Sedona - Damifino Casner Canyon Munds Loop

Rating	*****
length	8 mile - 4 hours 15 minutes (round trip). Moderate, need some experience.
Height	4490 - 5990 feet
Access	Take Schnebly Hill road up to the cow pie trail head. The last part of this road is rough and rocky and is normally for high clearance cars only. (but we saw some regular cars make it all the way.)
Other Trails
Data	To download these files, right-click the link and choose 'save as' |--| GPX (GPS file) |-----| KML (Google Earth file)

Back

Views Views, this is one of the best hikes in town.

Take the Cow Pie trail head and go strait on leaving the Cow Pies to the left.
They are much better viewed, on the return of this loop.
After a short climb go left and stay mostly on the same level. The path may be a bit challenging at times as the trail sometimes is more than 45 degrees off.
Look at the pictures to get an idea where your are going. To the saddle like Mitten ridge. Climb it on the right side.
Up there it looks quite a problem to go down.
The trail leads to the right and stays almost on the same level for a long time.

At point "I Up" the scariest part, you best go a bit uphill first and than go level again. That way as you slip, you don't slide down more than 500 feet.
Going around the mountain, it all looks less steep and there is a good place to go further down. Look for cairns as the trail becomes a real trail again.
Going down into the canyon you can see the Grasshopper parking lot on the left.
That is also a starting point, the only problem is you have to cross Oak Creek first.

At the bottom of the canyon another trail appears. Go right uphill on the Casner Canyon trail.

Hiking time: 40 Min to Mitten Ridge (point G). 1 Hour to the crossing with Casner Canyon.
On this part, you want some leg and arm protection. So no shorts.
The trail goes uphill and becomes a steep trail closer to the end and the scrubs block the trail at some points.
Crossing a fence and after about 200 yards to trail bends to the right.
From this point on the trail goes mostly south. But it isn't really a trail, just follow the cairns.
The trail runs more or less parallel to the rim that is still too far away to be seen.
You can see and hear the cars as you near the road at the Vista point.
Normally a very busy place with a lot of tour jeep.
There is no trail sign at the vista point.

Take the dirt road downhill, this is the bad part of the loop. Not for the views but for the traffic.
Passing the parking of Munds Wagon Trail, the trail head is on the right side of the road and is well marked.
Take the Munds Wagon Trail all the way back to the car.

Please do not follow the GPS blindly, the route may be off, sometimes more than 100 Yards. So use your common sense.
The trail, if there is any is actually good and maintained.
Normal rule on this hike is stay on the same level most of the time.
The trail may be faint or non existing at times, try to find a cairn.
This hike is for experienced hikers only and may be dangerous at times.
You can go a long way down as it is rather steep at some places.
Best not hiked after rain or when there is snow or ice.
And on a hot day the hike is rather exposed.







Disclamer: Read this first before you start your hike.
Contact: usa/at/e/f/m/e/r/.eu (leave out the /)
All hikes recorded on pocket loox (pocket PC) using gpsTuner(.com)
Hiking Damifino Casner Canyon Munds Loop Sedona Arizona, Hike with gps, gpx and kml (Google Earth).