Phoenix, Sedona, Flagstaff, and the Grand Canyon

 

Well, I am cheap and decided to go do my own laundry today here at the guest laundry at the hotel. I know honey, when times are rough, I can even do laundry. Love you too. So while I wait for a machine to open up for my use, I decided to blog. I think this is considered multi-tasking. Just a warning – this is a fairly long story, but hey it is worth me remembering so here goes…

 

 

I am out in Phoenix for some training. I have to be here two weeks and I am surrounded by some awesome country side. I took advantage of the trip to see the Arizona terrain. 

 

I started by visiting the Phoenix Mountains Park. Just south of where I am staying. I drove out after class one day and could not resist the impromptu hike up a small trail. It was called the Mohave Trail and it was .4 miles. I thought hey, I am good for this. So I took off. I was in jeans and converse like low top shoes. What an idiot!

 

Did you know if you go .4 miles one way, you have to go .4 miles back to get to the vehicle? Yeah, it is a fact, at least on this trail. LOL I was passed by a man who had to be in his mid 60’s who was running the trail. Yes, I meant to type running. I was puffing like a road lizard when he just blew by me on the way up. Then as I was resting about 2/3rd’s of the way up, almost to the top. Here he comes running back down. He smiled and asked “Doing OK?”, yet never slowing down to hear my answer – which was a faint “Yes sir”. I actually had a thought of throwing a rock at him as he went by. LOL Sorry it did cross my mind – he had water on his pack…and I was needing it. LOL

 

It was a neat little hike and I could not have asked for better weather – or the lessons I learned, which were as follows:

1. Plan your hike

2. Take plenty of water

3. Outfit yourself properly

4. If you go up, you have to come down. 

5. People in the area are hardcore – they all looked like they were out of a NorthFace commercial or something.

 

Anyway – it was Honeywell Training for the next couple days and a short shopping trip for me to buy some hiking shoes and a water pack. Big 5 Sporting Goods helped me out.

 

During class, I inquired if anyone wanted to go to Sedona and the Grand Canyon. I had two takers. Both from Louisiana. One from Monroe (north Louisiana) and one from New Orleans (coonass country). I can say that. I now have even more proof that I know one when I meet one. With the years of growing up in East Texas and now hanging with them for a weekend…I am an expert. LOL

 

Anyway we came up with a plan – kind of!

 

Andy, from Monroe, LA would meet up with me in the hotel breakfast area at 7AM since we were both staying at the same hotel. We would leave from there and head to Sedona for the day and then on to Flagstaff where we would split a room and stay the night. That would put us only an hour and a half from the Grand Canyon.

 

We met up, ate, and headed north bound. We got to see some awesome views coming into Sedona from the south. Once we got near Sedona we pulled over near a creek where an old wooden bridge was to stretch. We could not resist climbing up on the old wooden bridge for some pictures and all. The bridge was – well – rotten. The views were awesome.

 

We jumped back in the car and head into Sedona. We found some nice places to hike and got our “Red Rock day pass”. Then we hit the trail to Chicken point. This time I was prepared. I had my pack with 32oz of water, some almonds, beef jerky, a snickers, and snuff. LOL I also had my new hiking shoes and socks, and I was wearing shorts. LOL Much better than I was when I did the little hike in Phoenix.

 

We took off and decided we would know where to turn back when we got there. Kind of nice to hang with a guy who is game for whatever like I was. We hiked up some fairly easy trail and then at the bas of one of the mountains decided we would climb up some of the way to a ledge where we would rest

 and eat lunch.

 

 

It was neat eating up there. Several people hiked by and one guy on a mountain bike who was singing along with his iPod (kind of weirdly singing) – none of them even knew we were there above them. I had a moment where I felt half native Indian. LOL

 

Then as we were coming down I – like the idiot I am – accidently kick a cactus. Dang that hurt! I had to break the spines off – pull my shoe off and pull out one that was about 1/2 and inch into my third toe. Yeah, it was throbbing like crazy. My new friend, Andy, just laughed. I told him it was ok as he laughed and apologized at the same time. I also reminded him that I would laugh if he hurt himself. LOL

 

 

We hiked on. We arrived at Chicken Point. Which was really an awesome view. We learned why it was named Chicken Point – it seems that if a person drives their Jeep to Chicken Point and then does not circle the little rock formation atop the point with their Jeep – they are Chicken! I would have been a Chicken – unless I was still 17  or 18 years old – then I would have probably been dead.

 

 

From there we decided to walk the 4×4 trail out to Submarine Rock. It was a nice hike, but alot of it was down hill. Which I kept thinking…man we have to climb this back up on the way back. I was dreading that somewhat.

 

Anyway, we got some great photos of the area and then headed all the way back to the point where we had parked. Just as we were arriving it started to rain. Perfect timing. Felt sorry for the people still out there.

 

 

 

Just as we were pulling out of the parking lot, Andy received a call from Bryan (New Orleans guy). He was just pulling into Sedona and was somewhere not far behind us. So we turned around to meet up with him. We ended up pulling in behind him just as he drove into the rain with his convertible rental car – top down and looking cool. LOL Or like a fool driving in the rain with his top down. LOL

 

If you’ve never been in the Sedona area, there are no shoulders to the road going in. You have to wait until you pull up to a parking lot to pull off the road. His little rain journey was about 3 miles. LOL We had a good laugh at his expense. I told him it fit the stereotype New Orleans guy. LOL Just for a note, Bryan is a cool guy, I just have to give anyone from Louisiana a hard time…just as they do to us Texans.

 

 

Andy and I decided we would go ahead and head to Flagstaff and get a room for the night. Get some decent sleep and head to the Grand Canyon the next morning. Bryan was going to drive around Sedona for a while and already had a room in Flagstaff booked. He would call us when he got to Flagstaff and we would all go eat together.

 

 

Bryan called when he arrived in Flagstaff and we decided on Sushi. I looked up a Sushi bar with a good rating in Flagstaff. Believe it or not, Sushi is very popular there in Flagstaff. Weird!? We ended up deciding on a Sushi bar that was actually located at the hotel Bryan was staying in. We met up, ate sushi, and told stories – mostly cutting jokes on each other and where we were from. It made for an eventful evening.

 

Andy and I checked out early since we had hiked 8 miles that day and were looking to leave early in the morning. Bryan decided to hang out for a few drinks before retiring, since the only eventful thing he did was drive in the rain with the top down. LOL Sorry Bryan, you’re and easy target at this point.

 

We called Bryan at 8AM, not too early, not too late. He decided he would drive up to the canyon later. So we headed out. We drove through some awesome country, and arrived at the canyon without any trouble. We paid our $25.00 entrance fee, got our free map and off we were.

 

We caught glimpses as we pulled into the first parking lot. Then we got out for a closer look.

 

It was simply amazing.

 

We hiked (walked the path) the east side of the south rim for a while (blue route). We started at Yavpai Observation Station and walked east to around the Pipe Creek Vista area (about 2 miles looking at the map right now). Then we drove over to Maswik Lodge and ate lunch. Then we decided we would get a plan in place for the day. We first thought of getting a Jeep tour or something.  We found a Jeep tour inside the canyon that was reasonable on price. Andy called, but we had about an hour to meet before the next tour took off. The problem was we would have to drive two hours to get there. Not gonna make it!

 

 

So we made the best of the situation and decided to catch a bus to Hermits Rest (red route). The far west side of the south rim. We rode it all the way to Hermits rest where we decided we would hike back east as far as we had time for, then catch another bus back to the village. So we started hiking, this time not taking the usual paved trail…LOL we had to get better views and our money’s worth. Despite all the talk of people falling or death or that non sense. 

 

 

So we hiked east to Monument Creek Vista. About 4 miles. The trail we took, mostly a deer trail, was awesome. There were some moments when it was a little nerve racking, but we just had to do it. LOL You wouldn’t understand unless you’ve been there, because the pictures are simply not as convincing as they should be. We ran out of time and needed to catch a bus back to the village. So we hopped a west bound bus in order to catch an east bound bus. 

 

All in all it was a great weekend. I got to see some things I always wanted to see, and had some fun doing it. I can’t wait to take the wife and kids to see it. I am sure they will love it as much as I did, and it will make it that much better with them. We’ll also stay longer than one short day. There is so much to see.