Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Thursday, May 11. 2023

Hiking in the Sedona area: A hiker's paradise

Easy, moderate, and difficult. We stuck with Moderate mostly. The moderates generally have no more than 4-500' ups and downs. 100s of miles of interlocking trails, fairly well-marked but not always so you need the trail maps. April seems like the best time, when all of the high desert (above 4000') plants are in bloom and the high mid-day temps are in the mid 70s.


Hiking poles and grippy boots are handy. Around that altitude, oxygen is not what it is at sea level (around 17%).


Sedimentary formations, red sandstone and limestone.  Animals? Mule Deer and Collared Peccary. One rattler crossed the trail. Birds? That's another topic.


Posting a few pics. Only from the easy parts, because they are the only places I could safely grab my iphone while trying to keep up with our pals. We stayed at a very comfortable resort-type-thing.


Website now turns my vertical pics into horizontal. Annoying. From our deck - that's a seasonally dry stream with cottonwoods in the foreground. See my moon shot?




A few hike pics below the fold - 



















Posted by Bird Dog in Travelogues and Travel Ideas at 14:15 | Comments (7) | Trackbacks (0)

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We went to Sedona sort of accidentally in 2020. We had a trip to baseball spring training in Arizona scheduled and then the remainder of the games were suddenly cancelled because of Covid.

We still went to Arizona but adjusted the places we stayed and went to Jerome, Sedona, and the Grand Canyon instead. Delightful trip! Almost everything was closed except for take out--we hadn't reached the masking stage yet--but we could still buy groceries and since we were in vacation rentals cooked for ourselves and had a great time.

The highlight was the Grand Canyon though. All facilities (entrance booth, visitors' center, etc.) were closed but the park was still open. Very few visitors and you could go anywhere you liked. Weather the first day was amazing and we learned later that that was remarkable for March. They closed it all down only a few days after we left.

Covid shutdowns were a disaster but we lucked out on that trip. And yes, the hikes are delightful for almost all skill levels.
#1 T Migratorious on 2023-05-11 17:11 (Reply)
Arizona has Lake and Sinema, so hot! (Pvt. Joker)
Flying over the Painted Desert on the way to LAX is a highlight of childhood.
Went to AZ as a youngster on the return trip from CA by Winnebago to see the Meteor Crater and Grand Canyon, the Skywalk glass bridge wasn't around then.
Lost the Clint Eastwood poncho and turquoise items picked up in New Mexico over the years.
When the CO river gets too low there will be massive migrations.
Wander the former USA while you still can.
#2 Puke Skylarker on 2023-05-11 20:54 (Reply)
The high desert is spectacular. It is not just about hiking, it is just about being there. If you are a mid-westerner, you quickly learn that you do NOT just crash through the brush...you go around. Everything in the desert wants to stick you, poke you, or bite you. So be aware. Desert sunrise and desert sunsets are worth the early wake up and the late night wait. The best evenings include an adult beverage, a cigar, and a spouse. Change my mind.
#3 rocdoctom on 2023-05-11 22:38 (Reply)
BD,

Magnificent.

Seasonal hiking in Arizona is linked to elevation; by about mid April I'm hiking at 7000 feet or so. When I had meetings in Flag staff I would sometimes bail early to hike Sedona.on the way home

I'll second what rocdoctom said about brush. When hiking some of the rougher trails in soft clothing. Yes, everything in the desert wants a piece of you... Even those cute rabbits will gouge out your throat if you turn your back

Oh...btw.. We don't have corn snakes so just leave that one be
#4 Anonymous Mike on 2023-05-12 02:18 (Reply)
Very enjoyable. Thank you for bringing us along.
#5 Zachriel on 2023-05-12 08:39 (Reply)
Website now turns my vertical pics into horizontal. Annoying.

That's because something is setting the width and height of your image. From the HTML:

img class="serendipity_image_center" width="640" height="480" src="/uploads/IMG_1881.jpg"
#6 William O. B'Livion on 2023-05-12 09:37 (Reply)
One of my favorite states for hiking but Utah beats it for beauty and great trails.
#7 OneGuy on 2023-05-12 22:01 (Reply)

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