Trailblazers for the Skunk Canyon to Fisher Point Hike. [photo by Li]

Anna, Stan, Ron, Lisa, Michael, Li, Tom].

Skunk Canyon is one of several canyons south of Flagstaff, accessed from Lake Mary Road and running east to Walnut Canyon. Starting from an alternate trailhead, our group of seven hikers headed through the forest towards Skunk Canyon.

Forest in Skunk Canyon . [photo by Ron]

The temperature was already in the mid 80’s heading towards the low 90’s. It was nice having shade, but less than a mile later we were entering the trail running down the canyon, which is fully exposed to the sun

Here we go into Skunk. [photo by Li]

Skunk is shallow and wide. [photo by Li]

The canyon is shallow, wide and gently downhill. We followed an old road for part of the way. There is one area where the canyon narrows significantly, and it was shady. We appreciated the cooler temperatures

Narrow parts have shade. [photo by Ron]

At the junction with the Arizona Trail, we left Skunk and were in Walnut Canyon. At that point we decided to not climb to Fisher Point and instead visited the shallow cave directly below the Point. The Az trail is a no camping zone from here to north of Flagstaff.

Junction with the Az trail. [photo by Ron]

First cave. [photo by Ron]

Some sun gets in the back of the cave. [photo by Ron]

After a break and pictures, Micheal led us down Walnut Canyon to visit another cave and enjoy the canyon. Entering this cave gave us a real break from the heat, as the temperature fell dramatically

This cave has a high ceiling. [photo by Li]

Plenty of room for everyone. [photo by Ron]

We continued down the canyon for another half mile. It is pretty and there were flowers

Spider on the flower. [photo by Li]

Flowers. [photo by Ron]

But the day was getting hotter. We turned around and headed back to Skunk with the sun directly over us. We had a 4.8 mile hike to the trailhead and we knew the temperature was probably 90 degrees or more. On the way back we left the middle of Skunk Canyon and took a parallel trail, the Flagstaff Loop Trail, that gave us intermittent shade. It really helped with the heat and so did my cool cloth and Li’s very cold water. Some of us then went to lunch at Beaver Street Brewery, while others left for home. Thanks to Lisa for scouting out the alternative trailhead.

Entering the protected part of Walnut. [photo by Li]