Soldier Pass to Brins Mesa

On 12 November 2011 the Skyliners hiked Soldier Pass Trail to Brins Mesa. We gathered at the Safeway parking lot in Cottonwood and carpooled from there, following Hwy 89A to Sedona, turning left to follow Soldier Pass Road for 1.5 miles and then right to follow Rim Shadows Dr and Shadows Canyon Drive for another 0.2 miles to the gated entry to the trailhead parking lot on the left. Note that Rim Shadows Drive turns sharply left before reaching the gate to the trailhead; just proceed straight ahead at this point on Canyon Shadows Drive and you will find the gate on the left about 70 yards ahead.

Leaving the parking lot we hiked across a wash and a short distance up the slope on the other side to arrive at the intersection with Jordan and Teacup Trails (right). Just a little further along we came to Devil’s Kitchen and paused on its rim for a group photograph. George used the time delay feature on my camera, and “Wally,” a small, lightweight tripod with flexible legs that can wrap around tree limbs for the shot.

Left to right: Gordon Bice, George Everman, Lila Wright, John Wright, 

Daisy Williams, Jon Lloyd, Ellis Price and Kwi Johnson – at Devil’s Kitchen

Devil’s Kitchen is a rather impressive sinkhole located a short distance from the trailhead. Except for the large fallen rocks, it is much like the sinkholes caused by the dissolution of underlying limestone familiar to me from my youth in East Tennessee. Wikipedia provides the following information on the subject of sinkholes:

A sinkhole, also known as a sink, shake hole, swallow hole, swallet, doline or cenote, is a natural depression or hole in the Earth's surface caused by karst processes — the chemical dissolution of carbonate rocks or suffosion processes for example in sandstone. Sinkholes may vary in size from 1 to 600 meters (3.3 to 2,000 ft) both in diameter and depth, and vary in form from soil-lined bowls to bedrock-edged chasms. Sinkholes may be formed gradually or suddenly, and are found worldwide. The different terms for sinkholes are often used interchangeably.¹

Devil’s Kitchen sinkhole

From Devil’s Kitchen it is just a short distance on along the trail to the Seven Sacred Pools. Some sources refer to these as Apache Seven Pools and indicate that they were sacred to the Apache. The pools were not very impressive today; some had been partly filled in with accumulated rocks and, while they did contain water, no water was running between the pools.

At the Seven Sacred Pools – by Jon Lloyd

Continuing on up the canyon from the pools we could see the arches to our right; we stopped for a brief rest and a snack just below Brins Mesa.

When we reached the mesa where Soldier Pass Trail ends at the intersection with Brins Mesa Trail, my GPS showed that we had hiked just over 2.1 miles from the parking lot. (NOTE: See related comment in the last paragraph of this report.) At that point we turned southeast and followed Brins Mesa Trail for about 0.75 miles to the edge of the mesa and then turned northeast to follow an unmarked trail for close to 0.9 miles to the summit (summit of Brins Mesa) for lunch. I found one map that identified the trail we followed to the summit as “Brins Summit.” No signs are posted; however the trail is easy to follow. When we reached the summit the wind was brisk and it was a little chilly on this November day, but we were rewarded with awe-inspiring views in all directions. Jon took several photographs from our vantage point.

Looking back down on Brins Mesa – by Jon Lloyd

Looking down from Brims Mesa – by Jon

I managed to find a cozy spot well sheltered from the wind and settled in for lunch and my traditional noon nap; Gordon did likewise. After lunch we hiked another hundred yards to the highest point on the mesa and then headed back the way we had come.

George posing on the summit of Brins Mesa – by Jon Lloyd

Taken on the way back from Brins mesa summit – by Jon Lloyd

After some discussion as to the possibility of taking another route back to the cars, we chose to return the way we had come. However a later look at the map indicates that the distance would have been approximately the same had we continued southeast on Brins Mesa Trail and taken Cibola Pass Trail and then Jordan Trail back. These are both shown on the Arizona topo map I use.

On the way back down Soldier Pass Trail we stopped for a brief rope climbing demonstration by John Wright. Lila has decided that we should start carrying a 50-foot length of rope with us on our hikes for use in emergencies.

My GPS gave a reading of 7.5 miles for this round trip hike, but when I downloaded the track to my computer and examined track properties the distance was shown as only 6.1 miles. Track properties on my computer also gave me 1.7 miles for the length of Soldier Pass Trail while the Forest service map provides a figure of 2.4 miles and I had measured it as about 2.15 miles. After considering all of this conflicting information, I used 2.15 as the length of Soldier Pass Trail and adjusted all of the other distances provided in the first paragraph of this report accordingly.

I consider this an easy hike. The elevation change from the trailhead to the summit of Brins Mesa is only around 1000 feet and the climb is gradual with a relatively few exceptions.

1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinkhole