Category: hiking

Five Shots: West Fork Trail, Sedona

One advantage of family and friends staying with us for vacation is revisiting old stomping grounds like West Fork Trail, Oak Creek, just outside of Sedona. It’s very popular, so if you don’t go first thing in the morning, you have to share the trail with hundreds of others. I nudged everyone out the door at 6:45 a.m. to get a spot in the parking lot before hearing the “call of the canyon.” 

Ah, speaking of Zane Grey, The Call of the Canyon was one of his many books that had a film version from the silent era. During the creative process, it was this entrance into the canyon Zane Grey was thinking about. In fact, celebrities like Clark Gable and Jimmy Stewart stayed at the Mayhew Lodge when filming in the area before it collapsed in to ruin leaving only remnants of its structure. Here are a few morning shots:   

 

 

 

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Five Shots: Up to Flagstaff, Arizona

Yesterday we took advantage of warm temps and sunny skies and revisited one of our favorite spots in Arizona, Hart Prairie. Here are several shots of the day. Which one do you like best? 

1. The fence at Hart Prairie
2. Entering Hart Prairie
3. Old Tree
4. San Francisco Peaks
5. My new daughter, Anna
6. New Grandson, Ben
7. San Francisco Peaks II
8. Gorge view from Sedona to Flagstaff
9. Arizona Woodpecker

Which one do you like best? 

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Five Shots: ATV Escapade into Sycamore Canyon

How nice when you meet a local who is also dating your daughter who was willing to share his ATV and his favorite places in our backyard, Sycamore Canyon (21 miles by 7 miles). Thank you, Jared, for being a gracious host. It was the same scenery we were used to but we traveled to different corners and mounds and it felt like a new experience. We wouldn’t have reached many of these locations without the resilient ATV. 

1. On a cloudy warm morning, on the opposite side of the valley, we looked toward the red rocks at the entrance of Sycamore Canyon.
2. On a dirt road getting closer to the unique rock formations.

3. We paused for water. Riding an ATV was loud and bumpy, but the flat spots traveling fast with the wind blowing around you were exhilarating. Being able to ascend and descend 40-degree angles over boulders and misshapen rocks to reach a vista-view was fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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4. Getting closer to a popular hiking point of entry into Sycamore Canyon with cliffs and watering holes.

5. On top of the gorge looking down to the Verde River. Notice the train tracks to the right.

6. William A. Clark, copper baron, lay his train tracks to ship out his copper. Now a scenic train ride is a popular tourist destination.
7. Up high admiring the green on the Sycamore trees down by the Verde River.
8. Around an impregnable bump in the train’s path.
9. Down at the river, Milly approves of the new campsite at the river’s edge.
10. A good campsite next to the cool river with a swimming hole saved for warmer weather. Perfect!
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