April 2014 in Sedona

In April, we stayed in unit 1101 at Arroyo Roble, at the "upstream end" of Old Creekside.  Carol Pennell joined us for a few nights at the beginning of the 2 weeks.

On Friday,  Elaine dropped me off at the Airport Road Trailhead, and I did the loop around the airport mesa.  We have done the trail part way many times, but had never done the complete loop. Go to this link and open in Google Earth to see the trail:   Because of the dry winter & Spring, there were not many wildflowers -- a big disappointment!  However Friday night we had a good rainstorm, which brought snow to the higher elevations.  Hopefully the rain will bring out some more wildflowers.  Here are photos:

Elaine dropped me off at the Cocks Comb trailhead today. Trailhead is off Boynton Pass Road, just past the Doe Mountain trailhead.  Here's a link to Palmers Trail write-up.Here's Palmer's map and elevation chart.  He describes a simple round-trip to top of mesa and return.   Here's great Sedona Hikes description -- but it doesn't include a the trip to the top of the mesa.  Most of the trail was flat and very bicycle friendly. However I followed the trail advice by "Cosmic Ray" trail guide and climbed up to the top of the Cocks Comb mesa. Spectacular View! Here is a link to the "track" that will open with Google Earth. Note from the well marked and maintained trail, there is NO marking for the turnoff to go to the top of the mesa.  In fact, there was a log across the trail, as if someone didn't want us to take the trail.  However the trail can be easily seen on the right side as you pass by homes being built on the left side of the trail.  Below are the photos I took on the trail:

Elaine and I hiked Marg's Draw Trail from Schnebly Road past Snoopy Rock.  We met other hikers that had us take a photo of them -- and they took a couple of us as well.  We met "Reno" on the trail too--a retired cardiologist who was a member of Sedona Hiking Club for many years.

On Friday, while making coffee, I saw a large herd of Javelinas run by the window, so I went upstairs, grabbed the camera and took these photos from the back balcony:

Then,  Elaine dropped me off at the Yavapai Vista trailhead.  It is at the last overlook heading South on 179 before you get to Village of Oak Creek.  Our friend Barbara Glass recommended the trails at that location.  I took the Yavapai Vista trail to the HiLine trail and ended up at Cathedral Rock and came down the relatively steep trail to the trailhead parking lot where Elaine picked me up.  The views were spectacular!  Here is a link to the trail write-up by Great Sedona Hikes, and here is another write-up by Palmer

On Saturday morning Elaine dropped me off at the Centennial Trail area on Cultural Park Place, near the High School and Community College, and then picked me up in the Color Cove Street neighborhood off Dry Creek Road.

On our last Spring 2014 day in Sedona, Elaine dropped me of at the Schnebly Road trailhead and hiked up the Mund's wagon trail to where the Hangover trail and then hiked up hangover to where it connected with Cowpies and then returned via the Munds wagon.  While at the top of the hill on Hangover, I lost the trail!  I met a hiker named Stephanie who had been on the trail several times.  She  led me around the North side of the mountain on the trail until it met up with cow pies.  She then went on up to Merry-go-Round overlook, and I returned to the trailhead via Munds Wagon.  Here's a link to the "My Tracks" that, when opened with Google Earth, it shows the whole route I took:  8.88 Mile loop.  Here is link to trail description, and a link to the map in the area: http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~palmer/SedonaTrails/Bear's%20Hangover/Hangover.JPG
Below are my photos from the trip: