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Up up and away.....
There were several hot air balloons taking off from Sedona at about 7AM. When I return here I'm definitely going on one of these rides. Today I again drove to the same Forrest Service Road that Devils Bridge is on (FR152), but drove about a mile further down the dirt road to reach the trail head of Brins Mesa West. The trail wanders through some small pine trees and crosses a dried up creek bed. This part of the hike was fairly uneventfull but I did run across a few jackrabbits and also a herd of
javelinas. In all I'd say there were about 10 and they ran across the trail about 200 yards ahead of me. Unfortunately I couldnt get my camera out fast enough to take a good picture. Man they are fast!
I soon reach the end of the mesa, where there are spectacular views of the surrounding mountains and Sedona far below. You can continue down the trail to Sedona, but I chose just to hang out at the edge of the mesa for about 45 minutes looking for some good pictures and to take in the scenery. For my limited hiking in the area, this turned out to have the best view by far.
At one point, I wasnt paying attention to where I was going and walked pretty
much through a bush, and you can see the end result in the picture. The bush obviously won this battle. It looks a lot worse then it actually is though. I was pretty much done taking pictures so I returned to my car and was off to Cathedral Rock.
Cathedral Rock Trail is a short trail up the side of a rock. You cant get to the top, and I actually didnt even go to the end of the trail. Too steep for me especially after my Devils Bridge experience. So I only went up as far as I felt comfortable. I think I've discovered that at least to some extent, I have a fear of heights. Maybe not a fear of heights but a fear of steep trails that I can climb up, but will be stuck on top of and cant get down from. Is there a name for a condition like that? But I still enjoyed a nice view of the surrounding area. It was getting pretty warm out by this point as it was early afternoon so I decided to head into Sedona for some lunch.
I ate at Amara Cantina, which if you
get seated in a good spot, has some great views of the surrounding area. I had the shrimp tacos. Ever since having the best shrimp tacos at a local restaurant in Atlanta called Six Feet Under, I've been on a quest to find taco's that top those. Amara's taco's, although good, were not even in the same league as Six Feet Under's. The quest continues. After lunch I again spend a few hours wandering around downtown Sedona, eventually buying some gifts as well as some things for myself like a signed photograph of Cathedral Rock by Louis DeSerio who studied under Ansel Adams. By this time its about 4PM so I decide to do another hike before sunset.
I dont remember the trail name, but the bottom line is that after going a few miles down a Forrest Service Road about 9 miles West of Sedona I see a sign that says that the area is closed for the day. Bummer. Oh well I decide to drive back to Sedona to check out some spots for viewing the sunset. I first drive to the airport, which has a great view but have been told there are a lot of
people there for the sunset. Another option is to go up Schnebly Road which is just off of 179 going South out of Sedona. So I drive up there and the road eventually turns into a very bumpy dirt/rock road. I make it about 3 out of the 5 miles and think to myself is it really worth all this wear on my car to get a good view of the sunset? I think not although there are plenty of cars making the trip down this road, I decide my car has endured enough, turn around, and head back to the airport. By the time I get back to the airport there are a lot of people here....I'd say maybe around 100 but I still get a good view of the sunset. There werent many clouds in the sky so no real dramatic pictures, but between the airport and Schnebly Road I get a few good pictures, one of which I think is probably the best picture I've taken on the trip.
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