Cowpies-Mitten Ridge Trail

Cowpies Trailhead is located at: 34°52'19.60"N; 111°42'47.31"W; Elevation: 5047

Sixteen Skyliners (Betty Wolters, Anita Jackson, Lila Wright, David Manning, Marvin Alt, Dolly Yapp,George Everman, Jim Manning, Miriam Sterling, Daisy Williams Donna Goodman, Ellis Price and four others) hiked Cowpies-Mitten Ridge Trail off Schnebly Hill Road On 9 January 2010. From Cottonwood, we traveled north on Hwy 89A, turned south on Highway 179 in Sedona and traveled about 0.3 mile to before turning left on Schnebly Hill Road.  We proceeded 3.5 miles on Schnebly Hill Road to reach the Cowpies Trail trailhead.  Schnebly Hill Road is paved for the first mile, but the last 2.5 miles rough, unpaved road. The parking area is located on the right (south side) of the road, directly across from the trailhead.

Shortly after leaving the trailhead we stopped at an open area to look across to the Cowpies and on to the gap in Mitten Ridge that was our destination for today’s hike.

Taken just over a tenth of a mile from the trailhead.  The Cowpies are the relatively flat formations just beyond the hikers shown standing on the edge of a cliff.  The gap in Mitten Ridge (to the right) is where we ended our hike

We continued across the open area to the cowpie formations beyond , climbing to the top of the highest one for a view of the canyons below surrounding area. Looking to the north, we could see see the faint trace of Schnebly Hill Trail making its was diagonally up the mountain, along the original Schnebly Hill Road, to the Mogollon Rim. Visible below the trail was the Merry-Go-Round (or Carousel) formation.

The Merry-Go-Round formation (center right) and Schnebly Hill Trail snaking up the ridge, following the trace of the original Schnebly Hill Road, toward the Mogollon Rim

Turning to the south we had a good view down Bear Wallow Canyon and across Sedona to Mingus Mountain in the distance. Munds Mountain loomed across Bear Wallow Canyon to our left and Cowpies Canyon ran down from our right to join Bear Wallow just below the Cowpie formations. Looking farther down the canyon, and across Sedona, Mingus Mountain was visible in the distance.

Bear Wallow Canyon (left) and Cowpies Canyon (right) running together just below our vantage point

Closer in, was a lone tree (see right) that seemed to be growing from bare rock just below the rim of Cowpie Canyon.

We stopped for a snack and then retraced our way from the Cowpie formations around the head of Cowpie Canyon and rejoined the trail running along the side of Mitten Ridge toward the gap.

(NOTE: According to some reports I have read, the trail is called Cowpies Trail from Schnebly Hill road to the point where we turned to hike on the Cowpies and Mitten Ridge Trail the rest of the way to the gap.  I decided to avoid a decision by just referring to the whole length as Cowpies-Mitten Ridge Trail.).

Along the trail we found a particularly striking view of Arizona Cypress trees against a backdrop of red cliffs.

Arizona Cypress against the red rock.  Note the window in the rock spire at the top left of the tallest tree.  The Schnebly Hill Trail is faintly visible, running up Schnebly Hill to the Mogollon Rim in the upper right.

The trail between the head of Cowpie Canyon and Mitten Ridge Gap is indistinct in some places and the last few hundred yards are a pretty steep climb.  However, don’t be discouraged, as you really can’t go too far wrong if you just keep heading toward the gap, and the view from the gap is well worth the short climb.  At the gap we stopped to enjoy the views while we ate lunch. Some of these views are shown below and on the following pages.

To the east we looked down on the Cowpie formations. Cowpies Canyon runs down this side of the bare red ridge shown here, Bear Wallow Canyon runs down the other side and Munds Mountain, already showing a few scattered patches of snow, looms beyond.

The Cowpies formations from Mitten Ridge Gap. The hump in the middle of the photograph is the highest cowpie

To the west, we could look down into Oak Creek Canyon, across Oak Creek and Midgley Bridge and on to the Cliffs on the other side of the canyon.

A view into Oak Creek Canyon showing Midgley Bridge and looking out across Sedona - Taken from Mitten Ridge Gap

This outcropping from Mitten Ridge forms the south side of Mitten Ridge Gap

This is the cliff that forms the north side of Mitten Ridge Gap

After lunch we returned directly by way of the Cowpies-Mitten Ridge Trail to the parking area.

The total hiking distance for this hike was 3.6 miles according to my GPS log.  The distance from the Cowpies Trailhead at Schnebly Hill Road to the end of the trail at Mitten Gap, without the excursion to the Cowpies, is 1.2 miles.

Our GPS track for this hike is shown on the included map (below)