Happy trails

Monday, April 4, 2011

CORNVILLE, AZ — The freshness in this morning’s air was ideal for today’s activity: a visit to some of the walking trails around Sedona. There are dozens from which to choose, nicely catalogued in a free handout with distances, level of difficulty and how high each climb is, plus a map to show where the trailheads are.

The tourist information person highlighted a couple of trails for us that would provide some beautiful scenery without too much exertion. With the brisk morning air and a perfectly clear sky, we had everything we needed! Plus our backpack with water bottles, and our hats, sunscreen, and cameras, of course.

A pathway of red sand and rocks led us up toward the rock formations behind the town, with plenty of evergreen trees along the way to shade us from the sun. Lots of butterflies danced among the shrubbery – mostly small ones with black wings striped with tan or orange. But we did see two large yellow swallow-tail butterflies, which are the official Arizona state butterfly. They were magnificent.

Tiny wildflowers, like miniature purple stars, peeked out from the grasses at the edge of the trail, as well as some taller yellow broom snakeweed and desert marigolds. Spiky agave plants and a few prickly-pear cacti reminded us that we were on a desert trail, despite the greenery everywhere.

Aside from the few times we passed other hikers, we had the trail to ourselves, and every now and then we stopped and stood quietly to hear the wind swish through the evergreens, or watch a turkey vulture make circles overhead.

Always, behind the vegetation and rocks, stood huge red rock formations, striped by successive eons of geological periods and carved by wind and water into amazing shapes. Great chunks of rock by the trail gave testament to the changing nature of these monoliths – but we wondered if human beings ever actually saw the pieces break away and fall. Not on our watch, we noted gratefully.

When we finished our first hike, we took the truck up the airport road to a viewpoint above the town, where we ate our bag lunch and admired the view. The whole town of Sedona was spread out below us like a map, with the red rocks like castle walls around it.

Before we took our second trail, we stopped in a shopping area to look at some twirling garden ornaments we’d seen in Santa Fe and here at a couple of places. They’re beautifully constructed with slender metal scoops like spokes on a wheel that turn gently in the breeze, and when they’re doubled up to turn in opposing directions, the effect is like a flower slowly opening. After checking the price tags on them, we realized that, unfortunately, they would never decorate our back yard — not at $2,000 a pop.

Our second trail was less of a climb than the first, which worked out well with the day having warmed up a bit more by this time. Again, we enjoyed the wonderful views and natural surroundings for an hour or so. A person could go on one trail a day and not run out of new ones to visit for weeks.

It was time to head back and pick up a few groceries on the way. After a short rest, we cleaned up and headed back into Sedona with Scott and Mary Jane, our new Ontario friends at our campground. We returned to the airport viewing area to watch the sun set over the town in glorious shades of yellow, orange, red, purple and pink.

Then it was off to a nice local restaurant for a lovely dinner, with lots of animated conversation, and a drive back to camp under a black velvet sky studded with brilliant stars, and a sliver of smiling moon. Mother Nature went all out for us today.