Whenever I think of Sycamore Canyon , a certain spot on the south end of the creek comes to mind. There's a little patch of moss in the dappled shade of an enormous sycamore, right at the creek's edge. The water pools in a calm place there, frosted with tiny, rich green water plants, and a few feet away the creek chatters musically to itself over big smooth boulders. When I came across this spot for the first time, I wanted nothing more than to lay down on that moss and just snuggle down there, hidden and comfy, till the end of the world

It's always a conflict, when there's a place you love that has every reason to be hugely popular but, for whatever reason, isn't. You want to share it with the world, but you want to keep it to yourself, too. We default to the generous impulse at Gateway to Sedona however, and we want others who love great hiking in unspoiled wild places to know about Sycamore Canyon .

Not that it's a big secret. It's Arizona's second-longest canyon, at 20 miles long and up to seven miles wide, stretching from south of Williams to just north of Clarkdale. But unlike more high-profile destinations, it's a little tricky to get to, and requires some commitment to really enjoy its solitude and breathtaking beauty, which easily compares to that of Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon. Minus the stores, cars and crowds.

Deep red sandstone cliffs and canyons, cool, shaded streams, cactus and pine forests, rattlesnakes and eagles, ruby sunsets that seem to emanate from the earth itself and the smell of juniper, wild roses and mossy rocks warming in the sun - a single afternoon in the Sycamore Canyon Wilderness area can yield all these experiences, in a more intimate scale than some of Arizona's other majestic outdoor extravaganzas.

Birders take note: if you have one hiking trip in you for the central Arizona area, this may be the one to take. Bald eagles nest here during the winter, and hummingbirds, woodpeckers, flycatchers, wrens and countless other bird species inhabit the canyon at various times of the year. Because the desert riparian environment is so rare and valuable in terms of providing food and shelter, it attracts an inordinate number of both migratory and year-round bird residents, and its remote location means there is very little in the way of human activity to disturb the tenants.