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| Hiking | 3.07 Miles |
936 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.07 Miles | 2 Hrs 29 Mns | | 1.33 mph |
| 936 ft AEG | 11 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | My fellow glacier chatter and friend and my former classmate and friend got to spend a few days in Sedona. We had to rough it at the Hyatt as Tina had to "use it or lose it" points for a timeshare. Her husband couldn't get away from work so she was stuck with us (Deborah is down from Montana until the end of the month). I picked out several hikes for our few days; a small one in the morning and the bigger hike in the afternoon. After all, it was a bit nippy; especially in the mornings.
This is my third hike of this mountain (May 2012, Nov 2020). After a leisurely breakfast, we headed out passing by the busier areas of Dry Creek Road where many hikers vehicles were piling up... on a Wednesday morning. We were lucky to find a parking spot right in the Bear/Doe Trailhead lot. Our parking luck would continue for most of our stay, including the Airport Loop.
The bottom of the trail is in good shape and it seems to me they've added more stairs. They did a very nice job. However, there are three tricky areas still to traverse. I see they are having problems directing hiker traffic through one of them. I do like the long switchbacks, even though it's not really that steep. However, it gives you a chance to check out the terrain including an icy ledge with a prickly pear cactus almost laying in it... made for an interesting picture.
We encountered a few people on the way up as we would on the way down. Hikers on this trail come in all sizes and ages. Once we got on top we only saw two other hikers who were sitting at the far south edge; otherwise, it was just us. I like hiking as close to the edge as possible but Tina's not that fond of ledges. Interestingly enough, every hike we took her on involved some ledges. However, she did get used to them by the end. And early on this trip, she had her first encounter with a prickly pear that reached up and introduced itself.
We strayed away from the edge and continued south, still admiring the views to the east including Mescal Mountain where I would take them on Friday afternoon. Soon we could see Chimney Rock to the west of Thunder Mountain/Capitol Butte and in the further distance, Airport Mesa Loop. The breeze would pick up from time to time but not enough to warrant putting my jacket back on. I pointed out some of the flora. Once you get over to the west side you could see the snow on the mountains. Below to the southwest, the construction has really picked up with several more very large houses on big lots. Looking to the bottom of the mesa though, you get to see the lines in the rock that the sea left behind and that's always cool  .
We turned north where we had clear views to the very intriguing mountains of the Sycamore Canyon Wilderness and that big ole Bear Mountain. Once you start east, the trail near the edge is very sketchy so we ended up wandering back and forth quite a bit. The whole trek is rather rocky so you have to pay attention to your footing, especially if you're trying to take in the never-ending view. We headed back down into the shade of the mountain encountering a few people; some I wondered if they would make it up. We did a little rumpaging too; it was just easier that way.
I did take movies as I haven't done any since early October. I am using a new editing program, Filmora, so I've had a bit of a learning curve but so far, I think I like it better than Premiere Elements. One of the main reasons I'm switching is because the AI took a big leap on that software. It also seems a little more user friendly, other than I can't get it to load straight to youtube, some kind of internet connection issue.
Anyway, it was a great way to start our day but the hike ended up being a bit longer than I anticipated. However, we weren't in any kind of a hurry... obviously  . Interestingly enough, I mentioned in my 2020 triplog that I thot the 965 AEG was too high but as you can see, this time RS says 936 and I did sync it.
Here is the link to the video I created using Filmora. The transitions are fun and they have lots of other cool things I am just learning about. However, I discovered that the same video looks very different on the various media so IF you happen to watch and you see flickering, I would love to know (and what media you were using to watch). I noticed the flickering on my larger Fire TV, but not on any of my other media. UPDATE 2-19-2023, I researched and changed some settings so this is the updated video and the flickering should be gone: [ youtube video ] |
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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. |
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The whole hike was short, sweet and stunning. It was really wet and muddy scrambling up the slick rocks but the views made it worth it! We even had a snowstorm when we were on top. Just so pretty and peaceful. Highly recommend for early morning on a snow day! Snow had melted by mid morning, which we observed from destination 2.
and drove out to Doe Mountain and would combine that with Mescal Trail.
to tackle that 1/2 mile; now that's perseverance 
. I do hope they made it down okay. The husband said the wife read that it was rated an easy hike. That is not how I would rate this hike as even when you're on top, it's not the easiest going either. I think he did much better than she did but still; what an effort on their part. I was glad to get down as it's not the easiest trail as it's slippery and so worn now. There are step-offs that you really have to find a hand-hold to get down the bigger step downs; mostly because you don't want to slide when you land. There was a lot of people traffic as I was coming down too.
