Overheard along the trail today and totally apropos. We drove up to Sedona today, braving the smoke and hoping for a good day to hike to Cathedral Rock. As we got nearer to Sedona, the smoke began to worry us. Ken’s eyes were burning, and my throat was scratchy. We had heard that the smoke was bad in the morning but cleared by 9:00 a.m.
It was well after 9:00 a.m. when we arrived at the Sedona Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center. We picked up some brochures and talked with the folks at the counter about what we would need to park at the trailhead. They gave us a nice plastic hangtag just made to hold an America the Beautiful pass (like our Senior Access passes).
We headed out to the trailhead, on the aptly named Back of Beyond Road. The trailhead parking lot was full, but we could see that people were parking farther along the road. We found a spot and walked back to the trail. Looking up at the magnificent Cathedral Rock, we could see that the smoke was in fact dissipating, and a steady stream of hikers was making their way up and down the trail to the summit.
We started hiking up the trail. After a bit, the hike turned into a rock scramble on slick rock. We kept going and found ourselves high enough to enjoy some marvelous vistas. At that point we decided to go back down and take the Templeton Trail along the side of the rock.
We saw mountain bikers speeding along and figured they must be technically advanced to ride safely on such a precarious trail. We did come across one couple who were walking their bikes and even carrying them a bit. At one point we took what we thought was part of a loop trail, but we didn’t have a map and realized after a bit that the trail was getting more and more iffy and finally dead ended, so we turned around.
We were impressed by the variety of folks who were out on the mountain, everyone from teens to families with smaller children. We encountered people who were clearly international travelers. Sedona draws people for all over the planet. Some come to experience the fantastic scenery and terrain. Others come in search of psychic energy and renewal (Sedona is said to have several “vortexes” that channel powerful energy).
After our hike we drove back towards home, but stopped at the Natural Grocers to check out their offerings. We did pick up some things we needed, and we scored some of our favorite and hard to find Annie’s salad dressing (Fat-free Raspberry Balsamic).
Back at the campground we walked around observing the Memorial Day crowd out having fun, with lots of kids and food and games. Some people have already left, and we expect a mass exodus tomorrow. We’ll be moving on ourselves on Tuesday.
While we were eating breakfast this morning, Ken looked out to find another critter eating breakfast outside our door.
I talked with Aunt Iris this evening. She sounded good. She and Beth are driving to North Carolina for a week in June. She will be celebrating her 80th birthday there. I talked with Carol too, and I tried to talk to Ed and family but caught him getting ready for a shower, so we’ll try again later.
We have never watched Mad Men, but we caught an interview with the writer/producer, Matthew Weiner, and decided to record some shows. Of course this is the final season, and we have no context, but we found it a bit confusing and even bizarre. The episode was set in 1969 and included video of the moon landing, which was quite interesting.
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