More From Cottonwood and Sedona

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With the weekend crowds gone, the next day we headed back into Sedona to Cathedral Rock to see if we might be able to find a parking spot. As luck would have it, there was an opening in the main lot. We hung up our National Parks Pass on the rear view mirror so we wouldn't get a ticket. Yes, most of the parking areas for the popular hikes in the Red Rocks area of Sedona are pay. If you don't have an annual National Park pass, they do have kiosks that allow you to buy a one day or weeklong pass for $5 or $15 respectively.

Approaching Cathedral Rock

The day we went was beautiful but quite windy. Blow the hat off your head windy. Get dust in your eyes windy. And once you get to the actual climbing portion of the walk, there were times I was worried it might blow me off the rock. Like our previous hike on Bell Rock, Chris managed to get to a certain level where her fear won out so she found a little shady spot to sit and wait.

As I continued up, there is one point where the climb basically follows a small trough between two rock faces. The going up was fine as long as I went slow. There wasn't really enough room for for both up and down traffic at the same time but there was a small ledge halfway up that you could both rest and get out of the way.  Once past that obstacle, the trail is much less treacherous and the further you climb, the better your view.

This Shows the Path Up

The View from Part Way Up Looking Below

The View Up

I eventually got to a point where I decided I should turn back simply because I knew the one steep narrow stretch was going to be a challenge to climb down. I managed to make it safely down although some of the credit should be given to the group of 6 ahead of me as they were proceeding at a very slow pace. With them in the way, I really had no way of going faster than I should. As I was just finishing up that portion climb down, a family of six was coming up - mother, father, three kids under 10 and one child in a backpack on dad's back! They were debating how much further they should go with the 3 boys voting to continue.

Another View from Above

The Steep Narrow Section With Group Ahead

Flowers in Bloom

After relocating Chris, we decided to do a bit more of a hike that she was up for. Right off of the Cathedral Rock hike is the Baldwin Loop. This loop is just over 3 miles long although coming at it from where we are parked would add another 2 miles to the trip. The connector trail from Cathedral Rock trail takes you across a flat section before dropping a couple hundred feet thru a series of switchbacks down to Oak Creek. The trail is steep, rocky and difficult for us as hikers. What baffled us was the fact that there were many people out mountain biking on these trails! Once we got down to the creek level, the trail was much more reasonable for hiking although I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have enjoyed biking on it. We did stop and chat with one couple that was riding and their comment was they just need to walk the really challenging sections.

Split Rail Fence Along Baldwin Loop

Flowers Blooming

This loop give a good view of the backside of Cathedral Rock. There were quite a few people out enjoying this trail. By the time we finished the loop, we still had the major climb back up to the connector trail. The legs were good and tired when we finished this hike but it was a good one.

Back Side of Cathedral Rock

Another town near Cottonwood is Jerome. Our first night here, we saw lights partway up the nearby mountain and wondered what it was. There is a big letter J above the town we could see in the light of day. It seems like most towns in Arizona tend to have their letter on display on a nearby hill or mountain. Jerome doesn't seem that far away, but since it is more than 1700 feet higher than Cottonwood, there are a lot of switchbacks to get up to it. Our first stop is at the Jerome State Historical Park. Since Jerome is an old mining town, this building has a pretty good display of relics from the old days. This is run by the Arizona State Park system. The picnic tables were a great spot for lunch because of the wonderful view of the valley below. There was obviously some sort of huge fire occurring many miles in the distance and were told at the desk it was a controlled burn.

Give Me a J

Distant Controlled Burn

Overlooking Existing Mine in Clarkdale Below Jerome

The various rooms had all sorts of different displays. Some on the growth and decline of the town including the many fires that seemed to plague the area. Others on the equipment and techniques for mining. And another on various minerals, not all of them mined here but the one display was in a small dark room that could be switched to a black light to make a very colorful display.

Flourescence at its Finest

Jerome is touted as a ghost town and although it is small, it's not quite a ghost town. It is a very touristy place with all sorts of gift shops, restaurants and bars. We wandered around town for a bit to check things out. One of the former buildings that is now torn down but still has its basement exposed behind a wrought iron fence has a toilet and a few other "containers" sitting below. Nearly everybody was throwing change into the basement hoping to score a basket. All I could think is let me in for an hour and I could have several hundred bucks in quarters!

Nice View from Jerome

Kodak Workers Rejoice - Old Film Projector!

Coin Toss

We continued out of Jerome on Route 89A for several more miles. The drive has many switchbacks and continues to gain altitude. It is very scenic with occasional pull outs to enjoy the view. We stopped at one trail in the Prescott National Forest and did a several mile hike to get some geocaching in. The views from up here over the Verde Valley were amazing.

View from Overlook On Way to Prescott National Forest

View from Geocache We Found

Now the Long Hike to the Car

Beautiful Flowers

Dead Horse Ranch State Park campground has been nearly full every night we were here, so extending our stay wouldn't work. So we decided to head over to the Elks Lodge in Sedona to continue our explorations. Since we weren't positive how crowded the lodge would be and our plan B option was the other direction, I stopped in Cottonwood to fill up the motorhome while Chris drove the 20 minutes to Sedona. Having accumulated 50 cents off each gallon with our Kroger (Frys) fuel card makes it worthwhile for us to fill up when we can fit in the gas station. With the Jeep not being attached, I had no trouble getting in or out.

Chris called to say there was only one other rig parked here so I head to Sedona. This is our first stop at an Elks Lodge since becoming a member. It isn't the cheapest place at $30 per night for 30 amp electric and water with no sewer or dump station. However if you were to go to the campgrounds just a couple miles away in town, the going rate is $60 to $75, so this is a bargain. We sign up for 4 nights figuring that will be enough time to do some of the other things we wanted to. The view from the parking spots was pretty nice. Other than the power lines and trailers at the U-Haul next door, there was a great view of some of the red rock mountains not far away.

View Out of Motorhome Windshield

By getting in very early in the day and having only driven 20-some miles, we had energy to spare. Definitely not our normal travel day. Just 1/2 mile up the road from the Elks Lodge is the trailhead for a couple hikes. Since we have seen how crowded these parking lots can get, we just decided to walk up Airport Road and find the trailhead. Good thing we did since it looked full. We picked the Airport Loop trail at just under 5 miles for the loop. I was expecting the trail to be marginal at best given the name. However we were pleasantly surprised at how scenic it was, especially the first half of the trail. You are walking along the side of a hill overlooking some beautiful homes below and on the side of the opposite hill. We even could see Bell Rock and Cathedral Rock in the distance. We didn't have luck finding all the geocaches hidden along this trail but we still had a great time.

View from Airport Loop

Another Beautiful Flower

Coming Back Down Airport Loop

Just a few miles from Sedona is Red Rock State Park. This place doesn't have camping but do have a fair number of programs and hikes. We went the following morning to a 2 hour nature walk. Our leader was a very talkative and informative guy. The only real downside was the size of the group made it difficult to hear what he was talking about when he would point out a plant and we were 15 people away on the trail. Sometimes the people would pass along the information about the plant or flower down the line, but I suspect the information was altered by the time we heard it - much like the telephone game.

Our Morning Nature Walk Group

Red Flowers / Old Fence

Like most of these type of guided walks, you take a long time to not go very far. We ended the hike at an old house situated in the park. The house and out building are all surrounded by chain link fence. Apparently the place was build back in the late 1940's before the land was turned into a state park. It was named the House of Apache Fires. It has been vacant for some time and even though the state would like to sell it, they haven't had luck yet. There are definitely nice views from here.  In fact our guide had taken us to this spot for a nearby overlook to allow us to have pictures taken only to discover a group of 8 or so women with yoga mats scattered about doing an exercise routine.

Decent Place for Yoga

House of Apache Fires

Our Tour Group with Yoga Group 

On another day we headed to the Palatki Heritage Site. This is another Indian cliff dwelling very close to Sedona. It was an interesting stop but you need to call in advance to schedule a time slot for a tour. We had booked the earliest time just as it was opening. Our group of 8 was split in half and directed to one of the two locations to see. The actual cliff dwellings have been repaired to some level in order for them to not fall down. Like every other of these types of dwellings in this area, the people believe to have lived here, all left the area possibly from a prolonged drought. The other location is a spot with pictographs and petroglyphs left here by the various cultures living here over the centuries. The docent there described the various drawings with the present level of understanding. It was not nearly as impressive as the V-Bar-B Heritage Site we did a few days ago but still enjoyable. Turns out two of the people that are part of the staff here had originally lived in the Rochester area - small world.

View from Palatki Heritage Site

Cliff Dwelling at Palatki

Pictographs from Budding Artists

We next headed over to the popular Boynton Canyon hike only to be turned back by an overflowing parking lot. We drove a couple miles and found a parking lot with an open spot so that is how we ended up doing the Fay Canyon hike. This trail is an out and back trail of about 2.3 miles. It is quite easy for the most part. We did one side track part way along the main trail to go for a geocache. It required a bit of uphill climbing to get to it but we found it and had a nice view from its hiding place.

Interesting Rocks Along Fay Canyon Trail

At the end of the main trail, it is possible to continue on but it requires a fairly intense climb up some rocks. Apparently they were not that challenging as Chris managed to get up there without too much whimpering. There were half a dozen others up there when we got to the flat spot with some great views back down the canyon. We ate lunch at the parking lot and talked with a mother and daughter about our living in a motorhome. There were some trails on the opposite side of Fay Canyon that sounded interesting so we ended up doing a few more miles after lunch.

End of Fay Canyon Trail

Looking Back Over Fay Canyon

What Animal Do You See?

Another Sea of Flowers

Nice View After Lunch

We decided we had hiked enough so we headed back to the motorhome with a quick stop to wander around Tlaquepaque Arts and Crafts Village. This is a small area with a bunch of art galleries, craft shops and restaurants based on a small town on the outskirts of Guadalajara Mexico. It was interesting but there were many things we didn't need and most had pretty high price tags.