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| no partners | | | Seems like many of us "Zonies" headed up North to enjoy hiking in Sedona! Originally, we were going to hike Woods Canyon, but my hip decided to act up the day before, so West Fork Trail it was and it was a great substitute. The fee is $7 and no Red Rock Pass accepted, but if you have the Golden Age or Golden Access Pass then the fee was $3.50. My hiking partner, Scottie, is a local from Sedona, so was very familar with this trail and calmed my anxiousness of starting out late. One good thing, was starting it off with a hearty breakfast at "The Coffee Pot," which I highly recommend...great food and excellent prices. We arrived a little before 1pm and the parking lot was about 80% full. Just when you think there's no parking spaces left, the lot curves and you let out a big sigh of relief, as you happily park your vehicle. There's a large building with about three "outhouse" type toliets before you start the hike. These "bathrooms" were large enough to set up a 4 person tent, but then again the lovely aroma would of changed your mind. We crossed the bridge and the guard rail made out of metal was hot enough to fry an egg...yeah, I know, you really can't fry an egg that way, but...it was HOT. Sedona was 90 degrees this day and fortunately this trail has a lot of shade. Take a hat though, for there were open areas. The trail opened with the ruins of Mayhews Lodge, a chicken coop in a small cave, gorgeous ferns, apple trees, and a breathtaking view of Sedona's red rocks. The trail then becomes sandy for a bit and then it's excellent hiking from then on...it's rated moderate, but I felt it was easy to moderate, as there were some short rocky/sandy climbs, but it's a great hike for beginners if you stop by Scottie's Red Lizard Rock and turn around there, though you can't tell it's a rock looking like a lizard until you get the pictures back. Scottie says we walked about 1 1/2 miles in and who am I to argue with a man who can count. Lots of opportunities to "walk in the creek" or "show off" by walking the logs in the water, which Scottie happily complied with...me, doing the former, pretending I was "walking in the mud puddles" after a rain. We saw lizards doing push ups, which really means their competing...hmm, were they competing for me or for Scottie...butterflies chasing each other, minnows going around in circles, water bugs with a neat shadow, and HUGE ravens with LOUD calls. Fortunately, NO snakes and NO bears...Scottie had seen a cub and bear scats a couple of days ago in the Munds area. He did a great job of imitating a rattler until he got "smacked" by me and I noticed the performance wasn't repeated. We noticed returning hikers WITHOUT water were coming back and obviously a little overheated...when will they ever learn. As we stopped to let at least 20-25 hikers by and stopped to take pictures, the hike in was 1 hour and 15 minutes...thank the Lord for chrono. On the way back, there is an "arch" carved out on the canyon wall, that we're eyeing to check out next time. On the return, we ran into about 4 hikers, so it was great coming back and truly enjoying the cayon walls, getting up close to view the tree bark textures, and taking lots of pictures. Definitely take water, hat, sunglasses, munchies, camera, and wear Tevas or old tennies, unless you can "walk" on water, which many of us in the Coast Guard did...but, I still wore my Tevas. Feel free to email me if you would like to see pictures. |
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