Hiking Loy Canyon

Today was a very full day. We headed out for the trailhead for the Loy Canyon hike at 8:30 a.m. just as we had planned. We knew we had to drive nearly 10 miles out Hwy 525, a washboarded gravel and dirt road that shook up the truck and us, even at 10 or 15 miles an hour. By the time we set out on the hike, it was 10 a.m. The entire hike is 5 miles one way, and the last mile and a half are quite steep. We planned to do only part of the trail, since we also wanted to visit the Honanki and Palatki heritage sites to see the pictographs and Sinagua ruins.

Much of the trail was sandy and led through manzanita and pine forest, but with spectacular views of the surrounding red rock cliffs and formations. We hiked in 2.5 miles before turning around to head out. On the way out, we saw lots of fairly fresh scat along the trail, which a ranger later told us was probably coyote. Did I mention that a coyote strolled past our trailer yesterday?

Getting ready in the parking area

Cattle guard keeps the Hancock Ranch livestock inside.

Typical trail section. The trail crisscrossed a creek several times.

Happy hiker at our turnaround point.

When we got back to the truck, we grabbed our sandwiches and drove to the Honanki cultural site, which is maintained by Pink Jeep Tours. There we saw some rock art and large remnants of cliff house walls. There were no docents or interpretive signs (they want you to hire the Pink Jeep guides to take you around).

Then we drove to Palatki, where we had a 2 p.m. reservation. Here there are helpful guides to point out the many pictographs and petroglyphs, which include rock art left by all the cultures that have occupied this area, including the Sinagua, Yavapai, Hopi, and Apache, as well as possibly peoples from 12,000 B.C. Unfortunately there's also "historical graffiti" (anything the yokels marked on the rocks that's over 50 years old), sometimes overlaying the pictographs.

We actually got to climb into one of the cliff rooms to stand and look out at the same sights that must have greeted the eyes of the builders long ago.

View of the parking area at Palatki

These sites may have had religious or ceremonial significance. The striking red rock formations have been inspiring people for millennia. We did our share of oohing and ahhing. The buttes and towers with their colors and layers stand sentinel over the valleys, and it's hard not to find some significance in the formations.

On the way home, a sudden storm blew in and spattered us with rain briefly. The dark clouds were alight from behind as the setting sun framed them in bright rays. We saw a couple of birds in the little tree outside our window. One was crested, and the other looked like a small goldfinch.