Red Rocks and a Grand Canyon

After a week of putting around the desert in the bus, we are back in Flagstaff. We have just enough time to wash clothes and repack before we go backpacking with Kristi and Wade this weekend.
Breakfast overlooking the red rocks of Sedona. Our first night was amazingly cold. I shivered in my sleeping bag wondering whose brilliant idea this was after all. We woke to frosty breath and drove to the top of Schnebly Hill Road. As the sun warmed my bones and the tea warmed my belly, the reason for this madness came rushing back to me--the world is astounding.

We spent three days hiking in Sedona. Our favorite thing to do was point at a spire of stacked rock layers and discover how to reach the top of it. It always felt like we were on top of the world. And then we would climb the next one, which was even higher. Repeat until tired. After we were done hiking we walked back up the old wagon road and tried to imagine just how long it would take to drive a wagon through this kind of country.

We fell asleep in a snow storm on the second night. The next morning we hiked along the rim and discovered this grove of scrub oak. It was like walking into New England in the fall. Kind of eerie. After that we climbed to the top of Mund's mountian and could see for hundreds of miles in every direction. Ranges of mountains marched out to the horizon.

After a side trip to the mining town of Jerome, we headed north for the big mama--Grand Canyon. Nights spent reading Edward Abbey by the fireside inspired us to try and "stick it to the man" and walk across the park boundry. How hard could it really be to find a huge hole in the earth? We drove up a forest service road that ended about a mile and half from the canyon rim. From there we plotted our course to the next road that crossed over into the park. No sweat. Except we decided to take a short cut through the juniper and we didn't have a map or a compass. Still no big deal. We crawled over the barbed wire fence, the smirk of satisfaction on our faces, dreaming of sitting on the edge of that gaping canyon watching the sun go down. Then we kept walking. After an hour or so we were still in the woods with no great vistas in sight. We knew we were close because the sight seeing helicopters kept flying over head. Should we go right or left? How long should we walk down this road? After the smirk had turned to a grimace and the sun was getting low on the horizon we decided to turn back. We would be reduced to driving in and plunking down our $25 like all the other mere mortals. Damn.
The famous Grand Canon mules. I spent two days dreaming of becoming a mule wrangler and living the romantic life of an old west cowboy. Then I made the mistake of asking what it costs to take a mule trip. The illusion was shattered when I realized that only a tourist who could afford to pay $148.72 for a day trip and book it at least 3 months in advance could ride one of these noble beasts to the bottom of the trail. The old west is dead and gone.


Sunrise above the canyon. We spent the cold mornings watching that great ball of fire light up the sky. I spent some time contemplating just how many pictures of Grand Canyon must exist in the world...lets see... 4 or 5 million visitors a year and at least 10 pictures per visitor... thats alot!
Nap time! Kevin loved to find a cliff edge to lie on and digest his lunch, much to the dismay of worried mothers trying to keep curious children from the edge. It was amazing how many hours we could spend just looking as the light and shadows played with this ever changing landscape.
One afternoon we were taking our after lunch snooze when Kevin woke me up with a start. "There's a condor overhead," he said, "don't move." Sure enough a pair of these giant vultures with 9 1/2 foot wing spans were circling our sprawled out corpses frying in the sun. We sat still for as long as we could as the birds circled lower and lower. Finally, we lost sight of them and got up to look around. We expected to see them flying on the other side of the point, but instead they had landed on a cliff 25 feet away from the parking lot. It was cool to see so many people enthralled with these stinky carrion eaters. California Condors are a species that has been reintroduced to Arizona after a successful captive breeding program built their numbers from 22 to 300 individuals. Their recovery is still tenuous, but numbers are increasing and they are beginning to nest and raise chicks in the wild.

We are off on another adventure tomorrow to one of Wade and Kristi's favorite camping spots. We hope you are all well and happy.

Love chrissy