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.