From Vegas, we headed through Arizona to Sedona. WOW! What a place! The town is built around big red sandstone outcroppings ... definitely National-Park-caliber scenery! It even came with some of the other features of some National Parks ... crowded trails and traffic jams! It probably didn't help that we were in the middle of spring-break season! Our exploration of the town was essentially limited to a drive through on the main drags, since we were staying in a private campground about 20 minutes outside of town. But we definitely felt a distinct upscale (maybe even swanky) vibe. Everything neat and tidy, looking "just so", and all the houses falling within a limited aesthetic window.
But exploring the town wasn't our primary objective. Instead, we spent two and half days hiking and biking around the area. Our first hike was Bear Mountain, and it was awesome .... big views, interesting trail, and low crowds (likely due to the 5 miles, 2400' elevation gain and numerous false summits). Our other hike, to Devil's Bridge, was a lot more crowded (even early in the morning), but the Bridge itself was pretty cool ... quite a ways down.
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| Karen starting up Bear Mtn |
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| Pine Tree on Cliff |
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| Bear Mtn Panarama: Wilson Mtn (upper left), Capitol Butte (center right), Sedona (far right) |
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| Lost Wilson Mtn and Red Sandstone from Bear Mtn |
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| Century Plant |
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| Manzanita Blooms |
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| Cliff Detail |
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| Desert Ceanothis |
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| Indian Paintbrush |
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| Karen on Devil's Bridge |
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| The Fin from Devil's Bridge |
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| Pale Evening Primrose |
Our bike rides were fun and interesting. The area is pretty rocky, so they were more bashy than flowy ... and sometimes a bit over our head. The ride near Bell Rock was best suited to our style and capabilities, but the Chuckwagon ride had some great stretches, too! And on both, we had the pleasure of great scenery. Just don't gawk while you're moving!
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| Rock Formations near Deadman's Pass |
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| Spring Foliage |
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| Church Spires |
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| Volunteer Police? |
After Sedona, we headed towards Flagstaff via the incredibly scenic Route 89A. It winds it's way up Oak Creek Canyon, gaining some 3000 ft. Just another pleasant surprise! We had no plans to do anything in Flagstaff ... just spend the night before heading to the Grand Canyon. But, arriving in the early afternoon, and quickly finding ourselves restless, we headed out for a drive to check out Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument. It was pretty nice, though less impressive than some of the volcanic areas we've visited in Oregon. And we somehow found ourselves continuing down the road to Wupatki National Monument, which encompasses numerous Ancient Puebloan villages. The most obvious of these is located at the visitor center, and quite interesting. Unfortunately, all the booklets for the self-guided tour were in use, so we only got the visual version. Still, it was pretty impressive!
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| Lava Flow Detail, Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument |
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| San Francisco Peaks from Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument |
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| Ruins at Wapatki National Monument |
Activities
- Wandering/Sightseeing
- Sedona: Bell Rock
- Flagstaff: Sunset Crater Volcano & Wupatki National Monuments
- Hiking
- Sedona: Bear Mountain
- Sedona: Devil's Bridge (Dry Springs Vista TH > road > Devil's Bridge > Chuckwagon > TH)
- Mountain Biking
- Sedona: Dry Springs Vista TH > Chuckwagon > Long Canyon > Deadman's Pass > Road > TH
- Sedona: Bell Rock Vista TH > Big Park Loop > Bell Rock > Llama > Baby Bell > Bell Rock > Phone > Bell Rock > TH.
"Oh Wow!" Moments
- Multiple BIG views along the Bear Mtn trail!!
- Mountain biking among the red sandstone near Bell Rock!
Sleeps
- Sedona: Lo Lo Mai Springs Campground. Decent camping + showers!
- Flagstaff: Hampton Inn. Pretty hard beds. Decent breakfast.
Noteable Eats
- Flagstaff: Beaver St. Brewery. Good interesting pizza.
Future Ideas
- West Fork Trail ... supposedly top 10 trail in US. Includes 13 stream crossings!
- Mountain bike on Mescal trail
- Hiking around Flagstaff
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