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Published: March 28th 2023
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Off we go again today. This time to Sedona with full intention of hiking in Boynton Canyon within which is Subway Cave and a powerful vortex. I do believe that Sedona is the tourist destination of North American! Approaching the city is a wondrous site to behold - they don’t call it Red Rocks Country for no reason. The mountains and cliffs here are the most intense red I have seen thus far. Large buttes and sharp pinnacles jut into the clear azure sky. There are odd shapes and sizes at every turn. I found the turn for Dry Creek Road which leads out to Boynton Canyon. But so did everyone else in the country! There is not a parking spot to be found within miles but I am seeing shuttles going back and forth. So I head back into town to find a shuttle station. No such luck there either. Finally I found the Chamber of Commerce tourist information centre.
I came out of there with a fistful of maps and instructions on how to find every trail other than Boynton. The lady basically told me I was wasting my time thinking about Boynton. First it was extremely muddy
and wet from all the rain and flooding they had last week. Second, it’s Spring Break and every college/university student within 5,000 miles is there this week. Which explains the bumper to bumper traffic and shortage of parking everywhere. There isn’t even any place to stop and take pictures. I’m glad I went and saw it but never want to go back again.
Highly disappointed, I figured that I might as well head back to the camp. I did check out a couple of trail heads on the way but again absolutely no place to park.
So Malika and I arrived back at camp right around noon. She headed straight out the door (on her leash of course) and has been exploring ever since. There is so much to see and smell! And there are tiny wrens who land in the azaleas and chitter at her. Very frustrating. The weather today is simply fantastic. Right now at 1:30 it is 20 degrees and will probably be 22 before too long. Nice breeze and I’m sitting under the Azalea shrubs lining my campsite.
Every time I’m driving the road back to camp I think I must remember to
describe the countryside for you. I am in Verde Valley so named because the Verde River runs through here. I do believe that at least 50% (maybe more) of roads, streets, places, businesses, etc. have Verde in their name. The valley has rolling rocky hills that are mostly desert and the valley is surrounded on all sides by mountains. The desert here is referred to as high desert (as opposed to low desert which is further south). So none of the big saguaro cactus or joshua tree cactus. High desert gets colder in the winter so the plants here are much sturdier and cold resistant. Prickly pear cactus, of which there are many varieties, abound. There are hedgehog cactus, agave, cholla, yuccas and ocotilla (which looks like a bunch of sticks someone stuck in the ground. There’s also scrub size trees of mesquite, juniper and something that no one seems to know what it’s called. Flowers are small and typically alpine varieties. Otherwise everything in between towns is just desert and rocks. Even grass in town is pretty rare. The mountains are mostly yellowish brown limestone, not much red here.
Tomorrow we start heading back east but first a
little further south. The first night will be in Lordsburg, New Mexico and we‘ll make a detour to see White Sands National Park before aiming towards Carlsbad where we’ll stay 2 nights. Then it’s a race for home like an old horse running for the barn.
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