GENE PERRET'S WIT STOP

hik teemanth Hiking Long, Thin SARDINE CANYON Reveals Why an Old Rancher NEVER WANTED TO LEAVE IT

SARDINE CANYON IN THE high desert north of Clifton delivers something for everyone. But not everyone will take to everything Sardine Canyon offers.

Long and thin, like the sliver of a fish it was named for, Sardine Canyon wriggles slightly more than 6 miles through the ApacheSitgreaves National Forests to 50-foot Sardine Falls. Along the way, the gorge offers exquisite scenery. Trouble is, you have to work hard to see some of it.

Everyone would enjoy the Sardine Canyon Trail's first couple of miles, though. The route drops into the canyon on an old dirt road that rancher Alfred Noah used half a century ago to drive in and out. The road ends in a half-mile at a corral on the canyon floor, where a singletrack trail takes off.

Noah lived in the palm of the canyon on a piece of land handed down to him from his brother, Herman. The brothers had built themselves a comfortable little ranch where cows lolled around wooded creek banks and peach and apple orchards. Covered and coral Indian paintbrushes clinging to mossy walls oozing with seeps. In winter, a hiker could encounter snow. Relatively flat and easy to follow, this section of the trail makes an ideal day hike. Unfortunately, the canyon just couldn't seem to hold onto the rest of the trail before flood waters washed it away. By mile 1.8, when the canyon makes a sharp bend north and a side canyon branches to the south, the original trail all but disappears; and the options for continuing to Sardine Falls don't appeal to everyone.

The easiest and safest choice is the 6.2mile trail being re-engineered by the Forest Service that climbs more than 1,000 feet above the canyon floor. Opening to highcountry vistas, the path leaves the floor just past an alcove on the north side of the canyon, at mile 1.8, and follows a ridgeline in a pine-juniper forest to Sardine Falls. The waterfall cascades down to the bouldered canyon bottom and swirls in pools before continuing on to join the San Francisco River. Minerals in the water turn the ruddy rock of the canyon to a moody gray color.

But if you want to see where old Alfred Noah lived, and experience the raw beauty of the canyon that kept him there, you can continue into the canyon and take the trail he did-if you can find the few traces of it that remain.

This 3.6-mile route, which clambers over bedrock pocked with pools before barging through thickets, will challenge even experienced hikers. It squeezes through a narrows with stormy gray walls hardly a dozen feet apart that amplify the sound of a cascade to that of thunder. It edges along curls of rock crowned with spires and pinnacles, then charms its way into wooded sections where bears leave brawny paw prints.

Benches and a stone house kept the Noahs safe from the elements.

After Herman died, Alfred remained in Sardine Canyon. He packed his fruit harvest onto the back of a burro, transported it on the trail from his ranch to his truck, sold the fruit in town, bought his supplies, then moseyed back to his canyon home. The corral on the canyon floor served as a garage for his truck.

From the corral, the path follows the drainage along erosion-chewed creek banks. The trail rock-hops across icy mountain water that starts its flow at about mile 1, and past springtime colonies of monkey flowers clustered along slabs of red-tinged bedrock, yellow columbines A long day will take you to Noah's ranch and back, but a hike to the falls will require an overnight backpack. If you do spend a couple of days in Sardine Canyon, you will understand why the old rancher never wanted to leave. AH To enjoy this hike with the Friends of Arizona Highways, contact the organization at (602) 7122004. The number of participants will be limited.