Ron and Sally Jo Blog

Week 2

Saturday, Oct 28

We took a short hike to Chicken Point on the southeast side of Sedona.  We have done this before.  However, as we were starting out we talked to a hiker who has done it many times.  He pointed out another trail close by that we could take and make it more of a loop.  Turned out to be a very nice trail and less busy.  Another cloudless beautiful day for a hike.  Twin Buttes, High on the Hog (part), and Broken Arrow trails (3.62 miles)  Some people ride jeeps in this area and some people even ride mountain bikes over this trail!

Sunday, Oct 29

Hiked to Devil’s Bridge.  We had also done this hike before but tried a new access trail.  Started on part of Mescal trail, then a bit of Chuckwagon trail, to Devil’s Bridge trail (4.39 miles).  Just can’t believe the beautiful weather we are having day after day after day and the beautiful scenery around us day after day after day.  It’s a fairly easy trail until the last bit where it was very steep with large rocks to climb over.  Ron walked out over the natural bridge while Sally Jo was content to stay back and just take a photo of him.  On the way down we took a side path which took us partly under the bridge.

In the evening we walked to sunset point near the resort.  There were no clouds to make a spectacular sunset, but the evening light was beautiful.

Monday, Oct 3

A couple of people had recommended to us the West Fork trail (7.39 miles).  We finally decided to do it today.  It is an out and back trail.  It is considered an easy trail – and it was for the most part.  EXCEPT: the trail includes 13 river/creek crossings – that is 13 crossings ONE way which means 13 x 2 = 26 crossings.  Sally Jo does not like water crossings.  Sally Jo’s heart worked extra hard 26 times today!!!

It was a beautiful trail through the canyon of the West Fork of Oak Creek.  The fall colors were beautiful among the green pines and white and red canyon walls.  The canyon walls themselves were very interesting.

Before beginning the actual West Fork trail, we stopped to see the ruins of an early lodging site.  The first cabin was built in 1870’s and eventually more people built here.  In the 1920’s a log lodge was built and used until 1968.  A fire burnt the dwellings but there are brick remains.  Famous people stayed here – Herbert Hoover, Jimmy Stewart, Walt Disney.  The canyon and its area inspired Zane Gray in his book Call of the Canyon.

We met a number of interesting people along the way, as well as hearing a variety of accents/language.  British, southern U.S., Korean, Indian.  Several people had heard of Goshen either through relatives or from formerly being a Hoosier.  One man was especially interesting as he was carrying – and playing – a didgeridoo!  He also told us that ponderosa pine either smell of honey, coffee, or vanilla.  We tried smelling several pines and indeed verified the smells!

Tuesday, Oct 31

We visited Wupatki National Monument and Sunset Crater National Monument, both northeast of Flagstaff.  Wupatki has a number of ancestral Puebloan villages mostly from the 1100s.  What was especially interesting to us, is that it is thought that some of these early people moved to Mesa Verde (which we visited 2 weeks ago) in the 1200s.  These villages are built above ground rather than in cliffs.  We were able to walk to several of the pueblos and examine the buildings up close.  Visited Lomaki and Box Canyon Pueblos, Citadel Pueblo, Wupatki Pueblo, and Wukoki Pueblo.  We felt that the Visitor’s Center presented the information very well—telling both the Native American viewpoint and the colonist’s viewpoint.

Sunset Crater erupted in the late 1000s—the most recent volcano in this region.  We could see a number of lava flows and large areas of cinders, plus smaller vents as we looked out over the countryside.  Some plants are beginning to grow in areas.

Wednesday, Nov 1

Today we did a hike we have done before—Thunder Mt (1/2 mile), Lower Chimney Rock, Chimney Rock, and Lizard Head (1/2 mile).  It was a 3.82 mile loop—not very far but a lot of up and down.  AND one other caveat—we hiked the summit trail.  We had not done this before. It was strenuous, quite steep with a loose-gravel path.  But the view at the top was magnificent!  The entire hike had great views.

Thursday, Nov 2

We hiked the Doe Mountain trail.  Again, we have done this trail several times but never get tired of the views.  It’s a .06 mile UP and then over a mile of hiking around the mesa top for a total of 2.8 mile hike.  Not long, not strenuous, just beautiful!

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