April 2015 in Sedona

For the second time in a row, we stayed in unit 1108 at Arroyo Roble "old creekside" for two weeks starting April 21st.   Nancy Lunetta and Kay Coen visited.
While the ladies shopped, I revisited the Cibola Pass trail:

The next morning Nancy and I went up Oak Creek Canyon about a mile to the Grasshopper point trailhead and did the Allen's Bend trail along the creek. Below is slide show:

Thursday night Nancy prepared a classic Sicilian Italian Dinner

We enjoyed it on the patio overlooking the creek, but it was unseasonably cool.

Thursday eve, Nancy & I attended a presentation by Larry Lindahl, a relatively famous photographer, at the Sedona Creative Life Center -- which is just across the creek from Arroyo Roble (but very difficult to get to that way).  Attending the talk was interesting in three ways:

1. It gave me an opportunity to learn more about the Creative Life Center (see this link)which is a beautiful place and a very interesting concept.  
2. I got to learn more about the local archeological society.  
3. And I got to be introduced to the artistry and experiences of Larry Lindahl. He was primarily pitching his new book of photographs, and went into some detail of how he got to the somewhat exotic locations throughout Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona to take the photos.  He also briefly described some of the techniques he used to get some of his fabulous photos. (15 second exposures while enhancing with flashlights, for example)  Here is a link to his web site which has samples of his amazing photos.  To get his photos, Larry went to many locations I had never heard of: Chaco Canyon, Casa Rinconada, Aztec Ruins National Monument, Hovenweep National Monument, Edge of the Cedars State Park, Keet Seal Basin etc.  Since that talk I have already encountered references to those locations.  Definately a worthwhile one hour spent!

Friday Morning, I drove up the canyon to above the West Fork Trailhead, but below the switchbacks where the Cave Springs campground is located.  I parked in the lot by the entrance to the campground where the Harding Springs Trailhead signs are located.  The trail starts across 89A on the East Side and goes up a fairly steep climb up to a plateau that is very nicely forested and has some great overlooks.  There was some light rain when I got to the top, so the views were not as good as they could have been.  But it was really beautiful.

We had a relatively cold, rainy weekend.  It was nice to see the rain!  On Tuesday, Apr 28th, Elaine dropped me off at the Dry Creek trailhead, where the 4WD trail starts.  I then walked either the 4WD road, or the parallel trail past the Devil's Bridge trailhead to the Brin's Mesa Trail.  I went over the pass, and then came down to the Jordan Road trailhead where Elaine met me.   Even though we had recent rain, there were very few signs of moisture anywhere.  But scenery was beautiful, as usual.

Here are other photos from the hike:

On Wednesday, Elaine and I went up to Flagstaff and did a 1.5mi loop around Buffalo Park.  It was particularly beautiful with the snow-capped San Francisco Peaks in view.  Weather was perfect!

For Lunch, we went to Salsa Brava, a restaurant Elaine saw on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.  Excellent Mexican food, with unique seasoning flavors.  Also enjoyed their sopapillas!

On our way back down Oak Creek Canyon, we stopped at Cave Spring Campground and walked a trail through the old apple orchard and down along the creek.  All photos from the day are below:

Had a beautiful evening and sunset, so took a few photos along the creek in front of our Arroyo Roble unit's patio:

On Thursday, Elaine dropped me of at the Schnebly Hill Road Trailhead at the end of pavement, and start of Jeep-only road.  I followed the 4WD road or the Mund's Wagon trail that criss-crosses each other on the way up, depending upon how I felt, or the view.  It was a nice, gentle hike going up, and I went past Merry-Go-Round rock, and around the top to the Schnebly Hill Overlook, which looks down on Oak Creek on the other side.  According to GPS, the hike up was 5.32 mi, and I started at 4400 ft elevation and ended up around 5900 ft. Below are photos from the uphill trip.

From the Viewpoint, Casner Canyon Trail goes down to Oak Creek.  It was a well-marked trail, but I have the feeling it isn't used very much.  A lot of the trail was loose rock, and there was at least one spot where a very large rock had fallen onto the trail.  At the bottom, I had to wade across Oak Creek, then joined Allens Bend trail.  I walked Allens Bend trail to Grasshopper Point, went up the entrance road partway and re-joined Allens Bend trail which went South to Midgley Bridge.  At the bridge, I was finally able to get cell phone reception so I could call Elaine to pick me up there.  The way down was about 4.08 mi, and descent was from 5900 ft to 4300 ft.  Below is slideshow from that portion of the hike

On our last full day of our Spring 2015 two week visit to Sedona, Elaine dropped me off at the Broken Arrow Trailhead.  Our friend Barbara Glass recommended a new trail, called "Hog Heaven" --and it was the trail of the month in Sedona Monthly Magazine for April 2015.  The trail was about a 3 mile loop and had under 500 ft elevation change.  Through most of the hike I could either see & hear jeeps from the Broken Arrow trail to Chicken Point, or after crossing the saddle, I could see and hear highway and homes.  However, even though it wasn't far from civilization, the trail was beautiful with lots of excellent vistas.   Below are photos from the hike: