Sedona, AZ

 3/3/23

Not one of the nicest places we have camped so far, but it is a safe place and the morning view was pretty nice!

Sedona, AZ!!!!!

Route 89A....a beautiful stretch of road!!!  It was closed, because they got so much snow, but the road crew in Sedona works miracles!

This is called Midgley Bridge....there was a pull off and we hopped out for a quick hike!

Because we couldn't find a place to camp last night, we sprung for a campsite at Rancho Sedona RV Park....it was expensive, $88, (I KNOW) it is a beautiful campground, with WIFI, hot showers, and well, that's about it, and I know that sounds like a ridiculous price, but we have saved a lot of money on free camping on this trip, SO......AND, as a side note, we have a neighbor who has a pet duck named DUCKota!!!!

We couldn't check in until noon, so we figured we would do a hike to Soldier's Pass!

OOPS........the guy in the truck in front of us backed up (there was another trailer in trouble ahead of him) Ernie got out to see if he could help and the next thing I know (as I was looking at my computer) was BAM!  I just about soiled myself, but mostly because I knew Ernie had to be sick....HIS TRUCK!!  By the goodness of God (who has been with use this WHOLE trip) there was VERY minimal damage to the truck....a small piece of chrome seems dented, but we won't know until we get back to PA and have it checked out!

Start of the Soldiers Pass Trail (4.7 roundtrip and 1 mile to the trailhead)

Thanks to the Byrd Family who were vacationing here in Sedona from Alaska (they wanted a break from snow....LOL)!  They had 2 adorable little girls who kept us chuckling the whole way up to the caves!  Thank goodness for them (God moment) because they led us on an incredible hike!  He had an app called Trail All (Ernie now has it too)!  Anyway, they were a wonderful family (will show a pick of them at the caves)!

This is called Devil's Kitchen...the rock split perfectly and fell into a cave!

7 Sacred Pools!  Now if you Google 7 sacred caves at Sedona, you will see actual pools of water, but because the run off was so bad, the pools were overflowing!

We walked through A LOT of cricks (yes, Ernie and I refuse to say creek) that are usually non-existent in this dry Arizona landscape! A lot of beautiful scenery...almost too much to look at, at one time)

This is the start of the hike up to the cave (we had already gone a couple miles, but this last little bit was steep and, at times, a little dicey (thanks goodness for hiking sticks)!

But look at what we saw at the top.........

I wasn't going back in there to explore!

This is odd, but this is a picture looking up, at one point in the cave!

This is the Byrd Family!!!!!!!  Great family!!!!

We decided to start back down without the companionship of this little family (and not hold them up, because they were quite a bit quicker than us)!  Kept getting muddier, and muddier, and wetter and wetter!  But surprisngly, the mud wasn't all that slippery!

My hiking stick, should give you an idea of how steep the way back down actually was (at some parts anyway)!

Took a little water break on the way back down at the 7 Sacred Pools!

We made it back to the truck (then we remembered....:( ) but the day was so glorious, it really didn't matter (well maybe it would if there was more damage, but thankfully not)!

Back at our $88 campsite, showered (HOT HOT HOT), ate dinner, and crashing!

Planning on another short hike tomorrow, then driving to Flagstaff, where we are getting a hotel room and a good dinner at a good restaurant (AND ANOTHER HOT SHOWER)!

NIGHT!

Road to Sedona AZ

 3/2/23

Rained all night, but a little higher up, it snowed!  We have been debating of where to go from here!  We are headed for Sedona, BUT they got a lot of snow last night and we are not sure if some roads might be closed!  We are headed there anyway!

Snow pretty much everywhere on the way to Sedona, but we expected it!

Reminds me of Pittsburgh and NOT Arizona!  We picked the worst year to come to Arizona when it is usually great weather!

Aaahh, getting out of the snow, headed to Cottonwood!

Not much to tell today, we looked EVERYWHERE for a place to camp between Cottonwood and Sedona, but because of the weather, all the dispersed camping is nothing except RED MUD! We were going to just pull into the Walmart, but can you BELIEVE it, there was a sign that said NO Camping!  Are they aware that we own STOCK in Walmart because we have been in every Walmart from Pittsburgh to Arizona!  How DARE THEY!  I think I will send them a little note!  LOL

Anyway, we FINALLY found a little fairground from Harvest Host for $10.  Not the prettiest place we have stayed but, it will work for tonight!

At least you can see the mountains in the background!

Wish us luck with finding a place tomorrow!  LOL!  We are going to try to do some hiking tomorrow at some of the parks in Sedona!

NIGHT!

Tortilla Flat, AZ

3/1/23

There sure was a lot of great scenic views in the little canyon at Tortilla Flat AZ!

Where's Waldo (Ernie)...Ernie is a tall guy, but that cactus was gigantic!

The Superstition Saloon!  Giddyup!

                

                                                                      

We left our mark.........they SAID they would put it on the wall......Guess we will never know for sure!

               

Had to drive through the river to get access to the extremely, winding, canyon road (9 miles long and then ends)  The remainder of the road that lead to the Roosevelt Dam was destroyed by a land slide and was never repaired!  The river wasn't as bad as it seems, but, still...we drove through the river!

There were A LOT of switchbacks (I learned that a switchback was another way of saying extremely winding roadways through the mountains)!

One of the MANY photos that the camera does NO justice!

One of our places to camp wish list (maybe next time, LOL)!

Night!

Until tomorrow!  Hopefully, internet will be better so I can post more frequently!