We’ve all heard of Mission Creep. Well, the same thing can happen out on the trail. A relatively short simple loop trail keeps growing and growing and pretty soon, you’re tired. Today the goal was to hike the Brins Mesa and Soldier’s Pass trail then we added the CaveTrail then the Overlook Trail and finally the Jordan Trail - well, you get the picture.
And, off we went. Brin’s Mesa is a long uphill slog and tackling that first in a counter-clockwise loop is not fun. We learned that the hard way in 2010 when we first hiked this loop. Big Mistake. In 2011 we hiked clockwise and headed up the shady, treed Soldier’s Pass and went down Brins. Today we also went clockwise but had heard about a Soldier’s Pass Cave trail and wanted to try this also. See, trail creep. We had seen these caves long ago on a previous hike but had not known that we could hike up to them. This time they were part of the goal.
But, we didn’t know where the Cave Trail branched off from the Soldier’s Pass Trail and we hiked right by it, about 1/2 mile. Finally we realized we must have missed it, turned around and headed back. We looked and looked but finally a hiker from Bulgaria who is visiting Sedona told us. He had talked with an author of a Sedona hiking book who had pointed out the trail to him. He pointed it out to us and actually accompanied us for a bit. It wasn’t the most heavily traveled spur but we found 2 people coming down as we headed up. Rocky, steep and overgrown are good words to describe this trail. But we found the caves and enjoyed the view out from them.
Back to original trail and up and over Soldier’s Pass to Brins. A ways along the Brins Trail we found another smaller trail which branched off and headed to an overlook. Trail creep again. At the overlook, not only did we find this neat tree (what is it that compels people to put rocks in a dead tree?) but also a view across Sedona and the flat airport mesa to the mountain ranges in the shadows beyond. Well worth a bit of trail creep.
As we traveled across the highlands that is Brins Mesa, we saw the effects of a fire that ravaged this area several years ago, started by an illegal, untended campfire. I took a picture of the sign describing this fire. Not how fast it grew. You can see how fast the fire burned each of its 5 days and its growth through the backcountry of Sedona.
The charred tree trunks were ghostly against the sky but new brush is growing and flowers abound along the trail.
We finished Brins but instead of taking the shorter Cibola Trail back, we took Jordan Trail back. Trail creep again.
At the end we found the Devil’s Kitchen, an area which was created by the collapse of gigantic underground caverns in the red limestone walls in the 1850’s. In 1989, the huge red chunk in the back fell, increasing the size of the sinkhole until it is now 150’ by 92’ and is about 40 - 60’ deep.
Finally we arrived back at our car. About time. Ah, don’t let me kid you, it was a fun hike and we’ll probably do it again if we spend time in Sedona.
7.3 1542,
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