Possible shuttle hike rom Boynton to Loy THs

[gpsjoe]

Before I leave this topic I would like to share what I know about Boynton to Loy from my recent hike and a couple of hikes I did in 2007. Here are some things I can say for sure about doing a shuttle hike from the Boynton Canyon TH to the Loy Canyon TH.

I did 3 hikes and have GPS tracks for them.

1. Boynton’s Backyard to the saddle (2009)
2. Secret Canyon TH to a far point on Secret Mountain (2007)
3. Loy Canyon TH to Secret Cabin (2007)

A picture map of the three hikes shows a waypoint (N34 56.785 W111 53.256) titled Good Trail on the Secret Mountain hike. That point was the end of good trail on the 2007 hike from the Secret Mountain TH and after that it was meandering through dense vegetation as I continued on that hike.

When I did Boynton’s Backyard I had no idea I was so close (0.2 miles) to the trail I hiked in 2007 from the Secret Mountain TH. I found out after the Boynton’s Backyard hike when I dug into my old track files for Secret Mountain.

I combined these three tracks into one that goes from the Boynton TH to Loy TH and posted the track. I used the track editing capabilities built into Mapsource to do that. All of the track points were recorded by me except for the 0.2 mile segment that connects the saddle to the good trail waypoint and I am not sure if that 0.2 miles is a doable piece or a show stopper (for some of us at least). When I was at the saddle I did not think to look for ways to ascend the rather vertical rock faces there. I just was not thinking about that so the best I can say is I don’t know. The picture in the link does not show what is immediately to my right at the saddle where there may be a good approach.

The “good trail” waypoint is at about 200 feet higher than the saddle.

I will say that if you make it to the “good trail” waypoint then you are on easy street as you hike across Secret Mountain on good trail over relatively flat terrain. I would use my track for guidance because there are two sucker trails along the way that can mislead you.

The single track posted shows the hike to be about 13.5 miles with cumulative elevation around 3,000 feet so the numbers are quite reasonable for a shuttle hike. I’d guess the TH to TH drive is about 30 minutes, also reasonable. Do not think about using the higher Secret Mountain TH because the drive there is nasty and long.

I’ll be waiting for Vaporman’s report on the 0.2 mile segment to good trail. Anything higher than class 3 means I stay home.

[Vaporman]

Hmm, maybe though that looks like a 400ft elevation difference in Google Earth. I'm more of an endurance hiker and canyoneer these days... I've dove the regular Boyton Canyon but have yet to do Boyton's Backyard though it is on the list. I've also hike up Loy Canyon and south along Secret Mountain to a viewpoint that overlooked this right fork of Boyton, but from my memory I don't recall any easy spots down. Though I wasn't really looking, I was more just enjoying the amazing view. There's probably enough rocks I could throw some webbing around and just rappel to the saddle from the rim after hauling a 200ft rope for 10 miles.

Or it might be easier logistically once on top to trek north across Secret Mt to the 'neck' and drop into that left fork of Secret Canyon and hike the trail down Secret Canyon to its TH and then cross country towards Long Canyon and then hop on the Deadman Pass trail back to the Boynton TH.