September 2013 -A green Fall in Sedona

We went to Sedona for 2 weeks starting on September 18th and stayed at Arroyo Roble unit 1102. On the way to Sedona we noticed that everything looked much greener in the desert than any other fall trip to Arizona.  The "monsoon" rain storms they had during the previous month really helped the plants.

Our Sunnyvale friends, Nancy Lunetta and Kay Coen came for a few nights, and Phoenix friends Nancy Rieckhoff and Mark Mann came for Friday and Saturday night.  Elaine and the three ladies found lots of bargains, and Mark and I did a few fun hikes.

My first hike was up Wilson Canyon -- the trail starting at Midgley Bridge which is just a few miles up Route 179 from our timeshare. (Link to Trail Description)  Elaine and I had done the hike before part way.  Then a few years later,  Bill and I did it all the way to the top.  This time there seemed to be more water in the creek (that you have to criss-cross back and forth over.  I was surprised to see that someone had placed a "trails end" sign at a nondescript location, very close to the spot that is the attraction at the end.  I have the impression that the Forest Service, or trail builders want everyone to stop.  However why would we stop there when there is such a wonderful view of spires and back the canyon just up a short hill?  I think they need to extend the "official trail" up to the first hill and then put "end of trail sign" there.  Because there is no "official trail" -- everyone makes their own and causes considerable damage, wear & tear on the environment.  There were also a surprising amount of wildflowers for a fall hike.  Here are some photos

Here is a .kml file that you can download and open using Google Earth.  If you then go to maximum magnification you will be able to simulate a "personal drone" tracking my path along the trail  It was my first attempt at using "My Tracks" and I started when I left the timeshare and drove to the trailhead.

The next day while Elaine went to garage sales with Nancy Lunetta and Kay Coen, I drove up Oak Creek Canyon a little further --almost to Slide Rock State Park, near the Manzanita Campground, and parked near the trailhead for Sterling Pass.  I hiked up through Sterling Pass, and back down the other side to Vultee Arch.  Then, of course I had to hike back up through the pass again and back to the trailhead.  It was quite a climb.  A lot of the pass trail was on the North side of ridges, and were cooler and wetter.  There were a lot of different wildflowers.  Here are some photos from the hike:

Here, again, is a .kml file that you can open with Google Earth and track every step of my hike as if you were in a personal drone overhead.

Here are some photos from Nancy & Kay's short visit:

Mark Mann and I hiked a little bit of the Sedona Airport Trail (Hike Description),  the Airport Vortex hill,  and then hiked the Soldier's Pass trail past Devil's Kitchen, the Seven Sacred Pools (all had water), up to the rim of Brinn's Mesa and then returned.  The next day we went to Clarkville with them (to an importer from Indonesia) and then to Red Rock Crossing.  Here are some photos from their visit:

On Monday, Elaine dropped me off at the Doe Mountain trailhead parking lot, and I crossed the road to the Bear Mountain Trail -- one of the highest peaks in the area (Link to Description).  Here are photos from that hike:

Here is the Google Earth kml file to take the virtual hike.  Note I forgot to stop the "recording" until after Elaine picked me up and we had driven a little bit -- so no, I didn't hike at 45 mph.

While on the Sterling Pass hike, I met a group of hikers that told me that everytime they visit Sedona they take the "Little Horse" trail from the Chapel--and thought it was one of the highlights of their visit.  I looked it up and the trail that starts at the Chapel is "The Chapel" trail --but it connects to the Little Horse Trail. (Here's another description) So Elaine and I did hike the Chapel trail...and it was very beautiful.  Good views looking towards Cathedral Rock, Views south to Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte, and views looking up at the amazing rock formations.  I thought it was labeled an "easy" hike, but after we completed it I found out that other sites call it a moderate difficulty hike.  Not much overall climb--but lots of up & down.
Here are our photos:

Cathedral Rock Climb to the Top I had always heard there was a way to hike to the top of Cathedral Rock, (link to map) but had never explored that option.  On previous trips we took the trail from the trailhead off "Back 'O Beyond" down to Red Rock Crossing, and saw the trail to the top of Cathedral Rock --but never had the time to do it.  This time I went up on a beautiful day, took my time, plenty of water and snacks and really enjoyed the hike and the views.  A Japanese guy went up the trail when I went up and he was carrying a case with a lute.  He sat and played up at the top and his music echoed off all of the spires. The music seemed to come from everywhere.
Here are some photos:




Brins Mesa Overlook Trail  Elaine dropped me off at the Jordan Road trailhead  (map) and I hiked to the rim of the mesa.  I then took a little used trail to the top of the ridge on the South side of the mesa.  From the top of that ridge I could see all of Sedona, and look down on Soldier's pass trail.  I could see jeeps parked at the "7 Sacred Pools" location.  There was no clear trail marking, so I did get a little lost.  Fortunately, I had the "my tracks" app running (see this track on Google Earth)  and I was able to see that I wasn't going down the mountain the same way I came up --and was able to recover the trail.  Then after coming down from that ridge, I went to the overlook on the North side that Bill helped me find several years ago.  It was an easy walk across the broad mesa winding through the juniper trees.  After I got to the overlook, I also explored a couple of alcoves down below.   They were difficult to get to--and were big holes -- but nothing really special.  The view from the top, however was fabulous!

Here are my photos from the trail

Little Horse Trail  Elaine and I hiked the little horse trail --from the trailhead along rt 179. (Link to kml trail file)  Was a fairly easy hike --when walking, however there were quite a few trail bike riders on the trail.  It looked to us that it would be a little challenging for bikes --but certainly a fun ride.

Here are our photos

Wilson Mountain Trail
Elaine dropped me off at the Encinoso Picnic area, which was the trailhead for the "North" trail to Wilson Mountain.  I ended up hiking about 11 miles and up and down about 2000 ft in elevation and went to the Sedona overlook and the Brin's Canyon overlook.  (Here's link to the kml file that can be viewed on google maps or Google Earth ) I came down the "Southern" trail and met Elaine at Midgley Bridge.  Here are photos:

April 2013 -- Spring in Sedona

Spring 2013 we came to Sedona from April 15-29 (Monday to Monday) and stayed in Arroyo Roble unit 1113. We left home a day early and spent a night in Prescott, a route we had not taken for several years.  We were amazed at the continued growth of the Prescott area.  We stayed at a very nice Hampton Inn, and did a couple of short hikes in the area.  We were also impressed with their efforts to build a first-class trail system.  Here's link to their trails map.  Here's a link to photos from our day in Prescott:   Photos of Prescott Trails

Elaine on bench along the Prescott Lakes Trail

The first couple of days in Sedona were relatively cool.  In fact on the second day, we had snow flurries.  The snow flurries almost looked like the cottonwood that continually falls this time of year.   The rest of the two weeks had weather perfect for hiking in the morning, and going for a swim in the afternoon. We had no guests stay with us, for a change, so it seemed very quiet.  Elaine and I did a few hikes, and I did a few others where Elaine dropped me off, and I had the luxury of "one way" hiking.

Teacup Trail

My first hike by myself was the Teacup Trail. (Link to Professional Description) Here's link to photos from the Teacup trail. .  In general, it goes around the base of Coffee Pot Rock, and was pretty easy, but beautiful.  There were bicycles on the trail, but would be too tough for me to do --even on a really good trail bike. .

The beginning of the trail -- no markings other than the street intersection

A good view of Coffee Pot rock from the trail

Elaine and I  went to the V-Bar-V Heritage site (Link to the web site) on the East side of I-17 at the Sedona route 179 exit.  Here's a link to those photos.    The petroglyphs were the best I've seen, and the excellent docents there provided interesting explanations and theories about what the petroglyphs meant.

V-Bar-V Petroglyph area and Docent

 On our wayback from the V-Bar-V, we wen to lunch at Mongo's --a new Mongolian Barbecue place in Village of Oak Creek.

Carroll Canyon Trail

On "Garage Sale Saturday" Elaine dropped me off at the Carroll Canyon trailhead at the West end of Sedona below the High School, and I hiked up to the town and connected with the "Old Post" trail. (Reverse of this trail description link)  I looked for the Arch shown on the map, but couldn't find it.  I may have gotten confused by multiple "unofficial" trails.  Met Elaine at the park after the sales. Here's link to photos from that hike 

Looking up from bottom of Carroll Canyon

Elaine and I did the Andante Trail (Link to Map) from the trailhead to the Stupa.  It was an easy trail since we were rehabilitating Elaine's knee.  Beautiful day & great scenery..  See my photos

View North along Andante Trail

 For lunch we went to Tortas del Fuego,  a new small Mexican restaurant across from the Red Planet restaurant.  We tried their wet carne asada burrito, and their chicken tostada -- both were huge, and delicious!  The small restaurant is very crowded, and the place has almost no parking.  People park next door, and across the street.  

Marg's Draw Trail

View along Marg's Draw Trail

Elaine dropped me off at the Marg's Draw trailhead -- behind the Circle K on Rt 179, and I hiked the trail under "Snoopy Rock" over to Schnebley Hill Road trailhead. It is only 5 minutes from our timeshare.  Here's link to trail description.  From there, I looked for a way to get down to Oak Creek where I could cross over to our timeshare at Arroyo Roble.  There were several good trails -- but they ended up dead end on posted property.  I finally found what appeared to be an abandoned trail--heavily overgrown, and eroded in places.  Was able to get down to creek and cross on a log where Elaine was reading by the creek. Here's a link to photo Album 

Sign where trail from Circle K trail head meets the main Marg's Draw trail

Broken Arrow Trail to Submarine Rock

On Thursday, Elaine and I hiked the Broken-Arrow trail to Submarine Rock. Here's a link to the trail description.

That is Submarine Rock in background --on left side

We had not hiked this trail since one of our first visits to Sedona.  We went up on the trail, and came back on the jeep road.  While standing on the top of the Submarine rock, my pith helmet hat got caught by a sudden gust of wind and flew away down the huge rock --out of sight.  I spent an hour looking through the rock crevices and around the base of the rock in ever-widening circles down wind, but never found the hat!  At the bottom of the rock there was no wind!  Here's a link to our photos of the hike

Damfino Loop Trail

On Friday, Elaine dropped me off at the Huckaby Trail head off Schnebly Hill Road (at the end of the paved portion) and I did a trail called the "Damfino Loop Trail".  Here's a link to a good description.  I found out that it was named in the early 1900s when a tourist asked a highway worker where the canyon was, and the worker said "Damn if I know!"

View along the way to the start of the trail

I took this trail guide with me in my iPod, and I was glad I did.  I had to refer to it several times to find the trail. There were lots of shelves where there was no sign of a trail.  There were also places where a single trail evolved into mulitiple trails going in several directions.  It was difficult to find the right one.  Here's a link to a map   On the map it looks like a nice circle -- but it was one of the steeper trails I've been on in the Sedona area--both up and down!   Here's a link to my photos of the hike.
Elaine dropped me off around 8:30 in the morning and picked me up at 11:15, and I took it slow on the steep trail where it was slippery, and took lots of breaks to look at scenery.  Did not see one person the whole time on the trail.  Most of the time could not hear any man-made noise.  A nice morning hike!  Lots more wildflowers on this relatively undisturbed area.