Sedona

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Sun, 18 September - Sedona

We’ve never been to Sedona before and we arrived in the dark last night so had absolutely no idea what the terrain was like but when we woke up this morning and looked outside – wow! If you were to take Uluru, the Olga's and Kings Canyon, add them to the McDonnell ranges and encircle Alice Springs, making all within a 5-30 min drive, and then you plonked trendy Byron Bay where Alice is, that is what Sedona is like. It’s lots of stunning desert mountain formations above ground, interlaced by canyons and enveloping a very trendy resort town spread out over the picturesque landscape. It’s obviously a rich man’s playground, if the designer houses on croppy outlooks are anything to go by. They aptly call it Red Rock country and the geology is a mix of hard rock similar to Uluru, and loose shale that suits on top of the hard stuff.

There are several main trails that everyone aims for – Devil’s Bridge and Cathedral Rock. We went to neither and instead chose a different route that encompasses the first part of the Cathedral trail and part of the Templeton trail. Unlike the main hikes which are completely exposed to direct sunlight, Templeton has 1/3 of its trail under trees because it drops down to Oak Creek, surrounded by Cottonwoods. Given it was 32C, we were very glad we took the shady route. The walk was easy and the water was cool on my feet. It was pleasant enough to swim but I wasn’t wearing swimmers so I paddled for a while and then we went back to the car.

An hour before sunset we set out again to Pyramid Mountain with the intent to watch the sunset over Cathedral Rock. As the sun sunk towards the horizon, the reds were further inflamed and the whole landscape was cloaked in an orange glow. It was a beautiful sight to behold. We called both sets of parents to share the sunset with them and I called a friend who had a birthday, hoping to make her day special with a live Sedona sunset.

Once the sun had dipped to a sunrise in another part of the world, we used the dusk lighting to make our way back to the car. It was a 4km loop in total.

Mon, 19 September – Sedona

There is something that has really stood out to me on this trip: a distinct lack of squirrels. Usually there are hundreds of them running around in the fall, busy preparing for the oncoming winter. This trip we’ve seen quite a few chipmunks but comparatively very few squirrels. Very disappointing.

Dwayne got me up at the ungodly hour of 4.45am, so we could drive to Sugarloaf Mountain and climb it for a 360-degree view of Sedona during sunrise. Photographers will know that if the sun is rising at 6.30am, golden hour starts half an hour earlier. We arrived in the dark at the car park with one other car there. They were wondering if we’d brought torches, and we simply said we were going to use our phones. They laughed, chagrined when they realised they could do the same. The four of us trudged in the dark up a rocky, uneven path that became more illuminated as we climbed. By 6am we had hit the summit and we no longer needed the phone lights.

For the next half hour we watched the red rocks of Thunder Mountain and sky turn shades of indigo, mauve, dusky pink, guava and lemon as the sun edged ever closer to the horizon. 4 hot air balloons rose slowly from the ground in the distance, floating to dizzy heights above the landscape. Several more people joined us and by sunrise at 6.30am, there were 10 of us breathing in the moment. The camera didn’t do it justice. The eye is an amazing piece of biology that a camera can’t replicate.

We were back at the car at 7.30am and made our way along the Red Rock scenic loop. We stopped at Bell Rock and The Courthouse rock formations, continuing on to Cottonwood, where the red colouring stops. No joke – you round a corner and are faced with bland grey landscape and there is no sign of the tall rock formations or the red soil that makes it special. It literally is a hidden valley beyond a certain point. Cottonwood has one cute little street and the rest is a dive.

We stopped by the Verde Train station for a quick squizz. I would rank this train journey as the poorer cousin to the Grand Canyon Railway. It runs a third of the distance, under grey rocky cliffs that aren’t particular pretty or striking, and it’s 25% more expensive to ride. We were glad we’d chosen the other experience instead.

Back to the apartment for some lunch, a quick laundry wash and nap before setting out again at 4.30pm to catch the sunset at Airport Mesa. A “mesa” is a table top formation that sits above the valley floor in the shape of a staple. Some can be quite tall, such as the ones between Bryce Canyon and Kenab. Sedona’s airport sits on top of a mesa that’s about 100m in elevation. It’s a great place to watch a sunset because it’s flat on top and it’s also very popular and crowded.

We paid the $3 parking fee and decided to walk to the Airport Vortex before coming back to the mesa for sunset. Sedona claims to have 5 vortexes in the area. A vortex supposedly is a particular point where earth’s energy is stronger and creates a place of healing and emotional balance. It was 2km from the mesa to the vortex and when we got there, the view was great but I didn’t feel any hippie vibes – except the people around us doing meditation. I reckon it’s a great marketing gimmick. Or maybe I sucked the vortex vibes into the black hole of my sceptical soul!

We trudged back uphill to the mesa to watch the sunset. There were at least 100 people there and whilst I decided to watch the sunset rather than photograph it, I did take two photos of the crowds, which I found more interesting. It wasn’t as good a location as Pyramid Mountain for watching the sunset.

Once the sun had set, we went into town for a Tex Mex dinner. I ordered a prickly pear lemonade, which was delicious, and a chimichanga. Dwayne ordered a sopapilla mexicali, which was a Mexican fried dough covered in chili, beans, olives, spring onions etc. Both dishes were HUGE and I couldn’t finish all mine. We finished with two scoops of ice cream; prickly pear and malted vanilla.

We returned to the Airport Mesa for night views over the town. That concluded our time in Sedona. What a hidden gem and I’m so glad we added it to our itinerary.

Tue, 20 September – Las Vegas

The drive out of Sedona, up Oak Creek Canyon, was a beautiful one. We had not seen it previously because we’d arrived at night, so we took our time appreciating all the many campgrounds, swimming holes and hiking rails in this wooded canyon. If I had more time, I would have liked to stay a night or two in the canyon to enjoy what it has to offer. My Dad would love all the swimming holes! It’s only a state park (not a national one) but we were surprised how every campground was full. Bookings are clearly a must.

Once we had ascended to the vast Colorado plateau, we turned west and started the long 4 hr drive back to Vegas. The scenery changed a number of times but once we reached the Arizona/Nevada border, the scenery started resembling Mordor and the last 1.5 hrs to Vegas was nothing of note. We stopped briefly at the Hoover Dam to get a snap and again lament over the water level. If I lived in Vegas, I’d be very nervous because they are or will be in serious trouble soon, if the water markers on the dam are anything to go by. Now that I think about it, the entire city of Vegas could shut down tomorrow and it wouldn’t be a disaster. Apart from tourism, it doesn’t do anything. It’s not a manufacturing town, it doesn’t supply agriculture, it’s not amongst beautiful scenery and it’s not a cultural or historical destination. It really doesn’t offer anything to the world that would be missed.

Driving in, we hit the magical 100F (38C) at 4pm in the arvo. Quite a difference from Bryce which was 52F one morning.

We visited the Venetian Hotel, which is impressive with its interior designs of Venice cityscape and actual canals and gondola rides inside the hotel. The highlight of the night was watching the Bellagio fountains. It was only 3 minutes long but the lights and water dancing in the dark was very pretty and whilst there was accompanying pop music, I couldn’t help but hear Claire de Lune as I imagined Matt Damon and George Clooney wandering off in different directions (Oceans 11).

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