Sandys Canyon, Fisher Point and Walnut Canyon

By 12 October 2013, we had begun to migrate our weekly hikes from the high country down toward the Verde Valley area for the winter season. Last weeks hike had been in the Inner Basin of the San Francisco Peaks; this week we would hike in Sandys Canyon and Walnut Canyon southeast of Flagstaff.

Following our by now normal routine of starting our hikes at 0700, I was at the meeting place and ready to go at that time. Alas, only Connie Woolard had shown up. Somewhat puzzled at the absence of other hikers, we waited an extra ten minutes, but then headed out to do the hike by ourselves. It never occurred to me to check the schedule for the starting time. After all, had I not made it out myself?

We were almost to Flagstaff when my cellphone rang. It was one of six additional hikers who had met at 0800, the time actually published in the schedule. Connie and I decided to wait at the Circle K Station located at the I-17/Lake Mary Road interchange for the others to catch up.

We thought it would be a rather boring wait, enlivened only by people watching; however, we were surprised to find a prairie dog village located between the service station and the freeway, actually within the road right of way on the ramp that exits from I-17 to I-40 heading east. The fellow shown here (right) is actually located outside the perimeter fence for the freeway right of way. However, he was closer to us and the only one I could photograph easily.

When the other hikers arrived, we immediately headed on out Lake Mary Road to the Sandys Canyon Trailhead. According to notes I had made from a previous hike, it should be located between five and six miles from the I-17 exit. We found the actual distance to the turn off from Lake Mary Road to be 9.5 miles. One still exits as before at the Canyon Vista Campground. Now, however, trailhead parking has been relocated to just outside the campground and one must walk about two tenths of a mile through the campground to the trailhead. The previous parking area which was located near the trailhead, is now blocked off by large boulders. Incongruously, a sign, not visible in the photograph (above left), is still posted warning people that parking in the lot is not permitted after 8 PM. The campground itself was deserted, apparently having been closed due to the current government shutdown.

We stopped near the trailhead at a sign describing the Arizona Trail, a bit of which we would be hiking on today, for a group photograph.

Left to right: David Beach, Frank Lombardo, Daisy Williams, Jeanmarie 'Jeannie' Haney (kneeling), 
Connie Woolard (almost hidden), the author and Betty Wolters

From the trailhead at Canyon Vista Campground, the trail runs for half a mile along the western rim of Sandys Canyon. While traveling along the rim hikers are afforded excellent views down into the canyon and all the way to the San Francisco Peaks.

Looking from the western rim of Sandys Canyon across the colorful fall foliage in the canyon 
and on to the San Francisco Peaks beyond

After traveling along the rim for about half a mile, the trail turns sharply right and descends steeply into Sandys Canyon. It might be worth noting at this point that one can avoid Canyon Vista Campground altogether by turning off Lake Mary Road onto Forest Road 9478Y about 0.7 miles short of the campground turnoff and driving about one-tenth of a mile to a large parking/turnaround area. One can park there and take a marked path about 150 yards to this point. But if you do you will miss the views along the rim of the canyon, one of the high points of the hike.

This alternate access point was explained to us by a local resident we met while he was out walking his five or six dogs. After a brief conversation, we thanked him and proceeded down into the canyon, descending about 150 feet in three-tenths of a mile. We then traveled along the canyon floor for another six-tenths of a mile to connect with the Arizona Trail which we followed for about a mile to the junction with Fay Canyon. The area is labeled on maps as both Lake Mary Valley and Skunk Canyon. In any case it is the large flat expanse where Sandys Canyon and Fay Canyon come together. Walnut Canyon starts here, at Fisher Point, carrying the runoff from Fay Canyon and Sandys Canyon.

Out of curiosity, I used Google Earth to trace Walnut Creek which flows down Sandys Canyon. The Creek starts on the north slope of Mormon Mountain and flows northwest through Upper Lake Mary and Lower Lake Mary, turns north/northwest to flow through Sandys Canyon, then east/northeast through Walnut Canyon. It crosses I-40 near Winona, continues north to pass west of Cinder Mountain and empties into the San Francisco Wash near Leupp Road north/northwest of Cinder Mountain. San Francisco Wash in turn empties into Padre Canyon which empties into Diablo Canyon. Diablo Canyon then carries the runoff to the Little Colorado River at Leupp.

Although we intended to climb to Fisher Point Vista, we decided to first follow a trail that leads down Walnut Canyon to where we thought it ended about three-tenths of a mile ahead. This was based on a hike that some of us did in 2009. However, we found a sign posted along the trail that indicated it now ended one mile ahead. We could go that far, so we continued.

On the way we stopped for a few minutes to investigate a cave formed by an ancient rockslide. The photograph (right) shows clearly how the cave must have been formed. We thought it was probably only a shallow opening, going back just a few feet. 


But when we entered we found that we could travel without difficulty, upright all the way, for at least 150 feet before we came to a very narrow section where, as shown here (left), only a very skinny person would be able to pass. We turned back.

Leaving the cave, we traveled on down the canyon, pausing frequently to admire the fall foliage and the colorful rocks of the canyon walls.

Colorful rock cliffs and fall foliage in Walnut Canyon

After hiking down the canyon for about a mile but seeing no evidence that the trail ended anywhere nearby, we wondered whether it might now extend all the way to the Walnut Canyon National Monument, about another 8.5 miles. But that was certainly not a project for today, so we found a sunny spot to eat and then turned back toward Fisher Point.

From the grama grass-covered flats below Fisher Point, it is a winding mile-long, 432-foot climb to the top. The view from the top is certainly worth the effort. We could look down into Walnut Canyon to the east while straight ahead, looking south, we had a panoramic view of Lake Mary Valley (or Skunk Canyon) over 400 feet below.

View from Fisher Point Vista showing the flats (Lake Mary Valley) below

The red dot in the above photograph indicates the intersection of the trail with the Arizona Trail which runs right up Fay Canyon from here and left up Sandys Canyon, the way we will go. The blue dot near the center of the photograph shows where a short cut leaves the trail to connect with the Arizona Trail about a hundred yards up Sandys Canyon from the junction shown by the red dot. Close inspection will show five riders on the trail at bottom left.

Just as we started our descent from the vista, we found a patch of the most colorful foliage of the entire hike, a small patch of deciduous trees nestled under the conifers.

Fall foliage beneath the conifers

It was now around 1400 and we wasted no time in making our way back down the trail to connect with the Arizona Trail for the trip up Sandys Canyon and back to the trailhead. We didn't want to be too late returning home as the days were getting shorter and dark came early. Additionally it had been a fairly long hike and we were getting hungry, or at least I was.

When I arrived home and downloaded my GPS data, I found that the first data was recorded at 0938 and that we had arrived back at our cars at 1612. In other words we had been on the trail for 6 hours and 35 minutes.

The total round trip hike distance was recorded as 9.5 miles with an elevation gain of 432 feet (highest to lowest), a total ascent of 1198 feet and a highest elevation of 7057 feet. Because of the large difference between total ascent and the highest to lowest elevation readings, the trail profile, showing all the ups and downs, is shown below.

The GPS track for this hike is shown in red on the included map (below). The map also shows the alternate access to Sandys Canyon Trail.