This is my first camping trip with my camper. I am excited and a bit nervous; do I have
everything?, will I remember to turn things on and off at the appropriate time?,
will I remember to lock the refrigerator before driving? – no, but the results
were not too bad. Do we have enough food?
– more than enough – one issue settled.
Up to this point the range of my hikes has been dictated by leaving,
hiking and returning home the same day.
I have been looking to expand my hiking area by adding day(s) to my explorations. I’ve never really been a hotel person when
getting out for hiking/photographing or fishing, not that I don’t like hotels,
generally they just aren’t located at the trailhead or trout stream of
choice. So for the past period of time I
have been looking for a large pickup and an in-bed truck camper.
My hike into the Inner Basin was an opportunity while I was
in the neighborhood. I’m actually in
Flagstaff to attend the Overland Expo, a marketplace of camping, camping
vehicles, motorcycling. In general different ways of just getting
outdoors. I am interested in seeing
camping equipment; primarily truck campers.
I did stop to see other forms of camping; tents on trucks, tents on
trailers, plain old everyday tents and large expensive and very expensive all
terrain camping vehicles. The only thing
I didn’t explore was camping via motorcycle; I like four wheels and a lot of
sheet metal around me. I’m glad I
went. I didn’t get all my questions
answered but I was able to narrow my choices.
My rental car’s thermometer says it’s 10°. I let the car warm up before taking off on my
photo expedition. Thankfully the car has
heated seats, but they seem to take way too long to warm my butt. Warm air will not pour out of the vents for
another 10 minutes. I’m still going.
This is our final day, and hike for this trip. After loading up with the free breakfast at
the hotel we pack the car and start our trip to Fay Canyon. Laurie texted then called Don to see if he
was hiking or not. No response. Oh well, we can do this one on our own. As we pull into the parking lot Don is
already putting on his pack, waiting for us.
Should have known better.
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.
Our first day’s hike is to and along Brins Mesa to see Angel
Falls then continuing around Cibola Mesa.
Don was here the previous day, snow and all. He’s wants us to see Angel Falls; water does
not flow over the falls very often so he wants us to see it while there is
still snow melt. After the first mile of
hiking we take off the outer layer of fleece because the sun is warm. Even with the warm sun, shaded portions of
the trail are covered with ice and snow.
The sun drenched portions are wet from melted snow. Climbing up on to the mesa reveals different
views of the rock formations. We pass by
the west end of the Fin to its snow dotted north face. As we ascend higher more snow appears along
the trail. Trickles of water are forming
in the low sections of the trail from the sun warmed snow. The final climb to see the falls is steep and
icy. We are encouraged to take our time
since a slip on the rocks can end up painful, if not worse.
Not wanting to sit at home over Christmas break I started
looking for someplace to go for a few days.
I just finished trips to Greece and northern Wisconsin but I still have
the urge to get away, but not so far that I have to fly. There are quite a number of close options;
Bisti Badlands, Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon and Canyon de Chelly to
start. My friend and hiking partner,
Laurie came up with Sedona. She has a hiking
and cycling friend that lives there, Don, who is always looking for an excuse
to hike.
