My goodness! I feel like these happened ages ago. I have really enjoyed blogging, but as I have mentioned in other posts, the volume of reading and writing I am doing for my classes has really made this project drop in priority. I am slowly trying to find ways to incorporate it more consistently into the rhythm of my live and catch up on all the ideas and adventures I want to write about.
Cathedral Rock http://wildsedona.com/trails/cathedral.htm
The first of these hikes occurred on the weekend before classes started… so here I am eight weeks later finally making the time to write about it. Sadly, some of my initial thoughts and reactions are not nearly as present in my mind anymore. Anyways, the purpose of this hike was one last hurrah for the end of our summer fun and the looming start of our first semester of graduate classes the next day. We also wanted the opportunity to hang out together before the craziness of our lives set in. Naively, I thought at the time, of course we will still hang out all the time. Although we do still see each other a lot through either work or classes, the socializing has dropped off quite a bit as we each get a handle on our new lives and the demands of it.
We headed to Sedona to enjoy the hike and sunset at Cathedral Rock. The usual suspects came along: R, J, and A. The description of this hike is short and steep. I guess it depends on your interpretation of short… but I definitely agree with the steep part! This definitely challenged my confidence in my agility as well as my fear of heights. As I climbed upward, sometimes almost vertically, I found myself thinking what the h**l am I thinking? This would be followed by the realization that I would have to climb DOWN this same path. Because most of it is not a trail and more of a climb up solid rock, they have build cairns of rocks to keep you headed in the right direction and on what I assume they are suggesting is the easiest path to take. Look in the pictures for an example.
As we climbed higher, the view got more and more amazing. We finally reached the top which was the saddle between the one farthest on the left and the next one. We rested and enjoyed the view for a while. It was then decided to climb a little further to a different saddle. Again, a few minor freak outs and cussing along the way, but arriving at the top is so worth it! After hanging out there for a while, we headed back down to truly enjoy the sunset. As soon as the sun hit the horizon, we started scrambling down. I certainly did not want to be negotiating my way down in the super dark! Every so often, I would still want to stop and enjoy the view and the changing colors of the sky. Luckily, the climb down was not quite as scary as I thought. I just stayed low to the ground and took my time! It was a lovely way to spend our last evening together before our semester started.
Wupatki National Monument http://www.nps.gov/wupa/
We had so much fun on our previous week’s sunset hike that we decided to do another one (and we kinda got a late start in the day!) This time it was me, R, and A. Our goal was to get to the main monument, but we didn’t quite make it. This was the first time I had been in this direction, and yet again, I was in a for a surprise with regards to the terrain and vegetation. It is so crazy how quickly it changes and the diversity you discover in every direction. I just had no idea how rich in natural surroundings that Arizona can be. Every experience has shown me something new.
Our first stop was the Citadel and Nalakihu Pueblos. These were old Native American ruins that had been preserved. The path for the Citadel travels around the elevated ruins and when you come around the bend you discover there is a huge crater. The amount of work put into these brick pueblos, as well as their lasting power, is impressive. After checking this one out for a while, we kept moving as our original plan was to check out the primary ruins. Our last stop ended up being the Doney Mountain. We hiked to the top of this little “mountain,” and were rewarded with an amazing 360 degree panoramic view. We could see for miles in all directions. We could see the San Francisco Peaks in one direction and in another the Painted Desert. I was super excited for my first glimpse of the Painted Desert. We sat back and enjoyed the changing colors of the sky as the sun set. It was so different in every direction. It was also very peaceful and relaxing. This hike was not nearly precarious so we did not feel rushed to leave as soon as the sun hit the horizon. The other really enjoyable part about this hike was the amount of flower and plant life I observed. It was the greatest variety I had seen so far, and I saw new vegetation that I had never seen before. A lot of my little camera phone pictures didn’t capture it well, but there are some in the pictures.
Picture Links
Cathedral: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2212290&id=18808643&l=cb9b12df58
Wupatki: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2216530&id=18808643&l=cdc88f8ec2
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