SCHNEBLY HILL EXPEDITION

 Before I went to Sedona, Arizona, a hiking buddy who had been there, told me to be sure and do the Schnebly Hill hike, and so I was delighted to find out that  area was where my Road Scholar group ( www.RoadScholar.org ) was planning on spending the last full day of our six-day trip.  What made it even better was that it was the only hike we took where I was able to get a photograph of those majestic red rocks, being reflected in a pool of water!

 Our group followed the Mund's Wagon Trail, which was once a cattle trail, and meanders beside Schnebly Hill Road.  Theodore Carlton Schnebly was the first post master of this area, and the town is named after his wife, Sedona Schnebly.  Schnebly Hill Road used to be the main highway between Sedona and Flagstaff.  It still serves as a connector road between Interstate 17 and Sedona.  However, it is not paved, and one needs to be in a high clearance vehicle to safely travel over it.

 This photo shows not a cattle herd, but a "hiker herd" making their way up the mountainside, through the cactus and manzanita. 

 The higher elevations gave us striking views of the Coconino National Forest and Red Rocks Country.  I used what the locals call "mountain driftwood" (dried up manzanita bushes) as the foreground of the photo. 

 Just when we thought we could climb  no further, our leaders urged us onward and upward to the "saddle" of the rock formations.  As in all the hikes, I was "bringing up the rear", all the while snapping as many photographs as possible, without getting too far behind the group.

 This interesting formation was visible from the mountain top, and is called a rock "window".

 After we arrived at the saddle of the rock formations, three of us ladies decided we had quite enough climbing, and decided not to continue any further upward with the rest of the group.  I asked them to give me a big "V" sign for victory, as they continued on up the steep rock formation.

 The little specks of color you can see in the middle of this photo are the brave hikers that continued to scale the rock face.

 I was quite content to stay at this lower elevation, and it gave an opportunity for Andrea and me to take photos of each other, using our respective cameras, with the canyon beneath and behind us.

 Fortunately for us, the way to proceed on the sandstone bluffs was marked with white painted dashes, so we would not walk, by mistake,  down into a difficult-to-negotiate ravine.

 This photo of Andrea navigating along a narrow trail of the sandstone cliff, gives you an indication of the elevation change that we had already accomplished at that point.

 Once we arrived at a lower elevation, we found ourselves hiking through a well-worn path, through groves of evergreen trees.

 The conversation of we three ladies probably would have amused a bystander, as we discussed the trail marker that Lynn is pointing to in the upper left corner of this collage.  The sign said "Equestrian Bypass".  With my medical background, the first thing I thought of when I saw that sign, was a horse having heart surgery.  But between Andrea, with her background in computer software/languages, and Lynn's background as a college professor with a Ph.D, we came to a consensus that the sign meant for those on a horse not to take the trail ahead---it was only suited for those of two feet, not four!

 The nice thing about us three ladies not continuing to climb up the mountain, was that we had more time for photography and observation, on our return trip.  Our leader had pointed out a type of mistletoe that grows in the desert (see left side of photo).  What is interesting is to see the way that mistletoe has adapted to appear more like the evergreen tree that is its host (see right side of photo).  I realized that desert mistletoe looks completely different from the mistletoe seen growing in the oak trees of the Ozark Mountains.

 Lynn, Andrea, and I also came across two mountain bikers who were set up to do a photo shoot.  The photographer (on right side of collage) was videotaping his biker friend (on left side of photo) as he jumped his bike over a small ravine.  Amazingly, the biker made the jump without falling!

 Besides going through evergreen forests, our trail (called Mund's Wagon Trail) followed a stream bed for an extensive distance.

 I read one review of hiking this area that suggested hikers start out very early in the morning, and use the Schnebly Hill Road to go up the mountain, before the jeep traffic gets heavy.  Then, when the popular dirt road is "jeep-infested", the hiker can use the adjacent Mund's Wagon Trail through the forest, to make the descent back to the starting point. 

 There is a less likely chance that a hiker could get lost on the Mund's Wagon Trail hike, because you are almost always within a few hundred yards of the well-traveled Schnebly Hill Road, even though the road is seldom visible from along the forest trail.

 I like this photo because it illustrates to me, that sometimes a person just needs a helping hand to get them over a difficult spot in life.

 When I was reviewing all the photographs I took on this particular hike, I spotted the undeniable outline of a cross on a distant rock formation.  It reminded me of the Luke 19:40  verse from the Holy Bible where Jesus says, "I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."   Seeing such a "sign from above" made me end this post about my experience along Schnebly Hill Road with "Miles of Smiles"!    Tricia

LONG CANYON EXPEDITION

 This photo depicts the outdoor orientation that my Sedona Road Scholar group ( www.RoadScholar.org ) received, as we started out on our first day,  of what would be a full week of hiking and exploration in Red Rock Country around Sedona, Arizona ( www.VisitSedona.com ). 

 We climbed the slight incline out of the dry, rocky creek bed, headed into what our leader said was an area called Long Canyon.

 When our leader pointed out this "Y"- shaped stick on the trail, saying that it was a very important marker, to tell us how to return to our vans, I was getting pretty concerned about the possibility of getting lost, if random sticks were going to be our only trail markers!  I begin to actively start praying---repeating over and over---the first part of Psalm 16:11 that says "You make known to me the path of life...".  I took this photo of the stick because our leader PROMISED us it would still be laying in that same spot six hours later when we were scheduled to hike out of the canyon.  I was skeptical, however!

 The trail into Long Canyon starts out following an old jeep road. 

 After a bit more distance, we finally saw an "official" trail marker, so I was beginning to feel more reassured that I would not get lost in the desert, and never be heard of again!

 Many mountain bikers turn off the Long Canyon trail, and ride along the Deadman Pass Trail.  With a name like "Deadman", I was glad we were not taking that route!

 We encountered some of those mountain bikers as they were returning from their morning ride on Deadman's Trail, and stopped to chat with them for awhile.

 After a while, the jeep trail becomes overgrown with oak, manzanita, willow, sycamore, and maple trees, and hikers have to regroup to walk single-file.

 We also passed through a small, scattered population of Arizona Cypress trees.

 Our leader had each of us put our noses up against the bark of this large ponderosa pine tree, and then tell the others what we smelled.  My friend Lynn, shown in this photo, said she smelled vanilla (which is also the aroma I detected).

 I read that the tree pictured here is part of the largest contiguous ponderosa pine forest in north America.

 You might be able to guess what this tree is called, just by looking at its bark.  It is the crocodile juniper tree.

 The Pritchards are shown in this photo, studying the tall stalk of the agave plant,  in the center of the photo.

 Some steep "scrambling" (aka, rock climbing) took us up above the canopy to narrow ledges along the sandstone cliff walls.

 The higher altitude gave us a good view of this rock formation, which some locals call the "ice cream cone" because of the top of the formation, which looks like swirls of caramel ice cream.

 After walking along the ledges for several yards, we came upon these dwelling remains, and some pictographs.  I was enjoying sitting down for a rest stop here, and assumed that this would be the location for a leisurely lunch.

 I was wrong, however, as we were told to "keep on moving", since we had lots more territory to cover!

 Eventually, however, we stopped along a cliff face, to have our lunch.  I read one description of the Long Canyon Trail that said it involved a lot of "frictioneering".   I never could find out a good definition of "frictioneering", but since I am using friction of the rough rock, against the friction of my tired body, in this photo, I am adding new meaning to that term!

 As our group started back down the trail, our local guide, Peter (shown in this photo facing the camera), was very diligent to keep looking back to see if I was still with the group.  Perhaps because he is a gifted photographer (with his work being sold in Sedona area stores), he was patient with my incessant picture taking!

 Peter pointed out this green plant around some areas that had water runoff, and said it was the Sedona version of poison ivy.  Later, I read that one of the drawbacks of the Long Canyon hike is the presence of poison ivy, so be on the lookout for it!  At an Aldo Leopold land conservation workshop I attended ( www.aldoleopold.org ), one of our activities was to do a "Sound Map" in an outdoor area.  If one does a Sound Map in Long Canyon, you will be marking numerous instances of hearing the loud "sightseeing helicopters", as this is one of their regular routes to take their passengers.  However, those sounds did not bother me on my first desert hiking experience, because it made me think I might could flag one down, if I needed to be rescued!  Fortunately, all of our Road Scholar hikers made it back to civilization that day, and we all had "Miles of Smiles" from our Long Canyon adventure!   Tricia   (p.s. Our leader, Mike, had his promise fulfilled, as the "Y"-shaped stick had not been moved as a makeshift trail marker, during the six hours that went by, from the start to the finish of this hike!   PTL!!)

LOY CANYON EXPEDITION IN RED ROCK COUNTRY

 Loy Canyon is a remote area, several miles outside Sedona, Arizona.  In fact, it is so remote that while our Road Scholar hiking group ( www.roadscholar.org ) was there, we did not see another human being.  I hesitated before publishing this blogpost, thinking perhaps it was supposed to be some type of "hiker's secret".  However, when I googled "Loy Canyon", there were 519,000 links that appeared.  One of those links was the official government website ( www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/coconino/recre ) which can give you the exact driving directions to get there.

 Although the access road is not paved, one does not need a four-wheel drive to get to the trail head.  Our group traveled comfortably in these two 12-passenger vans. 

 The trail head is adjacent to the gate to the Honanki Ruins entrance.  Our group did not go to the Honanki Ruins, as our leader said that was an outing we could easily do on our own.  However, there is limited access to these ruins of the Sinagua Native Americans, so it is recommended that a visitor phone the Red Rock Ranger District at 928-282-4119 to make a reservation for your visit, and to assure that the access gate will be open when you go. 

 The trail into Loy Canyon has lots of twists, turns, and elevation changes, so our leader, Mike Young, made it a point to go over the trail map with the group, to give us a sense of where we were headed.  If you are interested in hiking in the Sedona area, but prefer a less remote experience, there are plenty of easier trails to explore.  You can find out more about such hikes (including maps)  by clicking on www.VisitSedona.com

 At the very beginning of our hike, we saw this yucca plant in bloom, which was the first of many colorful wildflowers and native plants, that we would see along the trail.

 Clusters of blackfoot daisies (shown in lower right of this photo) were covering the rocky terrain as we started into the canyon.  The fence to the left of the hikers borders the private property of Hancock Ranch.  The canyon gets its name from the Samuel Loy family that lived in the area in the 1880's.  The trail we were on was used by the Loys to move their livestock to and from summer pastures on the rim. 

 We saw several bushes of blooming Cliff Rose, and our leader squished up the blossoms between his hands to show how it could be used to form a lather for bathing, or removing odors. 

 This dog diligently guarded the private property which contained the old homestead and former vineyard of previous residents.  The dog was in that exact same spot when we hiked out of the canyon about seven hours later!!

 After hiking a while, we were rewarded with some rock art called "pictographs", which means they were painted symbols on the rock face.  It seems everyone got out their camera or phone to record these creative renditions of early inhabitants.

 Our leader pointed out how the artist had depicted motion of the shaking end of a rattlesnake by drawing several simulated "rattlers" at the end of the snake. 

 This hike through Loy Canyon took us through several mansanita thickets.  My son ( www.grovers-journey-journal.blogspot.com/ ) came up with a term for such maneuvers, which he calls MANZINEERING.  I would like to think that the trips to DisneyWorld and Epcot we took him on when he was a youngster, where we learned the word "Imagineer", had an influence on his coining this new mountaineering term.  (Perhaps the fact that he has a Master's Degree in engineering is also a factor, however!)

 The manzanita plant has red berries that look like apples, hence the name, as manzanita is the Spanish diminutive of manzana (apple).  Therefore, the literal translation is "little apple".

 Our goal for this hike was to get to the saddle of Loy Butte, and at this point we had just about made it to the first mesa, before going further up to the end of the trail.   The reason for this photo was more to catch my breath, as pointing the camera at my fellow hikers gave me an excuse to stop for a moment and rest!

 I was fascinated by a type of agave plant we saw growing in Loy Canyon.  During the early stage of its growth, it looks like a large asparagus spear (shown on left of collage).  A later stage of its growth reminded me of the "Jack and the Beanstalk" fairy tail, because of the extreme height it attained! (right side of photo collage).  Our leader told us that the stalk shown on the right side (the inflorescence) is sometimes dried and used to make didgeridoos (a wind instrument commonly associated with Australia).  Agave nectar is sometimes used as a sweetener. 

 Leader Mike Young is shown in this photo telling us about the cholla cactus.  Mike is on the staff of Northern Arizona University, that administers this particular Road Scholar program.

 Our hike through Loy Canyon included not only manzineering, but also bouldering, as shown in this photo. 

 This photo shows the variety of packs that various hikers used to carry their water, snacks, and other supplies.  The instructional material sent to us when we registered for this Road Scholar program advised each hiker have what is called a "day pack", with both a waist strap and a chest strap.  They also recommended it be equipped with a "bladder" connected to a suction tube, so that the hiker is able to access water at any point, without having to search through their pack for a water bottle.

 I was SO ELATED when I reached the top of Loy Butte that I asked Mike to take a photo of me giving the victory symbol, to embed in my memory this accomplishment!

 This photo shows the top of Loy Butte, where we had our lunch break.  It occurred to me that this was a TRUE "Hard Rock Cafe", and we even had a "centerpiece" of red blooms on our "dining table"!

 At the section of our hike where there was a natural amphitheater, sheltered from the sun by a large overhanging bluff, Mike told us all to find a comfortable spot, and line up against the wall.  I had no idea what he was going to tell us, but it turned out he was leading us in a very spiritual experience.  He told us for the next three minutes, we were not to talk, not to laugh, not to move, not to rattle our backpacks or snacks or water, and to be perfectly still---to soak in the experience of being in this remote canyon, away from all civilization.  After quieting my mind for several moments, the verse from Psalm 46:10 came to mind:  "Be still and know that I am God;  I will be exalted among the nations, and I will be exalted in the earth."   The period of solitude made me aware that we were truly seeing "the greatest earth on show", which is God's creation.  That experience is one I will cherish forever, and will give me "miles of smiles" in the days ahead!  Tricia