What's Up with Ellis: Mitten Ridge Loop and Sinkhole

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Mitten Ridge Loop and Sinkhole

On 31 October 2015 we hiked the Mitten Ridge Loop and included a side trip to Mitten Ridge Sinkhole, located just above Damifino Trail, near the Mitten Ridge Gap. From Cottonwood, we drove north on Hwy 89A to Sedona, turned south on Highway 179, crossed the bridge that spans Oak Creek at Tlaquepaque and turned north onto Schnebly Hill Road at the next traffic circle. We proceeded 2.6 miles on Schnebly Hill Road before parking at a spacious parking turnout on the left side of the road.

Parking turnout located 2.6 miles up Schnebly Hill Road from the traffic circle

Schnebly Hill Road is paved for the first 0.9 miles, but the last 1.7 miles to where we parked is rough, unpaved road. Our four vehicles are seen parked at the left in the above photograph. Schnebly Hill Road continues to the right. The turnout is connected to Schnebly Hill Road at both ends.

We started our hike by making a short, easy descent into the wash that runs alongside the road, crossing to the other side and joining Munds Wagon Trail heading downstream. We headed downstream because we intended to hike the loop in a clockwise direction.

We came to the junction with Hangover Trail about 0.3 miles downstream from where we had joined Munds Wagon Trail. Hangover Trail has recently been rebuilt by mountain bikers and is marked along the way, in particular where it crosses rock surfaces, by white arrows painted on the rock.

Mitten Ridge runs in a northeasterly southwesterly direction, basically as shown by the straight blue line on the map (below). Bear Wallow Canyon runs parallel to the ridge, along its southeast side. The GPS track of our hike is shown in red. Note that the track crosses Mitten Ridge twice, leaving and then returning to Bear Wallow Canyon.

Showing Mitten Ridge, Bear Wallow Canyon and the Mitten Ridge Loop hike

Starting at the parking area, shown near the bottom of the map (above), Hangover leads quickly up the northwestern wall of Bear Wallow Canyon, at first through a stand of young Arizona cypress trees. As we climbed higher these gave way to scattered junipers and we could see, over the shoulder of the hill ahead, the jagged rocky outcroppings that marked the other side of Bear Wallow Canyon at its mouth.

View ahead as the trail climbs the northwest wall of Bear Wallow Canyon

We stopped here long enough for a group photograph (below).

Left to right: Leonard Filner, David Beach, the author, John Chartrand, Karl Sink, Lila Wright, Joanne Hennings, Floyd Gardner, Marianna Hartsong, Eugenia Valentine and Daisy Williams – with authors camera - two hikers not shown

After about 1.2 miles the trail leveled off at an elevation of around 4800 feet and followed along the ridge at that elevation to what I will call Window Rock Gap. I am sorely tempted to call it Elephant Rock Gap because the landmark referred, to shown in the photograph (below) looks more like an elephant's head and trunk than a window.

Window Rock at a gap in Mitten Ridge – it looks like an elephant to me

We had now crossed to the other side of Mitten Ridge and had a panoramic view of Sedona spread out at the mouth of Oak Creek Canyon. Our view stretched from Window Rock at the left, across Woodchute Mountain on the distant horizon and Capitol Butte (Thunder Mountain) right of center to the shoulder of Wilson Mountain on the right.

Looking out the mouth of Oak Creek Canyon from Mitten Ridge

Looking directly north across Oak Creek Canyon from our position we had a bird's eye view of Midgley Bridge which spans the mouth of Wilson Canyon at the foot of Wilson Mountain.

Wilson Mountain with Midgley Bridge

We were now approaching what I call Mitten Ridge Gap (others may refer to it as Mitten Ridge Saddle). The gap, overlooking Midgley Bridge in Oak Creek Canyon on one side and the Cowpies Formations in Bear Wallow Canyon on the other, would be an ideal place to eat lunch. It was just chilly enough to make one appreciate the chance to bask in the sun on the bare, warm rock surface of the gap floor.

It was really way too early for lunch, but Dave Beach had a solution. Having previously visited a sinkhole, located under the cliff face about 100 yards from the gap, he suggested that we explore the sinkhole before eating lunch. Archaeologist Paul Lindberg has identified seven Sedona area sinkholes¹ and I had already visited five of them, so I jumped at the chance as did most of the rest of the group. Leaving those who did not wish to climb into a dusty sinkhole behind to enjoy the sun, we climbed the sharp slope to the base of the sheer cliff wall and then followed close along the base to the opening. Tucked under the sheer cliff wall, the sinkhole is not easy to find. The map cutout (below) shows the its location in relation to Mitten Ridge Gap.

Location of Mitten Ridge Sinkhole at Mitten Ridge Pass

The photograph (below left) taken from in front of the cave (sinkhole) entrance, shows the cliff on the other side of the gap. The photograph (below right) shows the author climbing out of the small opening.

Looking across Mitten Ridge Gap

The author crawling out of the sinkhole
– by Eugenia

My camera, or perhaps the operator, malfunctioned and I really didn't get any good photographs inside the cavern. However, Eugenia Valentine provided me with some excellent ones. This photograph (below) shows one of the cavern walls and a section of the ceiling.

Leonard Filner posing in front of an interesting section of wall – by Eugenia

These photographs show shredded yucca leaves (below left), perhaps animal bedding, and the entrance from inside the cavern (below right).

Shredded yucca plants

Entrance seen from interior

This photograph (below), taken inside the cavern, was provided by Eugenia Valentine.

Left to right against a cavern wall: (standing): Leonard Filner, the author, Lila Wright Dave Beach and (sprawling): Floyd Gardner – photograph by Eugenia

Paul Lindberg says the height of the cavern is 9', that it has an oval shape of 18' X 24' and that the roof is “composed of massive, unbroken Schnebly Hill Sandstone.” ²

Someone asked where the name Mitten Ridge came from. Dave Beach thought Mitten was a German word and I later found that it can mean “in the middle” or “midway.” Lindberg noted that the ridge is located midway between Oak Creek and Bear Wallow Canyon.

After climbing out of the sinkhole, we returned to the gap by a different route, climbing down the slope for a few yards to connect with Damifino Trail instead of bushwhacking along the base of the cliff. It was considerably easier and I would recommend that route for anyone visiting this sinkhole.

Following a leisurely lunch, we continued on our way down into Bear Wallow Canyon. For much of the way since passing through Window Rock Gap, we had hiked over bare slick rock ledges and that continued to be the case as we switchbacked our way back and forth across the rock ledges above the Cowpie Formations. However about one mile from the gap we came to the end of Hangover Trail and the start of Cowpies Trail.

This photograph (below) shows hikers strung out along Hangover Trail as it makes it way along the side of Mitten Ridge, below the switchbacks, toward the junction with Cowpies Trail. The formation seen in the center of the photograph is the Merry-Go-Round. Just this side of the Merry-Go-Round is a strip of Arizona cypress trees that we will pass through. Schnebly Hill Trail (the old Munds Wagon Road) can be seen, above and left of the Merry-Go-Round, angling up the mountain to the Mogollon Rim.

Hikers on Hangover Trail

Hangover trail along this section is sometimes a bit confusing but one really can't go seriously wrong as any error soon becomes obvious.

When we reached the Cowpies Trailhead at Schnebly Hill Road, we could either follow the road or cross it and pass through the parking lot on the other side to connect with Munds Wagon Trail for the rest of our hike. We chose the road at first but turned off onto the trail when it crossed the road about 0.3 miles below the Cowpies Trailhead. From there the trail followed closely along the wash and was actually a bit shorter than following the road would have been.

This was the last day of October and, as demonstrated by the photographs below, we were finally beginning to see a few signs of fall colors. As we hiked down the wash we saw a soon to be bright yellow cottonwood (left) growing in the wash and a tiny maple (right) trending from green to red growing at a stream crossing.

Cottonwood turning yellow

Maple turning red

When I downloaded my GPS track and cleaned it up, I found that we had hiked 5.4 miles, that the total ascent was 989 feet and that the highest elevation for the hike was 5277 feet. Our GPS track is shown in red on the included map.