| |
|
| | |
|
| Hiking | 3.58 Miles |
535 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.58 Miles | 2 Hrs | | 1.95 mph |
| 535 ft AEG | 10 Mns Break | | | |
|
|
| |
| Linked |
|
none
[ show ]
| no linked trail guides |
| Partners |
|
none
[ show ]
| no partners | | After a nice lunch back at our suite, we headed back out with the hope of finding a parking spot below the Airport Mesa Vortex and guess what, we did. I just don't like that hike down from the airport vista parking area. We headed up to the Summit for a look-see. It's hard to beat the views from there. I took photos of the gals and we even got one of me. We headed back down and away from the small crowd of people in the area and started our hike clockwise.
We were in the shade off and on during this part of the hike. We would only see two people on this side until we got over to the north side. The trail is kind of ledgy but Tina acclimated pretty quickly to it. It's a fairly decent trail tread with the usual rocky Sedona trail from time to time. And, of course, you really can't beat the views here. I was able to use some of the trees as a frame up of Cathedral Rock even though the light was not great due to the time of day. This is a hike better saved for the morning. I'm still impressed by all the beautiful and almost lush prickly pear cactus that line the trail in spots. Needless to say, it looks really healthy.
We got to the west side after hiking up gradually along the side. Once on top, the trail takes you through the golden grasses. The views at this time of day are not well lit. We did get to see a couple aircraft fly over us. I managed a few photos and Google photos made a pretty cool pano out of them. It is very rocky up here so not necessarily a pleasant hike. We got to the other side of the airport and went down through what looked like a rock slide as it is even more rocky. We crossed the gully and the trail split. I don't remember that from before. Tina wanted to go east but I wanted to continue northwest up the hill. Looking at the satellite map, it looks like the east trail ends up back on the main trail but it's hard to tell.
Soon we were heading down the northwest side. And all of a sudden, we could hear coyotes; sounded like they scored. We listened for a bit before heading down the side of the hill where you reach a junction with the Bandit Trail. From here back to Tonto 3 we saw about 1/2 dozen hikers and a couple dogs. You have minimal tree cover and are hiking on some nicer trail tread. And once again, you have pretty nice views with Thunder Mountain to the north and other areas to the Northeast where I nabbed a good picture of the Coffee Pot and we even spotted the Devil's Kitchen Sinkhole over in the Soldier Trail area. We hiked in the shade of the mountain for the last 1/4 mile before making it to the Vortex parking where a couple cars were waiting for a spot to park.
Tina thought it would be better just to hike only the south side as an out and back. I think it depends more on what kind of light you get. Here is the link to the video I created with Filmora 12 which is a significant update and thus why I am switching from Adobe Premiere Elements. It's still a learning curve but I just like all the fun things I can do and I think it makes for a better video: [ youtube video ] |
| _____________________
For me, sometimes it's just as much about the journey as the destination.
Oh, and once in awhile, don't forget to look back at the trail you've traveled. |
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 