Sedona - Doe Mesa Hike

Click on any image for a larger view

Our second day’s hike is to the Doe Mesa along Dry Creek Road.  It is about 5 miles west of Sedona.  The mesa itself is about 400’ above the surrounding terrain measuring about a half mile by a quarter mile at the mesa top.  I could get used to this; having a multitude of hiking trails within a 30 minute, or less, drive from town.

Each of us is stiff this morning but we know that getting out for another hike will take care of that.

Since we took an auto tour of the rock formations in the Oak Creek Village area we arrive at the trailhead after 10.  Each parking area we pass for other trailheads is packed with vehicles.  We end up parking along the road with dozens of other vehicles for our hike of choice.

This trail is popular with many families hiking to the top.  The switchbacks go from mud to ice depending on how much sun reaches the trail.  Sandstone, even when wet, actually grips our hiking boots.  This is not the way it works when hiking the granite in the many mountains of New Mexico.  It takes me a while to trust my footing on the wet sandstone.

After a 45 minute hike, including many switchbacks, we arrive at a small slot between rocks leading us to the top.  Once on top we pick a route leading to and around the edge of the mesa.  Views from the precipice are everywhere.  As we stand on one point looking out, awestruck by the view, we see the next point we have to visit to see if that view is just as good.  From here we can see Fay Canyon just a few miles away.  Don tells us about the canyon; we decide then and there Fay Canyon will be tomorrow morning’s hike before returning to Albuquerque.

As we continue around the mesa we can see back to Sedona and some of the formations that are familiar from the Brins Mesa hike.  We see kids running along the edge of the mesa stopping just before getting to the edge.  I had this hollow feeling in my stomach seeing kids I don’t even know looking over the edge.  This must be how parents feel when they see their kids hanging over cliff edges.  I couldn’t look.

Farther along our hike we could see the encroachment of multimillion dollar homes at the base of the mesa.  It seems each one is several thousand square feet in size.  We were told they are only used a small portion of each year.

Some other hikers came upon a lost 10 year old boy.  He wandered away from his mom and siblings.  It’s amazing how large a ½ mile by ¼ mile mesa is under those conditions.  He had a walkie-talkie but the batteries were not installed and he had to guess which channel his family was using.  Planning was good; implementation, not so much.  For those of you that want or need to use walkie-talkies please make sure everyone actually uses them, talking and listening, before taking off on a hike.  I believe if that had been done before this hike that boy would not have gotten lost.  I’m off my soapbox now.

The trip back down the mesa is a little less treacherous.  The ice has turned to a thin layer of mud, but grippy mud so there was no skating down the rocks.

We hit the Javelina Cantina for dinner.  There was some traffic coming into Sedona but it took only a few extra minutes to get to our destination.  Our walking to the restaurant is still a bit slow but otherwise we all feel pretty good.  I have another beer; everyone else is more daring having margaritas. 

As we drive back to Cottonwood the Sedona traffic is lined up even farther than the previous day.

No additional laundering is needed to clean the red sandstone mud from our clothing this evening.

Tomorrow, on to Fay Canyon.

Thank you for stopping by,

Mark