Canyon of Fools a creepy and distorted gulch

Canyon of Fools might be the weirdest hike in Sedona.

Located in the Mescal Mountain cluster of trails northwest of town, the route’s keynote feature is a gnarly, halfmile walk through a red-earth labyrinth. Unlike other red-rock country hikes, this one ditches open-air, ooh-ahh vistas in favor of a cloistered trudge through a dirt tunnel.

The adventure begins within a few yards of the trailhead off Boynton Pass Road where the trail ducks into a serpentine gulch that morphs from a roomy corridor into a claustrophobic, high-walled canyon with tree roots protruding in arthritic tangles.

The rough-cut passage twists among flaking shelves of sandstone and side canyons sculpted into bizarre forms by running water and erosion. You’d earn the title of fool by trying to hike here during a rainstorm for you’d surely be swept away in a torrent of mud and debris.

The creepily distorted gulch is softened with a cap of wildflowers, grasses and familiar cypress-juniper woodlands. At several spots, mounds of decomposed sediments spill out like syrupy rivers of russet oatmeal, dividing the trail into easy and more difficult paths that loop around the debris and reconnect on the backside.

Once through the half-mile canyon section, the trail gradually opens into more conventional high-desert terrain where it meets the Yucca Trail junction. The massive landform directly ahead is Mescal Mountain. This is your first opportunity to consult a map to plan your return route as several trails that wend around the mountain’s base can be used to make loop hikes.

With the canyon portion of the trek behind you, head left and continue hiking over slickrock and edgy paths to where the route ends at Deadman’s Pass Trail. For an out-and-back trek, this is your turnaround point.

Otherwise, keep heading north into Red Rock Secret Canyon Wilderness and Boynton Canyon or swing right for a scenic walk over an exposed mesa before picking up a connecting path to loop back to the trailhead.

Length: 2.25 miles one way.

Rating: Easy.

Elevation: 4,440-4,640 feet.

Getting there: From the State Route 179/89A traffic circle in Sedona, go 3.2 miles west on SR 89A to Dry Creek Road. Turn right and go 2.8 miles on Dry Creek Road, veer left at the Long Canyon Road junction and continue 0.5 mile on Boynton Pass Road to the parking turnout on the right. A Red Rock Pass is not required at this trailhead.

Details: www.sedonaredrocktrails. org/ROGS/Canyon_of_Fools_Yucca.pdf.

PHOTOS BY MARE CZINAR Mescal Mountain can be seen along the Canyon of Fools hike in Sedona.

Roots protrude from the red dirt during the first part of the Canyon of Fools hike in Sedona.

Purple bird's-beak blooms from August through October in the Canyon of Fools.

An open yucca fruit in the Canyon of Fools in Sedona.