the unknown and that hike for 6 months is way to much unknown for me.
We found the trailhead easily and started the hike at 9:30. We figured we would hike for a couple hours then turn around. Hit some place for lunch and then head back to Phoenix.
The Trail starts out with amazing views. To our left is lava rock. This is the rim of Walnut Canyon. Straight ahead is the view of the San Francisco peaks with a little snow on the top and future in the distance are the woods. We hiked down in the pine trees to the bottom of this canyon and yes, there is Sand. We walked for about a mile on a path that had grass growing up between it. Rumor is the weeds could be poison oak or sumac? Read that in a trip report so we stayed away from it. There were still some wild flowers in bloom. The smell of the pine trees was wonderful and it was actually cool thru the shaded woods. That did not last because once you hit the bottom on the canyon it is wide open with the sun hitting you. But on a day in the 70's this was nothing. After walking thru the pine trees we come to an open field. To the North is the sign pointing us to the East thru Sandy's Canyon to Fisher point in two miles. On the South side the marker tells us we could go to Marshall Lake. We continue along the path.
 |
| Out in the open sun in Sandy's Canyon |
We see the Arizona Trail marker on the tree. This is pretty cool to think that we are on the portion of an 800 mile. Jim and I discussed that our idea of Camping is at a Motel 6 and 800 mile hikes would involve something a little less accommodating. Not gonna happen. We travel along the sandy bottom heading East for about 1 mile. We finally hit a fork in the road. Funny this sign does not say Fisher Point. I guess they assume you know not to go to Flagstaff. Getting smarter in my old age. I pull out my trip reports. It says at a fork take a right.
This is our view straight ahead. We decide not to explore that area and stay on the trail. Off we go to the right. We sent Tina a picture and told her we found the Wave Cave. NOT.
 |
| Wall in cave. People carve their names in it. |
We walked around the side of the rocks on another path but decided to turn back since we had our sights on Fisher point. As we started up the hill we were back in the woods and away from Sandy Canyon.
It was beautiful. Lots of trees, shade and amazing blue sky sticking out. Many of the trees had fallen down. The trail is well maintained and we had no problems finding our way.
We hit some up hills and then welcomed by switch backs. We knew this trail was 1.5 miles so perfect for us to get to the top and have a snack. That would be the end of our hike and then off to lunch. What do we always do on hikes? Talk about food. Isn't that why we hike? Oh, no it is for Grand Canyon hike training. We went from Johnny Rockets Burger to the Casino Buffet Crab Legs to maybe just Wendys for Chili. We are such a cheap date.
There were some nice switch backs up and at 4.5 miles in and the altitude that we are not use to we were breathing a little heavy.We made it to the summit and took a right to the end of Fisher Point.
Our view from the top. The picture does not do it justice. The wild thing is we could see right down to Sandy Canyon where we found the fork and the cave. We joked about jumping to get there quicker.
The views were nice. We could see to the West and also to the North. People mentioned you could see the Grand Canyon but I didn't. We stopped for about 15 minutes. Had a protein bar and grapes. Its amazing what a few grapes will do to you. It was nice just hanging out and enjoying the view.
We really are lucky to live in a state where you travel about 2 hours and you are looking at this. Seriously...way Cool!
We headed back and took some pictures along the way. This was the view of the San Francisco Peaks. The Mount Humphrey summit hike may be in our future!! There was snow on the top.
Jim saw a Horny Toad and made me turn around to take the picture. It was HUGE and had a knife. HA HA. It did not. Funny toads don't bother me. We took some pictures and as we continued to walk a baby one walked across the path. More pictures. I did not scream. Guess it is just snakes and lizards.
 |
| Baby Horny Toad |
Back down we continued. We made it to the juncture and looked back to see the cliff that we were at on top. Looked higher from the top.
We headed back the same way we came. We saw a woman hiking towards us but other than that no one else. We were in the direct sun with a nice breeze.
In the sand we could see the horse prints. We also noticed some deer prints that were fresh. We did not see any. We hit the section with the woods and continued up out of the Canyon. We made it back to the pasture and headed back towards the campground.
It was a really pretty hike and different than our usual hikes in Phoenix. Jim said maybe he would return to do this one again. It gave us the distance that I am looking for with some hills here and there.
It was an awesome day.
In the end we hiked 9 miles in 3 hours.
The day was perfect all around.
I am in the home stretch. I see more Flagstaff hikes soon and maybe a couple in another state over the summer months. Still on track for the Canyon in September!
Hike # 40 Done!
Check it off!
We loaded up and headed in to Flag for a quick lunch. Jim saw Freddy's Frozen Custard and SteakBurger and said...what is that? Well I had to show him. YUM!!
1.5 hours back to Phoenix and we made it in time for the afternoon heat.
It was a great day!
I have a feeling Hike 41 is gonna be AWESOME....stay tuned!
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