Red Canyon, Nolan Draw and 4543 Sinkholes

On 7 February 2015 David Beach led nineteen Skyliners on a tour of three sinkholes in the Loy Butte area. These included the smallest and also the largest of seven Sedona area sinkholes.

From Cottonwood Safeway parking lot, we drove north on Hwy 89A for 9.6 miles and turned left onto Forest road 525 at the Sedona Wastewater treatment facility. We drove 5.9 miles on FR 525, turned right onto FR 152C, drove 2.0 miles and turned left onto FR 152E. We then continued for another 0.4 miles and parked at the rim of Sinkhole 4543.

With a circumference of 13 feet and a depth of around 3 feet, this is the smallest of the Sedona area sinkholes. The name “4543,” taken from the elevation at the site, was assigned by Paul A. Lindberg, author of Arizona Geological Survey, Contributed Report CR-10-C, April 2010.¹ The author says that it is a “sinkhole that is probably in the formative stage of breaking through to the modern ground surface.” He goes on to note reports of substantial amounts of air rushing in and out of two small rock openings at the site, indicating a large cavity below ground level.

Dave Beach standing in 4543 Sinkhole

We didn't spend much time at 4543 and were soon on our way to Red Canyon Sinkhole, near the Palatki Heritage archaeological site. According to Lindberg, Red Canyon, with an estimated area of around 32,900 feet and a depth of 103 feet, is the largest of the seven Sedona area sinkholes.² The sinkhole is actually located in the canyon and forms a part of the canyon wall. We hiked first to the upper rim and looked down into the sinkhole and the canyon. In the photograph below the bottom of the sinkhole is located directly below the red outcropping and extends back beyond where the photographer is standing. The opposite side of the sinkhole is essentially at the canyon floor. The hiker seen on the rim at top right is headed down into the canyon after which he will circle back and descend to the bottom of the sinkhole.

Red Canyon Sinkhole as seen from the rim above. The other side of the sinkhole is much lower, essentially at the floor of the canyon

After viewing the area from the upper rim we followed the hiker shown in the above photograph and descended (right) to the canyon floor. We then turned and climbed down just a few feet to reach the bottom of the sinkhole. The sinkhole accepts drainage from Red Canyon and feeds it to a subsurface aquifer.

Tucked in at the bottom of the sheer rock wall from which we had just descended was a mini ecosystem, with lush grass, vines and a variety of trees. This was indeed a most restful and isolated spot. It would be a wonderful spot for a summer picnic. Of course picnicking here would likely be frowned upon by the rangers at nearby Palatki.

Lush growth at the bottom of the sinkhole

According to Lindberg, the stream that drains Red Canyon originally bypassed the sinkhole, but a “flash flood … created a natural debris flow levee that … changed the course of the drainage” so that it now “empties directly into the sinkhole.”³ The drain is shown in the photograph (left).

We looked for pictographs that we were told could be found on the cliff wall. We did find some, but the sun was at a poor angle for photography and I was unable to even see them clearly, much less take photographs. Presented below is the best shot I could get. Someone interpreted the faint figure in the lower left of the photo as a brave sneaking up on the animals shown in a canyon at the upper right. That was a better explanation than any I have.

Pictographs on the cliff wall at Red Canyon Sinkhole

Leaving Red Canyon behind we hiked back to our cars, paused for a snack break and then headed for Nolan Draw Sinkhole, our third and final stop. To get there we returned to the junction of FR 525 and FR 795, drove 0.6 miles north on FR 525, turned left onto FR 9549B and continued for one mile, heading southwest, before parking on the right side of the road. After parking we hiked another 100 yards on FR 9549B, turned left through a stile and followed an old road for about 0.4 miles to our destination. I don't know for sure what old road we were following, but we did come to a fork with a sign identifying the left fork as FR 9549C; we took the right fork.

Nolan Draw Sinkhole was to me the most interesting of the three we visited today. It actually had what I expected of a decent sinkhole: steep, sharply deliniated walls, a decent depth, some secretive dark places below and trees growing in the bottom. It was the sort of place where monsters might lurk, waiting for small children to fall in.

Nolan Draw Sinkhole

The diameter of Nolan Draw Sinkhole is more than 1830 square feet and it is some 68 feet deep. It also has an undercut area running from the northwest through the north, the east and on to the southeast side. Lindberg reports that “the undercut area is 4.6 times larger than the surface opening with a large dirt floor extending to the northeast.”⁴

Dave, our hike leader, was determined to descend into the hole and explore the area of the overhang and I had packed my flashlight. Lila had contributed a rope lest we be unable to haul ourselves back up. We quickly shed our packs and started the descent, Dave taking the lead. There was a narrow shelf, just wide enough to stand on, about six feet below the rim and just below the shelf was a sturdy tree trunk that we could use to shinny down to what Lindberg called a “human-formed bench”⁵ In the below photograph, taken by the author while standing on the narrow ledge, Dave is shown below sliding down the tree trunk.

Dave Beach descending into the Nolan Draw Sinkhole

We explored the overhang from the southeast to the northwest. Dave is shown below standing on the dirt floor underneath the overhang; this photograph was taken from the human-formed bench.

Standing under the overhang

We continued our counterclockwise exploration of the overhang by crouching and heading for the light at the end of the tunnel so to speak. Rocks had broken off the walls above and tumbled to the bottom (right), partially closing off the overhang and creating a tunnel. The brilliant rays of the midday sun, shining down through openings in the fallen rock debris, lit up the darkness under the overhang and made the going easy.

Encouraged by the easy travel, I pushed on toward the northwest end of the overhang, soon finding the exit (left).

I emerged from beneath the overhang through a hole in the rubble to find myself just at the base of the tree we had used for our descent. Looking up through the bare branches of the tree, I could see two hikers, framed against a clear blue sky, standing at the rim above the sheer red wall of the sinkhole.

Hikers framed against the sky on the rim of Nolan Draw Sinkhole

We had now finished our exploration and after a final look around at a recently-used fire pit and several bird nests, tucked neatly into crevices, we climbed out to join the rest of the group for lunch.

Fire pit in Nolan Draw Sinkhole

One of several bird nests

From our lunch spot on the rim of Nolan Draw Sinkhole we had an excellent view of Bear Mountain on the horizon.  The mouth of Red Canyon can be seen at the southwest corner of the mountain.

Bear Mountain on the horizon – from the south rim of Nolan Draw Sinkhole

After lunch we gathered on the rim of the sinkhole for a group photograph.

Left to right: Daisy Williams, the author, Lila Wright, Jim Manning, Miriam Sterling, Joyce Arregui, Karl Sink, David Beach, Margie Beach, Marywave Van Deren, John Ashworth, Anita Jackson, Gilliam Ashworth, Terry Johnson, Connie Woolard, Collene Maktenieks, Dolly Yapp and Beverly Sass – photograph by Name Withheld

Today's hike really didn't involve much actual hiking. We bushwhacked approximately 0.7 miles to and from Red Canyon Sinkhole and hiked along an old road for about 0.8 miles to and from Nolan Draw Sinkhole.

The GPS tracks shown on the included map (next page) in blue are forest roads we drove on. The red track shows the hike to Nolan Draw Sinkhole. The bushwhacking track to Red Canyon Sinkhole is not shown.

Footnote: Ironically, the same day we visited these three of the “seven” Sedona area sinkholes, an eighth one appeared in the roadbed of Hwy 89A, causing a road closure “between mileposts 387 – 389 near Cave Springs Campground⁶”, in the Oak Creek Canyon.

1http://www.azgs.az.gov/publications_online/contributed_reports/cr10c.pdf, p 51

2http://www.azgs.az.gov/publications_online/contributed_reports/cr10c.pdf, p 45

3http://www.azgs.az.gov/publications_online/contributed_reports/cr10c.pdf, p 45

4http://www.azgs.az.gov/publications_online/contributed_reports/cr10c.pdf, p 43

5Ibid

6http://azdailysun.com/sinkhole-closes-highway-a-in-oak-creek-canyon/article_8f1e8880-af36-11e4-b926-0f19abb4a666.html