Damifino Loop Hike

We hiked the Damifino Loop on 26 October 2013. This hike actually consists of a loop starting at the Cowpies Trailhead on Schnebly Hill Road and hiking on Cowpies Trail, Hangover Trail, Damifino Trail, Casner Canyon Trail, Schnebly Hill Road and Munds Wagon Trail. But that became just too much to include in a title, so I defaulted to using just “Damifino Loop”.

We left the Cottonwood Safeway parking lot at 0700, picked up one other hiker at the end of the pavement on Schnebly Hill Road and continued on to the parking lot at Cowpies Trailhead. The road is very, very rough, requiring a high-clearance vehicle (preferably with 4-wheel drive) for all but the most reckless and foolhardy.

Cowpies Trail dips through a draw, actually a wash that flows into Bear Wallow Canyon, and emerges at the edge of a wide expanse of solid rock. Mitten Ridge Gap, through which we were to pass, was clearly visible and we stopped for a group photograph with it in the background.

Left to right: The author, Samantha Moor, Connie Woolard, Daisy Williams, 

Betty Wolters, Ann Urick, Frank Lombardo, Donna Goodman and Jerry 

Helfrich - photograph by Name Withheld

Small rocks have been arranged on the flat rock surface to form a large medicine wheel, a circle containing a cross. The trail itself is marked by an intermittent line of rocks leading hikers across the edge of the flat rock to another wash, the upper part of Bear Wallow Canyon. The trees in the first wash were predominantly juniper. However, as we crossed this second wash, we noted they had been largely displaced by shaggy-barked Arizona cypress trees.

After crossing the second wash one can turn left to hike across another flat expanse of rock to the cowpie formations. Despite its name, the trail itself does not turn toward these formations; instead it continues, generally northwest, for a short distance to end at the beginning of Hangover Trail (right).

The name “Hangover” is shown on some old maps I have seen and seems to coincide, at least partially with Mitten Ridge Loop (or Mitten Ridge Bear Paw) Trail. In any case it has recently been remarked and the sign shown above has been installed.

Hangover Trail runs through Mitten Ridge Gap which is where Damifino Trail, which we would follow down the other side of the ridge and on to the mouth of Casner Canyon, starts. We decided that, although on past hikes to the gap we had taken a different route, we would follow Hangover this time.

As it turned out, the major benefit to taking Hangover was that the trail was clearly marked by mountain bikers and easy to follow. Our previous route was not an official trail; we just followed one of a number of unofficial trails, sometimes marked by cairns, toward the gap, all ending with a short but very steep climb to reach the gap itself. Hangover, however, first passes below the gap and then turns back and climbs to it through a series of switchbacks; it is longer but may be a bit less strenuous.

As we traveled along the side of Mitten Ridge toward the gap we had what I consider the most definitive view of the cowpies formations, showing clearly the reason for the name.

The Cowpies seen from Mitten Ridge with Munds Mountain in the background

A section of the trail along Mitten Ridge is shown below.

Hikers trudging along the slope on the east side of Mitten Ridge

We found the trail to be clearly marked by the painted white arrows of the sort used by bikers and navigated our way easily through the series of switchbacks to reach the gap. We rested there for a few minutes before continuing our hike.

Some of us had previously hiked through the gap and turned south on the west side to follow what we then called Mitten Ridge Loop Trail but that I have since learned is also known as Mitten Ridge Bear Paw Trail. This time, however, we would turn north after crossing through the gap and follow Damifino Trail to the mouth of Casner Canyon where we would pick up Casner Canyon Trail to continue our loop. Both trails start at the north side of the gap. Mitten Ridge Loop (or Hangover, if you prefer) turns left just before reaching the dead tree trunk blocking the trail in the photograph (above left). To take Damifino Trail one just steps over the dead tree trunk and proceeds straight ahead.

We were now on a trail little used by hikers. Most of the information I was able to find in preparation for a 14 October scouting hike on it was provided by bikers. However, we saw few signs of recent biker activity, just an occasional tire mark.

The name of the trail is a puzzle. There is a story concerning the naming of Damifino Canyon (but note the difference in spelling). According to that story, the head surveyor of a 1930s survey party looking to improve Schnebly Hill Road asked the party's guide, a pioneer who had helped construct the original road, for the name of the canyon. The guide responded by saying “Damn if I know.” This sounded to the engineer like “Damifino” and he wrote it on the map. The mouth of Damifino Canyon is about 1.1 miles southwest of Mitten Ridge Gap and I assume that the name came from there. There is the matter of the difference in spelling (Damifino for the canyon, Damifino for the trail). Perhaps the person who named the trail had heard of how the canyon got its name and decided to improve the translation by making the name a bit closer to “Dam if I know.” We'll never know for sure.

The trail was at first fairly easy to follow, if a bit precarious in places. It followed along the steep, lightly forested western slope of the ridge. The photograph (right) shows hikers on a section of it near Mitten Ridge Gap.

Shortly after we left the gap, it became obvious to Jerry Helfrich that the hike would take longer than the time he had available and he turned back. That was not a problem as he is an experienced hiker and he had driven to the trailhead by himself.

After passing through the forested area we came to an area of bare sloping rock. No trail was visible here and we just followed my GPS track from the 14 October scouting hike. One could do just about as well, however, by simply heading for the spine of the ridge that slopes down past Grasshopper Point (but on the opposite side of Oak Creek) because the trail follows it all the way to Casner Canyon.

Hiking down the spine of the ridge

The following photograph (below) shows hikers making their way down the bare sloping rock on the west side of Mitten Ridge.

Hikers descending the western slope of Mitten Ridge

Once we had made the relatively short descent on bare rock where the trail was not discernible, it once again became easy to follow. It follows along the crest of the ridge passing Grasshopper Point (left), located just across Oak Creek. Continuing on past Grasshopper Point, the trail eventually reaches the end of the ridge and descends steeply by a series of short switchbacks to the stream, usually a dry wash with just an occasional pool of water, at the lower end of Casner Canyon. The trail turns upstream for a few yards and then crosses the wash to join Casner Canyon Trail. We stopped there for a snack.

This trail, built to provide cattle grazing in pastures on the canyon rim access to water, is now used by hikers and horseback riders. From where we joined it, the trail leads sharply up the north slope of the canyon. After a short distance, it levels off a bit and continues upward at a relatively gentle slope for a large part of the way to the top, then becomes steep again. This can be seen from the following photograph taken from Schnebly Hill Road on the opposite side of the canyon. The blue line shows, roughly, the path the trail follows.

Partial tracing of Casner Canyon Trail up the north canyon wall

Just left of center at the bottom of the above photograph the canyon can be seen to split. The lower branch, not the one nearest the trail, is Casner Canyon Proper. The trail actually veers up a side canyon leading in from the north and tops out on the rim about a mile north of the head of Casner Canyon proper. Schnebly Hill Vista is approximately half way between these two points.

The trail was easy to follow, at places reinforced on the lower side by carefully placed rock walls. The peak fall flower season had passed and the sloping canyon wall was not as colorful as it had been for the scouting hike. However, the weather, defying the lateness of the season, had turned unusually warm and the going was extremely slow as we labored our way up the trail toward the rim. The following photograph, taken at the only really shady spot since leaving the bottom of the canyon, shows two of our party approaching a final steep climb, through a switchback, which comes out at an old fence marking the end of steep climbing.

Hikers nearing the end of Casner Canyon Trail

Once we reached the old fence, the trail leveled off a bit and the rest of the climb to the head of the canyon was quite gentle. We also began to see neatly-constructed, wire-bound cairns marking the way. As I had found during the scouting hike, the trail has recently been extended south along the rim to end at Schnebly Hill Vista. The pink jeep (right) shown here was a welcome sight; it meant that we had reached the end of Casner Canyon Trail and that the rest of the hike would all be downhill.

We briefly joined the pink jeep tourists for the awesome view from the vista.

The view from Schnebly Hill Vista

We then headed down Schnebly hill road toward the Munds Wagon Trailhead. Along the way I found a deep purple aster (left), valiantly holding its own against the approach of winter.

The hiking along the road was easy and we made good time, soon arriving at our trailhead. The Munds Wagon Trailhead is located on the right side of the road as you descend, just across from the Schnebly Hill Trailhead. In fact the two trails share a common origin. Each utilizes a section of the old Munds Wagon Road that provided access to Flagstaff before Schnebly Hill Road was built.

The hiking was a bit rougher on Munds Wagon Trail than it had been on the road. However, it is a considerably shorter distance than if one were to follow the road all the way back to the Cowpies Trailhead where we were parked. It circles the Merry-Go-Round formation, following along the ledge that forms what would be the platform carrying the horses on a real merry-go-round.

As we rounded the corner of the formation we encountered a wedding party in the process of assembling. I think some of our party checked to see whether drinks were available yet and were told, “not until the reception.” The wedding had not even started, so we trudged on. The below photograph of the Merry-Go-Round formation was taken looking back from further down the trail.

Merry-Go-Round formation on Schnebly Hill road above Sedona

It was only a short distance on to where we were parked. The trail crosses Schnebly Hill Road once on the way and then passes within about a hundred feet of the Cowpies Trailhead parking lot.

I recorded the hike distance as 7.9 miles, the elevation change as 1481 feet and the highest elevation as 5988 feet.

We hiked 0.5 miles on Cowpies Trail, 1.0 miles on Hangover Trail, 1.7 miles on Damifino Trail, 2.4 miles on Casner Canyon Trail, 1.2 miles on Schnebly Hill Road and 1.1 miles on Munds Wagon Trail.

The GPS track for this hike is shown in red on the attached map (below).