THURSDAY, 8/23

THURSDAY, 8/23:    

 

    Well, it rained pretty hard last night.  Not sure how long.  Heard it while we were falling asleep.  The early morning had some clouds woven in and out of clear sky.  But by the time we got to our destination, by mid-morning, was brilliant blue sky. Before we left the RV park, we walked over to Oak Creek to see how last night’s rain had affected it.  Wow – it was really running fast, much faster & higher than yesterday, and very muddy.  As we were walking back from the creek across the meadow, we saw 3 otters run in front of us to the river!  Neither of us had ever seen a wild otter before!  Then, on our way driving out of the RV park to the road, we saw a skunk running along in the woods beside us.  Seeing quite a cross section of wildlife on this trip!

    Our first destination today was Chapel of the Holy Cross.  This is an actual chapel built in between 2 big red rocks high up on the mountainside.  Absolutely stunning. 

 

 

 

 

And the views from up there are just spectacular. We probably spent the better part of an hour taking in the breathtaking views from all sides.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 And the natural landscaping around the area was beautiful too . . . lots of cacti, several varieties, and many, many of them either blooming or about to bloom.  I’d never seen a cactus actually blooming, and it was very neat!  

 

 

 

 

 

  

     Then we took the trail just down the hillside from the Chapel.  A fairly easy, maybe half-mile hike at the foot of the rocks which led to an opening where you were surrounded by a gorgeous amphitheater of red limestone.  One of my guidebooks uses the term “voluptuous” for the red rock surrounding you here.  I don’t disagree!  We spent probably a total of 3 or so hours here at the Chapel area, just trying to take in all its beauty.  When we would see huge panoramic vistas of sharp-edged walls of red rock, it reminded us a lot of Ouray –surrounded as it is by mountains.  Only this is red rock mountain, not alpine.  Impossible to say which is more gorgeously spectacular. 

 

 

 

 

 

     We talked a little about what made the red rock here different – and, to us, far more beautiful, than that in Monument Valley or Garden of the Gods.  We came to the conclusion that it’s because there’s so much more of it (the rock), the formations are denser, or closer together, and there seems to be more variety in the types of rock.  And the rock itself, I read, isn’t sandstone, as the other two are, but actually a type of limestone, which gets its coloration from an overlay of other types of rock and the oxidized iron deposits in them.  And another factor is the layering, or what seems like depth & texture, of so many of the peaks here, similar to the granite mountain depths in Ouray.  Add to all that abundant green vegetation growing in amongst the rocks, which no doubt adds to the warm reds, oranges, bronzes, yellows by contrast.  After all that feeble description, though, we’re left with one of God’s true masterworks of nature here in Red Rock Country.  

     After hiking back, we drove a little further down Hwy 179 to the turn off for Bell Rock & Courthouse Butte.  We were getting ready to take the 1-mile hike up to the base of Bell Rock when we noticed that storm clouds seemed to be forming (it was about 2:30 – typical time for this).  So we drove a mile or so into the Village of Oak Creek to get some lunch & something cold to drink.  Our timing was perfect – as we were eating our sandwich inside Subway, it started raining.  But only very briefly, and then the sun & blue skies were out again, albeit laced with wispy clouds.  Where we were, at least, and to the west.  A little bit east, and still looked like it was raining there, in the Bell Rock area. 

     We were a little undecided as to where to go next, but we “followed the sun” (with apologies to Gerry & the Pacemakers from waaaaaaay back!)  Drove the Red Rock Loop a few miles west of town, which boundaries the Red Rock State Park.  Another beautiful drive, with the highlight of a fantastic view of Cathedral Rock.

 

 

 

 

 

     Next, we decided to go up into the Airport Mesa area – we read there are fabulous views of Sedona & surroundings from up there.  There were.  What were probably the most breath-taking, achingly beautiful views, were those places where, after the rain had stopped, and the clouds moved away, the sun shone on them, almost like it was highlighting those specific areas. It so looked like an impressionistic painting, with their emphasis on light.  Don’t know how well we captured any of these views by camera.  Hope we have a few, anyway!  But regardless, we can vividly remember them in our minds & hearts.

 

 

 

 

     We decided to head out on the “Airport Loop” trail which, supposedly by our reading, takes   you to a great vantage point from which to view Cathedral Rock.  This rock is way west of most of the other well- recognized formations, and we thought it would be a great time, at dusk, to view it again, even though we'd seen iton the Red Rock Loop.    Was a pretty good trail – gained some elevation, but not steep, and just challenging enough to be enjoyable.  Bill didn’t take his walking poles on this one, because we could see places where there was just smooth rock to walk on, and his poles wouldn’t do him any good there.  And he was surprised & very pleased with himself – he was walking very well, with no poles!   Was easily keeping up with me.  He swore that he wouldn’t have been able to do this a week or so ago. 

      This was the place where Bill was getting ready to take a picture, and a breeze blew the lens cap out of his hand, and we could see it bounce, bounce, bounce down the rocks beneath us, like a cartoon.  I said that we’d just need to stop at a camera shop & buy one, but he was sure that he could retrieve it, if he could just find it.  It wasn’t steep, so I wasn’t worried about him dropping off, but I was concerned about him twisting a knee or something.  He agreed to go down just a few yards & see if he could see it.  He shouted a Victory yell, and scampered back up.  I took a couple of shots of him climbing up supported by one knee and then the other, so that he could show Dr. Rames (his knee surgeon).  He can be the poster kid for successful double knee replacements!      

 

 

 

 

 

    Anyway, we were making very good time, but started seeing rain clouds form again, and really didn’t have a solid idea of how far this loop went.  Plus, it was about 6:00, and, knowing that it starts getting dark around 7:00 here, we thought the wise thing was to turn back around.  So we did, and no sooner did we do that than we started feeling big drops come down.  Slowly, at first, which wasn’t bad – it kind of cooled us off.  But within a few minutes, it was raining hard.  We both got soaked.  Note to self:  put plastic rain poncho back in your backpack.  Not that it would help with this kind of a downpour,  though.  Gratefully reached the trailhead & into the truck and started home.  Could see a big rainbow in back of us, with wispy puffy clouds coming up out of a couple of the fractures in the rock behind us.  Bill stopped & tried to take a picture, but the camera wouldn’t read it. Another image we’ll need to just carry inside with us.

     Pappy was glad to see us.  Could tell it had rained here – a big puddle under the RV.  Changed clothes first thing!  Then had leftovers for dinner.  Read a little, typed on the computer.  Started raining again, but a light rain when we went to bed.

    Hoping for a sunny day tomorrow, our last here.