Along Kelsey Trail near Babes Hole Spring

After our traditional McD’s breakfast burritos, we headed for Kelsey Trailhead. After dousing an abandoned campfire, we geared up in the morning chill and hit the trail. Unseasonable rains and cool weather were predicted for the weekend, and the morning was particularly chilly.

We made the short, gorgeous hike to Babes Hole. Unusual wet spring weather had brought wildflower and bright spring green vegetation to life. We set up a quick camp close to the spring, then headed down Little LO (i.e., Lookout) Trail.

Geronimo Spring

The hike runs pretty level for a short distance, then dives down to Sycamore Creek. It’s beautifully shady, and the oaks made a lovely green backdrop. After checking out a little viewpoint halfway down, we headed to Geronimo Spring near the bottom of the trail. We at lunch at the edge of a pool, and chatted with another couple we’d followed down as they went by on their way to explore a side canyon. After lunch, we continue on to the creek to explore the established campsites along the trail and get a better view of the canyon.

Pool below Dorsey Spring

The next day, we packed to and headed to Dorsey Spring. Kelsey Trail runs level through the forest for a while, then opens into more scrubby vegetation as it drops a bit, offering great views of the upper part of the canyon. Dorsey Spring has a couple lovely little pools below it and a couple nice camp spots. We hung our bags and set out in the rain for Winter Cabin.

View down Sycamore Canyon from Kelsey Trail

We didn’t make it all the way to the cabin, but it was a lovely hike! The trail gets rougher and brushier, and we were very happy to be wearing pants in the chaparral. After hopping over a little pass behind a thumb formation, we were rewarded with stunning views down-canyon, and spotted what I believe was a red-tailed hawk perching in a dead tree near the trail.

The last day, we packed up and hiked up Dorsey Trail. We left our packs at the trailhead, then walked the roads around a couple miles to get our truck.

Related Links

• Sycamore Canyon Trip Photo Collection – see our photos from this backpacking trip on Flickr:
  • Kelsey Trail
  • Little LO Trail
  • Dorsey Trail
• Coconino NF: Sycamore Canyon Wilderness

The photo at the top of this page incorporates many elements of why I am so delighted to be the Coconino’s new web manager. I took that photo at the Red Rock District Visitor Center on a “welcome to the new job” tour my boss gave me. In the reflection of the glass behind Smokey is a view of Sedona’s glorious red rocks. This forest, that view, and even the bear are all central to my being. The opportunity to be part of it, to contribute to the work of the Forest and communicate its mission to the public, is incredibly important to me.

This is a photo of Smokey Bear at the Ohio State Fair, taken in 1969. While this isn’t my family’s photo (it’s from the Ohio Historical Society aka Ohio History Connection), it easily could be. In this era, I was a tiny girl (a couple years younger than the little girl in the blue dress) who went to the Ohio State Fair each year with her parents, eager to visit Smokey as soon as we entered the fairgrounds. Smokey is one of my strongest and fondest early memories.

Here are a couple shots of the view from the Red Rock Visitor Center taken the same day as the photo at the top of the page. Not my best shots, but Sedona’s beauty shows through, even in photos taken with a crappy point-and-shoot on a cloudy day.

A few more shots of the Coconino National Forest. We spend a lot of time hiking, backpacking, camping, and exploring with our dogs. There’s tons more in my Flickr photostream.

Our destination was Arch Canyon in the Cedar Mesa area west of Blanding. There’s a fantastic ruin at the mouth of the canyon we’d visited on a previous trip, and made a note to return for a longer hike up the canyon. We drove up Friday morning and hit the trail around noon.

The lower few miles of the trail are a multi-use two-track in the BLM, following an creek that appears to have regular springs providing regular water intermittently along its length. The canyon is gorgeous, full of interesting spires and rock formations.

There are several ruins scattered through the lower part of the canyon, some easily visible from the main trail.

Given our late start at this time of year, we hit our cut-off time for the day, and not knowing what was ahead, we camped about a mile below Texas Canyon, where the two-track ends at the BLM boundary.

The second day, we headed up the canyon. The forest turns to ponderosa pine as the trail approaches Texas Canyon, with a few good spots to camp near water. At the BLM boundary, the trail enters the Monti-La Sal National Forest and turns to a hiking trail (no motorized vehicles allowed). Cathedral Arch is visible from the end of the two-track, and Angel Arch is 15 or 20 minutes up the trail from there.

The trail continues wandering up the canyon among the ponderosa pines. Lazy, oversleeping bums that we are, we hit the trail pretty late. We made it as far as the junction with Butts Canyon, where we had lunch before heading back to camp. We didn’t make it to Keystone Arch, which is another two or three miles up Arch Canyon from Butts.

We packed up camp and headed back Sunday. While this isn’t a particularly long trail, there is so much to explore, I believe the trail guides’ claims that one could spend a week in this canyon. With lots of ruins and several side canyons, there is lots to see. We certainly plan to do a longer trip in the future and taking more time to explore.

See all our Arch Canyon photos from this trip on flickr.

Resources

• USFS: Arch Canyon Trail
• BLM Monticello Field Office: Hiking and Backpacking
• Book: Non-Technical Canyon Hiking Guide to the Colorado Plateau, Mike Kelsey
• Book: Utah’s Incredible Backcountry Trails, David Day
• Book: A Hiking Guide To Cedar Mesa, Peter Francis Tassoni
• Map: Grand Gulch, Cedar Mesa Plateau [BLM – Monticello Field Office] (National Geographic Trails Illustrated Map)