After a few slow days of rest I'm packed back up and ready for more of the road. I get a little sad every time I leave a place because in all reality I’ll probably never be back. But I’m excited for what lies ahead so I drive on, in search of my next experience.
I drive 100 miles south toward another park on my map before I stop to find wifi. A little research informs me that the park I’m headed to doesn’t even offer overnight camping. A whole day and a lotta gas wasted. I look in my National Park guidebook, and it says it right there, no over night camping. Goddamnit! If I woulda just read a little bit before I left this morning I coulda avoided this whole detour. Now I’m pissed and don’t know where to go. I find a campground on my map and point the Jeep towards it still beating myself up inside for the mistake. But life, such as it is, goes on and when I finally get over it I find myself in Sedona.
I had no intention of stopping in, or even going through Sedona. To be honest it wasn't even on my radar. All I know about it is it's a popular stop for new agers and hippie types who believe it’s a magical place. Pulling into town its easy to see why. I’m not really a believer in the whole vortex/energy idea that is prevalent here but the place is breathtakingly beautiful. Surrounded by huge, red rock mesas stretching skyward in all directions and a carpet of bright greenery speckles the desert floor. I find a visitors center in the middle of town and go in to get the low down on Sedona.
The self loathing was strong after my 100 mile accidental detour the other day. I’d been dwelling on the lost gas and money the whole way backtracking. But now, loaded with maps and information on the surrounding area I’m a whole new man. I asked the lady behind the desk in the visitors center if there was a cheap place to camp nearby and she informed me that outside the city limits I can just find a dirt road and camp anywhere I want…..for free! Dispersed Camping is what they call it. I’ve never heard of it but the price is right and I’m elated that I have a free place to stay indefinitely. And I’ll need all the time I can get too because now I have maps depicting hundreds of miles of trails that surround the town.
It's mid afternoon by now so I decide to grab a coffee and just wander the main strip to get a lay of the land. I never really drink coffee, I tried it once and it tasted like chalk so I avoided it ever since. I ask the guy at a gas station which one will really jack me up and upon his recommendation I'm off to explore the town with a full cup of Jolt coffee. It doesn't take long for me to realize what all the coffee hubbub is about. I'm buzzing up and down the sidewalks of downtown Sedona and feeling great. No wonder people love the stuff, it's legal speed! It still tastes like hell but that's a small price to pay for it's amazing effects. I realize that coffee and beer go hand in hand. Neither one is particularly tasty at first, but both are essential for dealing with life. With this new morsel of wisdom fresh in my mind find a Safeway to stock up on some groceries and head out of town to find a place to camp.
I plow down one of the gravel tracks off the highway. I was told as long as I’m at least a half mile from the highway I can camp wherever I want. I watch my odometer and choose a spot in the darkness at random to park. I heat up some potatoes on my camp stove and retire to the jeep with the roof open and stare at the stars not remembering how low I had been when this day started.
Excited to be in a new and beautiful place I awake early. Right next to me, just outside my window, a bright yellow hot air ballon is making it’s lazy decent back to earth. I take this as a sign of good things to come. Just down the road is a small picnic area with tables and bathrooms. This will become my staging area for my time in Sedona. Every morning I cook breakfast here and plan my day.
Today I’ve hiked over 6 miles by 1pm on the Red Rock Loop Trail. It’s not marked terribly well and the terrain of gravely desert and scrub brush makes following it difficult. I hike nearly 2 miles in the wrong direction before I give up on finding the trail and head back to the jeep. After learning my lesson at Ghost Ranch with Michelle, I now mark the position of the Jeep on my portable GPS before I hike into any wilderness. When I get back I see the trail stretching out in the opposite direction. I was way off, but I follow it up a cliff side and end up far above the highway. I can see for miles in almost every direction. The enormous red mesas the only thing obscuring the horizon.
Every morning I drive from my little campsite into town and every morning I’m blown away by this landscape. The rocks are like sandcastles packed tight with damp sand and left in the sun to dry. Their shapes forever changing with the elements. Wind and rain have carved out spires like battlements of a castle. A sun bleached, pinkish-tan flat peak slowly morphs into a darker red as it gets closer to its base. the towers rise and become even more impressive as the road into town drops to the valley floor.
I’ve chosen Cathedral Rock and Templeton Trail to explore today. The beauty in every direction is beyond the realm of my writing abilities to describe adequately. You have to see it yourself to truly appreciate it. The red rock meshes well with the green forest. Not impenetrably thick but still covering the landscape. The valley floor and up the slopes of the mesas. A sky nearly too blue to be real. Some sort of filter placed over the real world. The pinnacles and spires of Cathedral Rock are other worldly as I climb. you could easily drop in a few dinosaurs and they wouldn't look out of place.
I reach the end of the trail and venture a little further, passed the rock crest and am rewarded with a panoramic view between two tall spires. Then back down the Templeton Trail. After a wrong turn and a second attempt I am able to find the river that flows through town. After today’s hike my feet could use a break so I sit on a dry tuft of grass at the rivers edge, remove my socks and boots and soak them in the ice cold rejuvenating water. I sit and contemplate the rocks and the river and my days so far. No breakthroughs in matters of mind or spirit. No deep thoughts or life affirming epiphanies. Only the simple thought, “Everyone should do this”.
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