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On a cloudy and somewhat cool day my Dad and I ventured out for another hike in Arizona. Instead of trekking through the hot and dry Sonoran desert we decided to try something a bit cooler with shade and water. The Parson's Spring Trail (#144) was perfect. This trail follows Sycamore Creek through Sycamore Canyon. It starts near where the creek feeds into the Verde River and heads up to Parson's Spring, passing Summer's Spring along the way. The guidebooks mention that during the summer months the stream is dry above Parson's Spring. Since it is now summer, we were surprised to find quite a bit of water above the spring. We assumed it was due to the large rainstorm the night before.
Trail Overview
The trailhead is on a plateau overlooking the Sycamore Canyon. The view is impressive as you look north, up into the canyon. Down below, about 200 feet, glimpses of the stream peek between the many trees that line the banks. From the trailhead you can hear water rushing over some rapids but you never see the source of that sound.
The trail descends immediately down into the canyon, dropping 200 feet in elevation in less than 1000 feet. Steps have been built into the trail to assist the descent and ascent. Right at the bottom of the trail, where it starts to level off, there is a side trail to the left. This leads to the Packard Trail which eventually connects back to the Parson's Spring Trail making a long loop.
The Parson's Spring Trail follows the flowing stream fairly closely. The dirt path snakes through the Sycamore trees and bushes that grow thickly along both banks of the stream. At one point a bunch of cattails pop up on the far side of the stream. Sometimes the trail hugs against the sheer canyon walls of red rocks. In fact, at one point the trail undercuts the towering cliffs. All along the way there are plenty of stunning views to keep most hikers happy.
The sign at the trailhead said that due to overuse, camping was prohibited in the canyon (up to the sixth stream crossing, after that camping is allowed). The scars of overuse are frequently visible with at least a dozen old fire rings scattered along the trail. Fortunately these things don't take from the beauty of the area substantially.
Our Experience
Before even going a mile we ran across the most unexpected vegitation: a watermelon patch. Off to the left of the trail, in a small clearing, the ground was covered with several patches of long, viney watermelon plants. Several of the plants have baby melons growing. It will be interesting to see if these manage to grow to an edible size. Our best guess is that some happy campers dumped their watermelon rinds and seeds here.
At one point the trail curves a bit to the right, away from the stream, and then back, while it follows a tiny tributary that breaks off from the main stream, makes a small loop, then rejoins the main flow. The water in this tributary was much clearer than the muddy stream so we stopped to admire the clearness of the water. Looking back in the direction we had just come we noticed that the water was flowing away from us. And then looking foward, up the trail, we noticed that the water was flowing away from us in that direction too. Water flowing in both directions isn't something you see everyday. Upon further inspection we discovered that the clear water was actually coming out of the ground there where we stopped. It is Summer's Spring. The water flows down from the spring to the main stream along two different paths.
After reaching the fifth stream crossing we knew that we were coming close to Parson's Spring. At this point the stream had cleared up quite a bit. The trail goes up on a small ridge on the west side of the stream then comes back down for the sixth crossing. While on this ridge we lost sight of the stream. At the point of the sixth crossing the stream was very muddy again. We're guessing that Parson's Spring is somewhere between the two crossings but we never did find it.
We went back to the fifth crossing point and had a nice lunch. The hike back was just as pleasant. Even the climb back out of the canyon was nice. Especially since we'd used up a lot of the water that we'd carried down into the canyon.
Three Dead Cows
Earlier in the week my Dad heard a news story on the radio. Apparently some crazy guy was camped in Sycamore Canyon. This guy had a problem with the cows that were grazing there so he was shooting them. On our hike we spotted three of these dead cows. One of the carcuses was less than 3 feet off of the trail. Very smelly and very disgusting. The other two that we spotted were down in the bottom of a gully.
Wrapup
Despite the dead cows and the climb out of the canyon, this trail was very enjoyable. I look forward to a chance to hike it again. This next time I might even try to follow the trail up above the sixth crossing and make a two day trip out of it.
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Hiking 
