Sycamore Canyon Wilderness Backpacking Trip, Sedona, Arizona
Sycamore Canyon Wilderness is a great Wilderness Area to check out if you’re looking for some solitude and to get away from the crowds of Sedona. Mike and I decided to make our visit there an overnight backpacking trip. I would have liked to have done a longer trip, but there was no reliable water source when we went in the late fall and with a recent large wildfire in the area, we were unsure if the water would even be safe to drink. So we settled on an overnight where we’d just carry all of our water. To make the most of it, we decided to do a car shuttle so that we could make it a thru hike instead of an out and back. We parked one car at the Dogie Trailhead where we would end and both hopped in the other car to park at the Parsons Trailhead, north of Cottonwood.
This trail immediately started descending to Sycamore Creek where we crossed the stream to head up Packard Trail. The steepest and most tiring part of the trail was from the creek up to the top of Packard Mesa. It had no cover from the sun, was a steep climb, and we did it when our packs had two days worth of water in them. The views looking north of Sycamore Canyon made it worth it though.
After a while, the trail leveled out more and we were walking along a mesa with some trees and enough bushes nicknamed “cat’s claw” to last a lifetime. I really regret wearing shorts that day. My legs ended up looking like they got, well, clawed by multiple cats. During this part of the hike, there are multiple social trails that braid back and forth, and it’s unclear what the official trail is. We briefly exited the wilderness area and passed Sycamore tank, but were soon back in the wilderness on the Sycamore Basin Trail again.
After some time, we finally started descending towards Sycamore Creek and started seeing signs of where there was a wildfire. Blackened trees and burned shrubs were a common sight. We knew we were going to want to camp somewhere in the area, but we weren’t looking to camp in a recent burn area incase a rainstorm surprised us and brought a flash flood along with it.
When the trail intersected the Dogie Trail, we turned onto the trail and crossed Sycamore Creek. It was very difficult to find the trail on the east side of the creek with a lot of overgrown vegetation. We found ourselves on a game trail for a moment and saw a big bear footprint in the sand. We started walking more quickly. Once we got out of the immediate creek bed, we started looking for a campsite as this side of the creek clearly hadn’t burned. We found a well established site and decided to set up camp for the night. As it frequently seems to go when backpacking, we hadn’t seen a single person all day, but another group of backpackers made camp in the creek bed not too far away. Camping directly in the creek bed didn’t seem the wisest to me, but they had luck on their side as it didn’t rain.
I was glad we brought all of our water that we would need as the water in Sycamore Creek at this point was poop brown. Our filter would have been clogged in the first 1/2 liter. We had a nice dinner of steak sandwiches (it felt luxurious compared to the dehydrated meals we are used to). We ended up sleeping the whole night without the rain fly on and could see the stars whenever we opened our eyes. Parts of the Milky Way were also visible, and we were reminded of how small we are.
Thankfully, the bear who left a print not too far away didn’t make an appearance that night and we had a restful night. After some granola for breakfast, we headed up Dogie Trail to the trailhead where we left our first car the day before. This trail was much prettier than I was expecting with great views most of the way. We passed a set of hunters that hadn’t had any luck. Our hike out that morning was only 5 miles and 900 vert so we made it back to the car by lunchtime and treated ourselves to Thai food in Cottonwood for lunch.
Overall, it was a wonderful trip that we had mostly to ourselves. The wilderness area truly felt like wilderness where we were just visitors for a fleeting moment. I believe where we went was probably some of the more well trafficked areas of the Sycamore Canyon Wilderness, and with how overgrown the “busy” trails were, I’m sure if we had gone further into it, we would really feel like we were in a remote area and would be struggling to find signs of human trails. It’s an area I’d love to go back to and explore further at a time of year when there’s a more reliable water source.
Day 1 stats: 11.9 miles, 1800 vert.
Day 2 stats: 5 miles, 900 vert.
Overall stats: 16.9 miles, 2700 vert.
