day 12…4.23
My first hike for the day was a new one…Soldiers Pass Trail. It can be made into a loop with another trail, but I was hiking it out & back. Two features along the way I wanted to see was the Devils Kitchen, a big sinkhole & the Seven Sacred Pools. I’ve been hiking without a topo map, which I don’t do very often, but I have a guide book I’d been reading & snapping a photo of the map of the hike instead. The sinkhole is right a the beginning of the trail.
I then kept hiking towards the pools…which I never found. The views were so amazing though!
The trail keeps climbing higher & higher & the views are fantastic!
Then my trail intersected with another trail. An older couple was at the intersection trying to figure out where exactly they were. Then a family came flying by us but stopped to tell us the answer. I could see on my little phone map we were at the intersection with the Brins Mesa trail. The woman from the family told me it was only 2.5 miles to finish the loop & end up back in the parking lot…so I decided I’d just take that route back to my car. The views were great up on the Mesa & the hiking was easy.
But when the Mesa ended I was on a trail that I suspected was going the wrong way. I hadn’t seen another trail, so I stayed on the trail, every once in awhile going to peek over the edge. My sense is direction is pretty good & all my instincts were telling me I was not on the right trail. The trail began to fade some & I knew I’d missed something. I wasn’t scared, I could always find my way back on the Soldiers Pass Trail if I had to. When I was ready to turn around, after about 1/3 of a mile, I saw another hiker. She told me the trail I needed to be on went over the edge of the Mesa & pointed it out. I appreciated she told me exactly where to look for it. Sure enough, I found it as it truly did drop right over the edge with the trail descending steeply & quickly. I hiked & hiked & hiked & kept going down, down, down. Soon I came across a parking lot, which was on my map. But there was also a trailhead map with several intersecting trails…it was very confusing. I saw a trail named Cibola Pass that was the direction I needed to go, but I didn’t figure I’d want a trail to a pass. So, I took the other trail shown on the map on my phone. I kept hiking & hiking & hiking, knowing I’d covered way more than 2 miles. At this point, I didn’t feel lost, but I did wonder if I had enough water & thought maybe I should not drink so much. Finally I ran into a group of four, about my age, coming from the other way. I asked them where my parking lot was, & they told me the trail I was on would take me there, but I’d chosen the long way! Evidently ‘Pass” in Arizona means ‘shortcut’ not the same as a pass in Colorado (sometimes I don’t think outside the box). They were very friendly & agreed that the intersecting trails & confusing maps at the trailheads are not that helpful. I finally made it back to my car. I’d hiked more than 6 miles. I was so tired…not as much from the hiking, but from the on-going constant wondering if I was on the right path. The views all along had been amazing, so I still was glad I’d hiked this trail, but I doubted I’d do another hike today. I’ve not been sleeping much at night, so I was feeling pretty exhausted. PS: I told the 4some I’d missed the pools. They told me they were mostly dry, & the only water in some of them was icky, green & gross…I hadn’t missed anything.
I was hungry & wanted a drink. I went into town to the Javelina Cantina & ordered a Blood Orange Margarita & a enchilada…wow, both were soooo yummy! The bartender & a mom & son --sitting at the bar-- & I all started visiting. We had place in common. Dave, the bartender was originally from Kansas City, & the woman, who had been married for 30 years had lived in 16 places…one of which was Crested Butte. It’s a small world some days!
I went out to camp after that & just chilled out in my tiny free spot!
day 13…4.24
This morning I was on the trail early, hiking a super popular hike on the other side of town. I first hiked Cathedral Rock two years ago after Sara encouraged me to hike it. I’d been intimidated by the guide books description, but she had hiked it while pregnant with Claire & said it was fun. I was nervous the first time, but once the crack was climbed, I was good. This time it was ALL GOOD! I beat the morning crowd, found a parking spot & took off to hike up the rock.
You need grippy shoes as your walking up the rock. I packed both my camera & hiking pole away…I would need my hands for this climb.
It doesn’t take long to make it to the top…it’s only a 3/4 mile climb. I was surprised to see a Volunteer at the top, offering to take your photo & telling you about the rock features, another small hike at the top & pointing out a huge rock that fell off the side earlier this year, noting where all the debris landed. He was enthusiastic & it was really nice.
I slowly hiked up the other hike, it was steep & on loose scree. I was following behind two young girls, who were kinds of nervous, but then asked me take their photo at the top. There wasn’t much room to move around up there, so after I snapped their photo, a couple for myself, then I made my way down as another two people had joined us.
The hike back down went quickly…I am highly skilled at the crab-walk going down…it’s helpful that my body is made with a larger & heavier backside so gravity works in my favor! (This & when I fall on my butt, are the only times I’m grateful I was blessed with a rather over-sized rear!)
Once down to the bottom, I jumped onto another trail that goes down to Oak Creek…it’s called the Templeton trail. Last time I was here, I really loved sitting by the clear water, listening to it cascade over small rocks & loved, loved, loved Buddha Beach! This is the place where there were hundreds of rock cairns…they call them Buddha’s. There were also tons of these small unique cairns in the water, I even built one to leave. Over the past couple of years, there has been some controversy among the outdoor enthusiasts about these cairns. Cairns are rock piles built to show you the trail, when it’s impossible to post a sign. You find these popular in Utah where you’re hiking on slick rock a lot & they’re extremely important to hikers. But these little cairns aren’t ‘necessary’ but I think they look like pieces of art, but a lot of places have chosen to knock them down, saying it’s not natural & against leave no trace principles.
So, I was disappointed when I only saw two Buddha’s. I thought maybe the winter water flow had knocked the ones down in the water, but the beach was void of any cairns too. I’m not sure who decided this, & I know I fall on the side that’s it’s “art”, but in the end, I missed all the hundreds of rocks! The creek was still beautiful & it was peaceful. I sat & ate, then picked up orange peels some idiot, I mean, some uneducated hiker had left near the creek.
The walk down on this Templeton trail was lined with wildflowers! They were beautiful!
I was near my next trailhead, another two popular hikes…one was climbing up Bell Rock & the other was to hike around Courthouse Rock. There are a bunch of different ways up Bell Rock….kind of sketchy climbing. You just sort of picked your way to the top. I went about 3/4 of way up, then decided to go back down.
After I carefully picked my way back to the bottom, I got on the trail that loops around Courthouse Rock. You really get an appreciation for how big this thing is when you hike more than 4 miles to get around it! I’d done all these hikes before, except climbing up Bell Rock.
The Courthouse loop was quiet & peaceful & I didn’t see more than a few people on it. Once I got to the end though, I was once again among intersecting trails with one of those frustrating maps. Two women walked up to me & asked which parking lot I’d parked in. I thought there was only one trailhead, but they said there was a north & a south parking lot. They invited me to hike with them, & said if I ended up in the wrong lot, they’d drive me to my car. At this point, I could see what I thought was my lot, I just couldn’t see a trail to get to it. So, I started walking with them, but after a few minutes, said thanks, but I’m going to follow my instinct & go back to the last intersection & take the trail that goes the other way. The frustration with all this is not worry that you won’t ever find your car, but you start to question whether or not you are a stupid hiker? But by the time I’d beat myself up over yesterday’s trail mix ups & then today’s once again unable to read the trailhead maps, I was at the parking lot…my parking lot…with my 4Runner. And the other two women were behind me. They had turned around & followed me out. I gave them a thumbs up when I saw them reach their car!
I was headed to Vino Di Sedona, my fave beer/wine bar for happy hour. I ordered a yummy small pizza & beer & sat outside & enjoyed the cooling temps & the nice breeze!
After my beer was done, I went down the street to Starbucks to plug everything in & work on the website. After I was mostly charged, I went back to Vino Di Sedona for some super great live music & a fun visit with a couple from Chicago…it turned out to be a really nice night! I was tired by the end of evening, I’d hiked 8.5 miles & climbed climbed climbed! I was ready to tuck myself into my sleeping bag & go to sleep. Well, I have the laying in my bag down..that’s the easy part. No matter how tired I am, I just can’t seem to fall asleep or if I do, I can’t stay asleep. All the medical articles I read about ‘lack of sleep causing early death’ has one bright spot…guess I won’t have to worry that I don’t have much retirement money to live on! Morbid I know.
day 14…4.25
I was up early after not much sleep last night & took off towards Starbucks around 6:30. I’ve been making coffee in camp every morning, but this morning I wanted to work on the website & still get on the trail at a good time. I was hiking my VERY FAVORITE hike today! I’ve never done the whole thing, but I hike in 2 miles on the Hi-Line trail & then hike back. The whole thing is wonderful! It’s also a mega-difficult double black diamond mountain bike trail, which I also love….mountain bikers are some of my favorite athletes. They’re always so happy, gracious & bad ass tough as nails bikers! This hike climbs up to the middle of a huge rock formation & around it…with views so big it takes your breath! At the turn around point, there’s a huge open flat spot which looks over to Cathedral Rock & down to the rest of the trail that goes for miles along slick rock. It’s just so amazing! One of the first big views you see is of Courthouse & Bell Rock.
You can see the Chapel of the Holy Cross from across the way.
Then at the turn around place, you get an awesome view of the back side of Cathedral Rock.
There were also some cool yucca’s blooming & some trees with a really cool mixture of wood.
The only bad part of this trail is that the trailhead is difficult to find! It’s not marked on the parking lot map. The first time you even see anything about the trail is once you’ve found the trailhead. I remember the last time I hiked this trail I couldn’t find the trailhead & once again, today I had a hard time finding it. I visited with a foursome at along the trail & he was a local & agreed that the trailhead maps are all confusing as are all the intersecting trails. At least I’m not the only one confused!
I finished my lovely hike, randomly found my way back to the parking lot, & headed south to a new trailhead. The Baxter loop is supposed to be an easy hike, 2.7 miles with views below Cathedral Rock & it loops around an ‘unknown’ rock formation. That’s exactly what it was. There aren’t any big amazing views with this one…well, maybe one or two...
but after that, the trail just takes you around winding along kind of in the middle of nowhere. It was quiet & I only saw two other small groups on the hike…& it was easy & fast. Before I knew it, I was back at the 4Runner.
I took off my trail runners & socks, grabbed a Nalgene bottle of water & washed all the red dirt off my legs & feet & put on my Chacos. I drove to the local hiking store to buy a topo map (I should have done this the first day I was in town!) & to ask about another certain hike I was told about. It was an interesting encounter. This is Sedona’s biggest outdoor store & they have been super helpful in the past to me & others I know. One of the girls working there was giving all sorts of helpful info about hiking to another couple when I walked in. But the guy I asked my question to, was not having a good day. I was kind of surprise & taken back when he barked out the information. I was specifically asking about a 3.5 mile dirt road to get to a trailhead…my guide book said it was very rough. He told me it was a ‘horrible horrible’ road. That the trail was great, but if I parked where the pavement ended it would take me 5.5 hours to hike the trail & did I have that kind of time? did I? Then he kept going….telling me other hikes I could take but always lacing his advice with things like…’hope you can find parking & avoid all the stupid tourists with their selfie sticks’ & on & on. He asked me if I’d hiked the Brins Mesa trail & I sheepishly said ‘yes, but I got a little mixed up on the top’ & he came back with ‘well, you should have bought your map BEFORE you went up there!!” (He’s was right though, but his tone was so reprimanding!) He sounded very frustrated with all tourists, actually. I was kind of dumbstruck, said thanks (thanks for??) & left. The interesting thing about this is that I’ve had this happen before…several times, but in different towns. Granted, I don’t know what it’s like to work in a tourist town or have to deal with the deluge of tourists themselves. But, I do know that if your town is a tourist town, which Sedona most certainly is, then you have to deal with tourists. Sometimes people bad mouthing tourists don’t even seem to be aware, we’re standing right there…usually with our credit card out buying something from them. I’m always the tourist…so I kind of take this all personally. I wanted to suggest he move to Kansas…no tourism there. He could work at Walmart, or one of our many many many malls, or Nebraska Furniture Mart or in some big business like Garmin…no tourists there. Of course, there’s no cool anything else either. It’s all kind of interesting.
It was almost happy hour so I went next door & back to the Javalina Cantina. Dave the bartender said 'Hey There!' when I sat at the bar. It was Taco Tuesday…so tacos followed by a margarita…so yummy.
After my food & drink were gone, I told Dave bye, how much I’d enjoyed the restaurant & his good conversation, but I would probably be leaving within the next day or so, & wouldn’t be back this trip. Then I went downtown to all the tourist shopping, strolled in front of a few stores, found my postcard, then went back to the car. I went to Starbucks, bought some tea & plugged in. I stopped by Vino Di Sedona & it was rockin’ & filled to the brim. I was hoping the Chicago couple was there…they’d planned to hike Sedona’s most difficult hike today & I wondered how it was (yesterday the guy kept repeating…’I’m gonna die, I’m just gonna die on this trail”…then all three of us were laughing about his reaction). The music sounded wonderful, but the couple wasn’t there & I decided I really didn’t want anything to drink, so I drove back to camp. As I write, it’s pitch black outside except for this amazing Sedona night sky filled with twinkling stars! I hoping for ‘sweet dreams’ for myself which would mean I was actually sleeping!
day 15…4.26
I’m hiking Devil’s Bridge, a super popular hike in Sedona. So, I waited until mid-week to hike to try avoid the big crowds, so I just hike with a medium sized crowd today. I had no problem getting to the bridge, I’d read my guidebook & knew you actually get on another trail before you get to the bridge. There’s a couple of sets of steep big stone steps right before you get to the bridge. A couple practically ran around me to go up the steps, then there was a couple behind me right on my tail as I was going up. It’s not like I could ‘pull off’…it’s just straight up steps & I was going as fast as I could. The natural bridge is really beautiful, but you have to be both patient & super fast if you want a photo of just the bridge. The last time I was here I was lucky & there was only one couple up her besides me. We both took each other’s picture standing out on the bridge & several of nothing on the bridge…my favorite kind. But, today there were probably 20 people up there & one guy who kept going out on the bridge doing some kind of poses so his wife could take multiple pictures & videos from multiple angles. Most everyone wanted their photograph taken out on the bridge. I walked out on it while someone was way at the other end, then walked back off. I sat & ate an orange, & soaked in all the big views….it’s such a beautiful spot! Then I decided to leave.
I carefully made my way back down the steep stairs & onto the trail. At this point I was alone & a very happy hiker. I hiked until I got to the trailhead signs…it was for the same named trail going in both directions with one of the little printed confusing maps. I looked & studied the map…right or left? I looked again. Then I went right. I’d gone about 1/3 of a mile & my little voice, that has been so active on several hikes while in Sedona, said I was on the wrong trail. It didn’t look or feel right. So, I turned around to go back to the trailhead signs intending to pull out my new map. Right before I got there, the couple that had practically ran up my back on the stone steps was quickly walking by. I knew they had parked in the same parking lot as I had. So, I asked them, if I had been going the right way? Yes, the young girl said. We’ve done this trail a lot & this is the right way…the guy said I could follow them. Then the girl casually said, ‘I have good instincts, I’ll know if I’m wrong”…& I said sort of quietly, “I have good instincts too but I thought this is the wrong way’…yet I followed them. They were going so fast I soon lost them, but not the trail. I kept looking all around, the trail, the forest, the giant rocks above…none of it looked right. Plus this is a really popular trail & other than the two speeding hikers I hadn’t seen anyone else. So, I pulled off my pack, got out my new map & went with my gut. The whole mile back to the trailhead signs, I was questioning everything I knew about hiking, but still feeling I was going the right way. I passed the trailhead signs & went the other way. My little voice was quiet…I was sorta sure I was on the right trail. Then after awhile of hiking I saw a small group of people. Then a little while longer I recognized another trailhead sign (all these signs have the same name on them…none of which is Devils Bridge or the name of my parking area) & then knew I was right when I hiked through the wash. From looking at the map, if the other couple kept going the way they were headed, they’d hike 3.5 miles & make it to a road, which is a couple of miles from our parking lot. I wasn’t worried about them, I’m sure they had phones & they looked pretty strong. But this was the second time I’d ignored my inner voice to follow someone else who knew they were right but in the end they weren’t. These are all big lessons for me & I’m so grateful I didn’t get lost!
I’d planned on doing one more hike today, but I think my total for the above hike was about 7 miles…it was supposed to be 4.4 miles.
One the way back down the road, nearer to town, was the city library. I love my library back in Lawrence & a couple of years ago started visiting libraries in cities I travel to. Wow! The Sedona Library is outstandingly gorgeous! Beautiful rock pillars, super tall fireplace & walls, wonderful big wooden beams on the ceilings, which are two stories high, giant windows & amazing leaded glass both in an atrium & some of their copper & leaded glass light fixtures. Even the stack ends are very cool. I visited with one of the librarians for a few minutes & she took me back to show me the model. This library was built in 1994. There’s also this gigantic dinosaur head right before you go into the children’s section. She said one the designers that worked on the original Jurassic Park movie was a resident of Sedona & donated it for a summer reading program. It was so popular they decided to add it the library permanently. The land had all been donated by the community. I think it speaks so highly of the people that live in a town that consider their library to be important….I know the people of the Lawrence do. I’m so glad I stopped in to see this really cool library!
I decided I’d go back & take the super short Airport Summit hike…it’s more a walk up a big rock. I knew I couldn’t get lost…seriously, it’s an amazing 360 degree view over this beautiful city. I just sat there, feeling so grateful for the time spent here in Sedona on so many wonderful hikes…even the confusing trails…grateful…always grateful!
I am planning on leaving tomorrow, so I wanted to be sure to stop at the Amitabh Stupa and Peace Park. I came here last time I was in Sedona & it’s a wonderful place to be, but also a very spiritual & personal place. I stayed there a long time. The Buddhist tradition is to walk, clockwise around the Stupa three times, stating your prayer or mantra. If interested, you can read about the Stupa tradition & what’s inside them. There are so many prayer flags flying in the wind, they’re all over this park & I think it's so beautiful to see the colored flags flying against the huge red rocks in the background. I stayed & stayed until a big noisy group came to capture their peace time…then I headed down the path to finish my time in Sedona.
I wanted to go to Vino Di Sedona for their happy hour, but they were having a special dinner tonight, so only the bar was opened. I walked next door & grabbed a burger, then came back & ordered a wonderful tasting glass of wine. I sat outside in the outdoor bar all alone. I wondered where everyone was & the staff person said he was wondering the same thing…it had been slow all day long. I wasn’t complaining; I was enjoying listening to the waterfall & loving my wine. The glass was empty & it was time to go back to camp. I filled the car with gas & headed west. Once back in camp, I took down the tent I’d had up all week so I can head out first thing in the morning.
I’m so very glad I listened to the voice calling me back to this very special place. I went on all four vortex hikes & even though I didn’t feel any different kind of energy, I always feel a special kind of energy & excitement when I’m hiking someplace awesome! The hikes have sometimes been humbling, but I’m always grateful my body works so well…both the physical & mental body.
Sedona & all of it’s amazing breathtaking beautiful trails & star- filled twinkling night skies…I’m so grateful & happy to have experienced them.