Sycamore Rim Loop

Following up on my hike in last month’s column about the upper Sycamore Canyon Wilderness, this month I’ll cover the Sycamore Rim Loop, just east of Williams. I’d last hiked it just before the big Rafael Fire hit the area, so I went back to inspect the fire impact.

The best news is that on this trip the often dry Sycamore Falls was gushing with water, making for great photos, and everyone who saw it was in awe. “Awesome!” “great,” “wonderful,” were just some of the superlatives I heard people saying as they turned the corner and saw the falls.

The trail leads to Sycamore Creek at the top of the waterfall, where many people were posing for photos; the bottom of the falls is harder to access. The waterfall feeds the creek below.

With the recent rains moving water at a quick pace, a couple other smaller waterfalls appeared short distances from this big one.

Fire damage

Most of the trail was not impacted by the Raphael Fire, but some are as were. The worst burn area I saw was about a quarter mile from the Pomeroy Tanks trailhead. A couple trees were down on the trail, so you had to either go below them, literally over them, or climb up slope above them and down. I chose to go carefully down the lower part before coming back to the trail. You can still smell the burn in this area.

Some smaller burned areas on other portions made it hard to find the trail in spots.

There are five trailheads to the Sycamore Canyon Loop, which is in the upper Sycamore Canyon Wilderness. Signs at each trailhead warn hikers that there is a burn area ahead with hazardous conditions, including flooding, unstable soils, falling rocks and trees.

Spectacular beauty

The loop is just over 11 miles. The Pomeroy Tanks are clear natural water, filled with water lilies, frogs and fish. Unlike Aztec Peak there is not much climbing on this hike for those who stay on the trail, which rises from 6,700 to only 7,287 feet. However, the huge cliffs by the waterfall make this an even more popular area for rock climbers. I saw one of the climbers gripping the middle of a sheer cliff, evoking a scene out of the movie Cliffhanger.

Like at Aztec Peak, pines dominate the terrain. Alligator juniper and gambel oak are found at the upper reaches of Sycamore Canyon Loop. In the upper reaches, known as KA Hill, you can see the San Francisco Peaks and Garland Prairie.

Directions: From Flagstaff, exit I-40 at Garland Prairie Road (Exit 167), drive nine miles southeast on Forest Road 141, turn right on Forest Road 56 at the sign for the Rim Trail, and drive 1.9 miles to the trailhead.

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Sycamore Falls