Bob's Journal: November 2015

Thursday the 19th, we drove to Sedona, Arizona, a distance of 490 miles. Lorie graciously let us stay in her new second home there. We would be joined by Cousin Sue and Paul two days later for a fun get together and spectacular hiking.

We took a little walk in the neighborhood, and were astounded by this mansion with its own observatory! Lorie picked quite the neighborhood! We noticed a complete lack of streetlights, and stoplights in the area which made for great star viewing. We were excited to see bats as well.

Right up the street from Lorie's, about two blocks, is the Mystic Trail, which makes about a two hour loop. We hit the trail Friday morning just as it started to get light.

The whole Sedona area is covered by a web of well maintained trails.

Nights were cool, in the thirties, but when the sun shined, it was about perfect.

As the sun rose, the famous red rocks and earth came to life.

Amazing land forms in all directions.

We saw many Western Bluebirds in the conifers.

There are long patches of "slickrock" on the sides of the formations.

Morning light in the distance.

Coming around the bend, not far from Lorie's home.

Later on Friday, we set out to find the location of a landscape painting Gail had found in a thrift shop. This is it! That's Oak Creek with Cathedral Rock in the background.

We hiked up the area along the creek and were dazzled by the turning leaves, streams, blue sky, and multicolored rocks.

This might be one of Sedona's famous "vortex" areas, judging by the number of stacked rocks, which were everywhere.

And I mean everywhere!

I left my mark with this stack!

We enjoyed these two discretely arranged stacks.

More!

There was a canal running to this waterwheel which was used to pump water to high ground.

Our next stop was to do the hike up Cathedral Rock to the crotch in the middle of the picture.

As the sun sank, the colors intensified.

On the top of the gap, we could see over the other side.

This raven was carrying something to the small holes in the sheer cliffs.

Pictures don't express the scale and steepness of it all. Gail holding onto a bush here.

Looking out to the west.

This sign marked a sheer drop-off.

One last look before heading down.

Looking back up at Cathedral Rock we saw toes!

We hiked almost until dark along this perimeter trail.

Sunset glow on the red rocks of Sedona.

Saturday morning, we drove up a Forest Service Road until it became too rough, and hiked in and up to Devil's Bridge (it would be fun to list all the devil's landmarks in the U.S.!). This is the bridge from above.

And this is it from below. All day long people come to this "bridge" and walk across it, dangle their legs off it, and do stupid poses.

You can see two people with outstretched arms on that overhang next to the bridge. Gail and I were just fine seeing it from below!

Cool sculpturing below the bridge.

More angles of this improbable formation.

We hiked back down to the Forest Service Road, and followed it up to the Secret Canyon trail head.

We loved this trail! It was secluded, didn't allow bikes, and we felt like we could see wildlife at any minute.

We watched these woodpeckers, a Red-naped Sapsucker, I believe.

We never got tired of marveling at the red formations.

Around 6 PM, Sue and Paul arrived. We plotted a hike for Sunday, the next day.

We decided on the Sterling Pass trail, which would lead us to Vultee Arch. It was cold and drizzly - a real change from the days before.

The yellow leaves dazzled.

The obligatory head in the monster's mouth shot.

We paused for lunch near the top of the pass after a very steep climb.

Sue hanging onto a tree.

There were some New England moments!

The forest was quite a contrast to our previous hikes in the dry sandstone areas.

We finally came to Vultee Arch. The arch is named for Gerard Vultee and his wife whose plane crashed nearby during a snowstorm in 1938, killing them both. Vultee was a very successful aircraft designer and builder.

Looking down from the arch at this rock formation where a brass plaque commemorates the Vultees.

A hiker perched on the arch.

Heading back up the pass.

And looking back down the way we came up. There was a touch of sleet coming down.

Monday, we took a ten mile loop around the Cathedral Rock area. We had snowflakes falling throughout the day, but not much was sticking.

Oak Creek had risen quite a bit since a couple days earlier.

See those snowflakes? There were practically no other hikers on the trail and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Gail took these artistic shots of snow on tree.

Another storm pulse coming.

Javelina tracks! We saw these in numerous places, including near Lorie's. If you want to see Javelinas with a real Sedona ambiance, check out this link - it will crack you up!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtqMXW1pIv0

Oak Creek running high.

Cathedral Rock in the mist, and Red Rock Crossing in the foreground.

The trail had some very steep sections. People ride bikes down this!

We stopped for lunch and huddled under some shrubs.

Tuesday dawned cold but clear. We took a break from hiking and went into town to shop at the little stores at Tlaquepaque. This beautiful complex was designed to imitate a town of the same name in Mexico.

Then in the afternoon we took one last hike around the Mystic Trail loop.