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.
My trip to northern Wisconsin starts in the 70’s
(temperature, not the year). 20 degree
temperatures are forecast for my destination but even this forecast is better
than last year’s dodging of snow, ice and rain.
I have to dig through my files from the book ‘Hiking
Adventures in Northern New Mexico’ for a new place to hike. I feel I’m under pressure to find something
new and different for my experienced hiking partners Becca and Laurie. The book has descriptions of many trails and
a CD which has routes and waypoints for each of the trails. It is a bit dated; last published in 2006,
but I have found a number of trails that I was not aware of. Today’s hike is one of those.
