The Y, Slide Canyon, Maple Flat, Mother Luna's Nose

I’ve been interested in hiking up to Maple Flat for some time. I’m glad the weather held out long enough that I could make it up there this year. Looking at the map there was clearly some GPS weirdness on that first switchback. Anyway, the trail to the Y is not that interesting – although what was interesting is that they have widened it to a road since I last hiked to the Y 13 or 14 years ago. However, once you cross into Slide Canyon the trail becomes very interesting (maybe because it was new to me). Maple Flat is such an incredible location. It would be a great place to camp. And I’m sure it would be awesome in early summer when it is all green or in fall when the colors are exploding. I stopped briefly to find a geocache before setting out for Mother Luna’s Nose after another geocache . Mother Luna’s Nose (see the link to the cache page for more details) is a worthy destination in and of itself. On the way there are a lot of interesting weathered rock formations. At the tip of the nose you find yourself peering over a cliff edge more than 2000 feet down into the bottom of Slate Canyon. Beautiful!