Following the trail we crossed back and forth across the wash in the bottom of the canyon and even crossed Schnebly Hill Road Several times. Water was flowing in the wash and the rocks were dangerously slippery in at least one spot.
As we crisscrossed the wash on our way up the trail, we saw several small but interesting waterfalls. I was especially intrigued by this one, seemingly straining to remain a waterfall with barely a trickle of water flowing over the red rock, it was set off by trees above, below and on both sides:
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Taken looking up the wash from a trail crossing
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Looking back down the canyon from along the trail. The snow-covered mountain in the distance is Woodchute. Sedona is visible directly out the mouth of the canyon.
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As we approached our
goal, Merry-Go-Round, we could see beyond it to where the old wagon
road, at that point Schnebly Hill Trail, runs diagonally from left to
right up the mountain to the rim. Munds Wagon Trail crosses the
Merry-Go-Round formation on top of the rock ledge shown below,
entering at the right of the formation, circling around the left side
and continuing up the mountain for about 1/2 mile where it crosses
the present day Schnebly Hill Road and becomes Schnebly Hill Trail on
the other side. The trail intersection is not clearly visible in the
picture below; however, it is located just below the gap in the
extreme left of the below photograph, about even with the rock ledge
of the Merry-Go-Round formation. The Schnebly Hill Trail itself can
be seen running diagonally up the mountain as it nears the rim. See
the faint line near the right edge of the photograph close to the
rim.
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| This is a shot of the Merry-Go-Round from the trail. Looking beyond, one can see Schnebly Hill Trail snaking diagonally up the mountain from left to right. Munds Wagon Trail ends about 1/2 mile above the Merry-Go-Round where it crosses present day Schnebly Hill Road and becomes Schnebly Hill Trail on the other side and then follows the old wagon road on to the rim. |
When we reached the
Merry-Go-Round (Carousel), I found a nice clump of grass for my nap
and after eating quickly drifted off into slumberland. The rest of
the party, entertained themselves by throwing rocks and broken
branches over the cliff to raise pollen clouds from the Arizona
Cypress trees just below. Luckily, my napping spot was far enough
away that I was not disturbed and, on the way back, George gave me a
free small-scale demonstration of what I had missed.
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George using my walking pole to beat pollen dust off an Arizona Cypress.
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This is a close up shot of Arizona Cypress foliage. The source of the pollen shows in yellow here. Note the balls, similar to those on American Red Cedar trees back east.
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We made the return
trip partly on the trail and partly along Schnebly Hill Road which
was closed to vehicle traffic and was pleasant hiking. Some of the
time we parted ways, part of the group following the trail and the
rest choosing the road. Daisy and I remained on the road for most of
the way back and arrived about 15 minutes before the rest of the
group.
Close to a mile below the Merry-Go-Round (at 34°52'26.07"N; 111°42'31.67"W) a trail leads up the mountain from Schnebly Hill Road. We think it might come out on the rim near the intersection of Schnebly Hill, Jacks Canyon, Hot Loop and Munds Mountain Trails. We have placed it on our list of trails to explore.
My GPS reading on completion of the hike was 6.5 miles. The GPS measured distance to the Merry-Go-Round was 3.15 miles. My downloaded file indicates that the total elevation change for the hike was 1075 feet.
Our track for this hike is shown on the included map (below)
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