GetTheFunOut

If there is one defining image of the Prescott landscape, it is the jutting Thumb Butte that watches over town and provides a beautiful foreground for sunsets (as well as an amazing vantage point from which to watch sunsets).  Like most of the Prescott wild, Thumb Butte is very accessible and crisscrossed with hiking and biking trails.  While this is the most obvious, and perhaps easily accessed trail, it can still provide a great workout as the main trial has over 500' in total elevation gain in its 2-mile round-trip loop.

This weekend I decided to escape to Sedona for an invigorating hike alone in the serene beauty of the red rocks.  Before leaving I jumped on AllTrails.com to pick a destination, with length and novelty being a priority.  The trail listed as "Schnebly Hill Trail to Seven Sacred Pools," coming in at a lengthy 13 miles sounded like a winner.  Because, really, who can say no to not one, not two, but SEVEN SACRED POOLS??!!  I had never been there, but luckily the AllTrails app included Google Maps coordinates so I expected to be able to navigate from point A to point B with ease. 

Here's the thing about the Walnut Canyon Rim Trail...I'm not actually sure if I was on the Walnut Canyon Rim Trail.  None of the roads, parking lots, trailheads, or trails were well marked and none of the names matched up with what I saw when I read about the trail.  Further complicating things is the similarly-named Walnut Canyon National Park/monument/forest/whatever it specifically is.  One of those trails is supposed to be about 12 miles, the other is about .3 miles, and the internet doesn't do a good job of distinguishing between the two.   Until I can confirm where I was, what the trail actually does, and how to get there, I don't want to spread misinformation.  I assume I was on the Walnut Canyon Rim Trail, but I'll have to revisit to confirm. Here are the photos from wherever I was in the Flagstaff area -  Photos