Old Still in Fay Canyon

Five of us hiked to the site of an old still in Fay Canyon on February 03, 2010. From Cottonwood, we traveled north to Sedona on Hwy 89A, turned left onto Dry Creek Road (Forest Road 152C). About 2 miles from Hwy 89A we passed Vultee Arch Road, a very rough dirt road leading off to the right. After about another 0.85 miles (2.85 miles from Hwy 89A) we reached a stop sign. Long Canyon Road leads to the right from here. We turned left on Boynton Pass Road. Actually, according to the Google map, we had been on Boynton Pass Road since passing Vultee Arch Road. We traveled for another 0.6 miles to reach a second stop sign at the junction with Long Canyon road. We turned left to continue on Boynton Pass Road for about another 1.25 miles before turning left into the trailhead parking lot for Doe Mountain and Bear Mountain Trails. We would take Bear Mountain Trail for 0.6 miles before north into Fay Canyon.

At turnoff from Bear Mountain Trail: George Everman, Dolly Yapp, Jim Manning and Gordon Bice

The above picture was taken at that turnoff (34°53'57.35"N; 111°52'8.62"W). Although our goal, the old still, is actually located on the west (actually southwest) wall of Fay Canyon, we could see no way to reach it from the Fay Canyon Trail. Instead, we must travel north along the face of the south wall of the canyon.

The trail was a bit difficult to follow in a few places; however, one cannot go far wrong because there is a sharp drop into Fay Canyon on the right and a high cliff wall on the left. We followed this trail for about one and a quarter miles before coming to a rocky, bare spot and what looked to be a sheer drop into the canyon below. On closer inspection, there is a way down to a narrow ledge below. To reach the old still site, it was necessary to climb down to that ledge and follow it a hundred yards or so back down the canyon. The descent to the ledge is shown below (at 34°54'37.19"N; 111°52'2.65"W). A dying tree (note the brown needles) stands on the ledge below.

The descent to the ledge on which the old still is located

When we arrived, it was still a bit early for lunch, so we descended to look at the remains of the old still before eating. When we reached the ledge below we turned to the right to follow the ledge to the site. Since the way we had traveled to reach the site seemed an unlikely route for the moonshiners to have brought in materials and hauled the finished product out, we decided that they must have used some sort of hoist arrangement between the ledge and the canyon floor below. The site itself was under an overhang that shielded much of the ledge from view from above, while the ledge itself shielded it from view from below.

After looking at the few remains left – basically, some old coffee cans, an old galvanized tub, and the hoops from an old barrel – we traveled along the ledge we were on for about another hundred yards before it became essentially impassible. We then returned to examine the remains in more detail.

Left to right: Ellis Price, Jim Manning, Gordon Bice and George Everman

We looked for signs of any devices that might have been installed to hoist and lower materials between the ledge and the canyon floor, but we found nothing. Soon enough we were ready to leave and made our way back along the trail on the narrow ledge to the point where we had descended and climbed back to the ledge above to eat lunch before starting back.

The trail leads along the ledge just to the right of the rock in this photograph (left).

Beyond the rock is located the dead (dying) tree that marks the ascent back up to the ledge above Dolly is shown scrambling back up the steep slope (below right).

The upper ledge provided a nice sunny spot for lunch with a great view across Fay Canyon.

After eating lunch we traveled a bit further up canyon along the main ledge along which we had hiked in, coming soon to a place that was very narrow.  Although the narrow section was choked by undergrowth, we thought that we could probably safely cross it to reach a more expansive section visible just beyond. However, instead of trying this, we opted to spend some more time looking around where we were. To the left, up canyon, from where we ate lunch was an open expanse of bare rock and then undergrowth leading to the narrow section mentioned above. To the right, down canyon, the ledge was open for several hundred yards.

Looking up-canyon along the ledge we were on

Looking down-canyon along the ledge

Across Fay Canyon and slightly upstream from our ledge we could see a side branch (right lower quadrant) off the main canyon which runs to the left in the photograph shown below. Directly behind us was a side canyon from which it appears that one might be able to reach the top canyon wall.

Side branch off Fay Canyon

George pointed out some rock formations across Fay Canyon that reminded him of three Destroyers nestled alongside a Tender. Having served aboard a Destroyer Tender, the USS Prairie (AD-15), for my last sea tour, I had no trouble recognizing the imagery.

Tender with three destroyers alongside

Behind us as we turned to leave, there was a side canyon that appeared to lead at a gentle slope all the way to the top of Bear Mountain.

It looks like a gentle slope all the way to the rim

We then left and retraced our steps back to Bear Canyon Trail and on to the Trailhead off Boynton Pass Road.

When we were once again back on Bear Mountain Trail, I turned to take one last photograph of the turn-off from from the trail just to make sure we could find it on any return trip.

Trail at Turnoff to old still from Bear Mountain Trail

The entire hike was only about 4.1 miles according to my GPS. I estimated the one-way distance to be about 1.85 miles by measuring in Google Earth. The 4.1-mile GPS reading was probably about right considering the amount of wandering around we did at the site.

The elevation change was only around 400 feet and most of that was on Bear Mountain Trail before we turned onto the side trail to the old still.

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