HS Canyon Trail by Way of Secret Canyon

I had read several reports of hikes on HS Canyon Trail and they all varied a bit as to how long the trail was. Additionally, I found one old trail map that showed HS Canyon Trail actually leaving HS Canyon and turning north along the foothills of Maroon Mountain to reconnect with Secret Canyon Trail near the intersection with David Miller Trail. But one thing the reports all seemed to agree on was that HS Canyon Trail turned off of Secret Canyon Trail about 0.7 miles from Forest Road 152.

Four of us set out on 22 April 2015 to determine for ourselves just where the trail would lead us. We drove from Cottonwood to Sedona on Hwy 89A, turned left onto Dry Creek Road and continued to the junction with Forest Road 152, also known as Vultee Arch Road (or on some maps, including Google Earth, Dry Creek Road). Personally, I think the road is renamed every few years just to confuse people.

A paved parking area and restrooms are provided at the start of FR 152 and there the pavement ends; the next 3.5 miles of road to the Secret Canyon Trailhead is very rough and should only be attempted in high-clearance, 4-wheel drive vehicles. To emphasize that point, the Forest Service has embedded a row of rocks across the road at its very beginning. The rocks are of sufficient height as to discourage drivers of low-clearance vehicles from even attempting to go further. We had come prepared with high clearance vehicles, but one was a rear-wheel drive pickup that we had to park along the way. We all just piled into the 4-wheel drive vehicle for the rest of the trip to the Secret Canyon Trailhead.

A short 50-yard driveway leads from FR 152 to the trailhead parking area. There is room for one vehicle to park alongside the forest road and, arriving at 0820, we were early enough to park there (right)

We four hikers (Lila Wright, Karl Sink, Phil Sullivan and the author) donned our packs and walked the short distance to the trailhead.

The trail information shown here (left) was extracted from a Forest Service sign posted in a prominent location at the trailhead. The trailhead is located on the southeast side of Dry Creek and one crosses the almost always dry creek to travel northwest on Secret Canyon Trail.

On the far bank stands a wooden sign (right), this is in addition to the rusty old iron sign that has long marked the start of Secret Canyon Trail. I guess someone decided to reassure those people who might be looking for HS Canyon Trail that they were headed in the right direction.

We followed Secret Canyon Trail through a forest of manzanita, juniper and oak for 0.7 miles, following along the dry creekbed that marked the bottom of the canyon, before we came to the HS Canyon Trail turnoff (left). The trail here was open, very distinct and easy to hike as we entered the mouth of HS Canyon and started a gentle climb. Gradually the manzanitas thinned in favor of more substantial trees, primarily oaks as seen below (below).

HS Canyon Trail winding its way up the canyon between the oaks

We expected to see a lot flowers on this late April day and were not disappointed. Although, strictly speaking, one of the most unusual plants we found was not technically a flower but rather a red miners lettuce. This was soon followed by an isolated western wallflower.

Red miners lettuce

Western Wallflower

Most of the way up the trail the wash at the bottom of the canyon was close on our right and, as we approached the point where my old map had said the trail turned right to follow along the foothills of Maroon Mountain, I kept close watch for anything which might suggest a trail leading in that direction. I saw nothing, so we continued on up the canyon heading toward Maroon Mountain.

Larkspur 

Lupine

Other flowers seen along the way included a larkspur and a lupine.

Eventually we crossed the wash and continued upstream along the other side. The trail now became a bit rougher and a little less distinct but still easy to follow. We also saw signs of recent trail maintenance such as trimmed branches and stacked rock cairns. The flowers, meanwhile, became more prolific.

Mixed bed of penstemons and larkspurs 

We saw a mixed bed of penstemons and larkspurs (left) and a western wallflower of a different shade of yellow (right) stopped for a snack along the way at a small open area, covered with a variety of flowers, just at the end of the recently maintained portion of the trail.

Larkspur, penstemon and western wallflower; Phil Sullivan at upper left

Just ahead we came to a rock cairn (right) that marked the end of any recent trail maintenance. At the cairn, we entered the wash and hiked along the dry streambed; an occasional small cairn indicated that others had been this way before us.

For most of the distance along here the bed of the wash was grass-covered and brush free; we encountered only the occasional large rock to navigate around or climb over. All in all it was relatively easy going. The photograph (left) shows two of the large rocks along with an informal cairn placed on top of one of them.

Lila is shown here (right) as she makes her way up a relatively clear stretch of the streambed. Note the flowers in the foreground of the photograph. We found larkspur and western wallflower all along here. Apparently, the creekbed retained just enough moisture to allow them to proliferate.

Eventually, however, we came to an area that was filled with a jumble of dead brush and living undergrowth. It was obvious that in order to continue we would need to leave the wash. There, to reinforce our decision to leave the wash, we found another small cairn (left) pointing the way.

After leaving the wash at the cairn, we found a few additional clues along the way in the form of an occasional very ancient tree trimming. There were also short sections of trail that could have been the result of human passage but were more likely made by animals. And soon enough we came to a spot near the head of what now appeared to be a box canyon ending at the eastern slope of Maroon Mountain. We could see what might have been a way to go a little farther by passing to the right under the overhanging cliff shown below but it looked awfully difficult and would have turned an otherwise pleasant hike into a chore.

Overhanging cliff near the end of HS Canyon

On the way back down the trail we noted a couple of flowering plants that we had missed on the way up.

New Mexico raspberry Cliffs fendlerbush

A New Mexico raspberry is shown here (left) along with a Cliffs fendlerbush (right).

The best viewpoint on this hike is located on a manzanita-covered hill, about a mile above the junction with Secret Canyon Trail.

Looking generally north from the viewpoint

Looking northeast from the viewpoint

The rest of the hike was an easy 1.7-mile trek along a gently downsloping trail and we were soon back at the Secret Canyon Trailhead.

I measured the round trip hike as being 5.0 miles. The maximum elevation was 5433 feet and the total ascent was 830 feet.

Our track is shown in red on the included map (next page).