Sycamore Canyon Route- Flagstaff AZ

ourwaytoroam

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Phoenix, AZ, USA
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Savannah
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We recently ran a really cool 3 day, 2 night route through Kaibab National Forest just south of Flagstaff, Arizona. We wanted to share because it turned into one of those trips that just keeps getting better the deeper you go.

One of the standout spots was Sycamore Point, which overlooks a massive section of the Sycamore Canyon Wilderness. The view out there is honestly mind-blowing. Much like the Grand Canyon, it's hard to absorb the scale of the canyon you're looking into. One of the best canyon overlooks we’ve seen anywhere in Arizona. There’s no camping directly at the point itself, but if you backtrack just a bit, there are some great dispersed sites where you still get incredible views.

On the way in, we stopped by JD Dam Lake, which was a nice surprise and a cool place to take a break before continuing on. We also did a short hike out to Sycamore Falls. The waterfall wasn’t flowing when we were there, but it was still absolutely worth it. The rock formations and the small canyon there are really unique and make for a great quick hike.

What really stood out about this entire area is just how much there is to explore. It feels endless, side roads, viewpoints, campsites… you could spend weeks out there and still not see it all.

This section is part of a larger route we put together for a Rugged Adventure with OnX that runs over 100 miles, starting down in Chino Valley outside Prescott and ending up at I-40 just outside Flagstaff. If you’re looking for a solid multi-day adventure, this one is definitely worth checking out:
We’ve put together a route folder with the exact track we drove day-by-day along with all our waypoints. You can download it here if you want to go explore it for yourself: onX Offroad

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Yeah Sycamore Point is wonderful. Too bad there was a fire on the south rim a few years ago. I lived on top of Sycamore Canyon for about 35 years. Helped many hikers near the Bear protected wilderness area that got stranded there. The local sheriff department left it to me and my GSD as we hiked there every morning for about 9 miles. They would just call me to go get them. Not
Many trees that I have not touched. Haha. Glad you liked my backyard.
 
Yeah Sycamore Point is wonderful. Too bad there was a fire on the south rim a few years ago. I lived on top of Sycamore Canyon for about 35 years. Helped many hikers near the Bear protected wilderness area that got stranded there. The local sheriff department left it to me and my GSD as we hiked there every morning for about 9 miles. They would just call me to go get them. Not
Many trees that I have not touched. Haha. Glad you liked my backyard.
What an incredible area to live! We are very jealous that you'd get to hike Sycamore Canyon every morning. We day hiked to Taylor Cabin from Casner Mnt Trailhead and it was a lot of elevation loss/gain. Definitely a difficult hike. We can see how hikers could get into trouble out there. The fire in 2021 took out most of the trail, so we were doing a lot of route-finding. Definitely sounds like you were the local expert and SAR team for the Sheriff's Department! Not a bad job haha.