Sedona and Then Back To Scottsdale (Boynton Canyon)

Boynton Trail Canyon, Sedona

Canyon, Early Morning

Relax in Dry Bed

Prickly Pear and Cairn

Fleece Time, Early Morning Hike

Evie and I both slept in this morning, till 6:10, as  light filled our room.  A crisp morning here in Scottsdale and it felt good to walk outside to the pool, see the sky with some clouds, unusual for here, get my coffee and sit down and relax.  We are hiking in the McDowell mountains this morning before moving all of our clothes over to Dot's, Evie's mother in law, for the next two days.  Claire has her granddaughter coming in this afternoon, and her husband, Henry, flies in from China this morning as well.

Yesterday, unfortunately, both Evie and I were up early in Sedona, perhaps because of the good time at dinner  and we went to bed rather early for us.  So we were both up by 5:00, to early to go have breakfast but not coffee.  I did go down and have breakfast at the Hampton lounge around 6:15 and was about the only one there.  Usually, it's filled with people up and ready to travel, not so in Sedona.   We left by 7:00, stopped to pick up our Red Rock pass at a gas station and drove about six miles to the  Boynton Canyon parking lot.  Not a car in the lot, as we were obviously the eager beavers, the first ones on the trail.  So, we started off at 7:30 and expected the hike to take about three hours.  The first part, in fact the first hour, is along the edge of a canyon on one side, and a development and resort on the other side.  We made our way along mostly red sand trails, along rocks, though the scrub, until we were beyond the houses and the canyon.  Then the trail opened up a bit, and we followed a dry stream, through mostly wooded areas.  In fact, either it was cloudy or we were in the shade of the trees most of our hike out to the end.  It not as picturesque, perhaps because it was a lot like the previous day's hike.  We met no hikers going out, since we were early, and it was cool, in the 50's, most of the way, fleece-like weather.  We never made it to the vista, even after walking over three miles on a supposedly 2.4 mile hike out,  but there really wasn't one according to other hikers, just more of a rocky, narrow trail along the side of the hill.  Our return was quite different, lots of hikers on their way out, in fact, one friendly group of about ten, stopped us, asked where we were from.  They call themselves the Tahoe Trampers, are about our age and go all over the States hiking...a cool group.  We made it back to the parking lot, now full,  in just over three hours, having hiked over six miles.  We were  disappointed somewhat since it was much like yesterday, a hike in a canyon, along a dry bed, with walls of red rock on either side, which you have to look up, though the trees to notice.  Not that I am complaining.  It's interesting how quickly you take this stupendous landscape for granted.

Wild Daisies

Mountain Fleurs

We went back to the hotel, showered, packed up and were on our way by 12:30.  We drove into downtown Sedona, parked, and after about twenty minutes, had enough of the touristy shops, the crowds, the turquoise, the Indian jewelry, what you seem to find almost everywhere in the Southwest. I think we missed the one really nice shopping area because we passed it on the way out of town.  Driving around Sedona is probably the most scenic way to see the area because all the mountains, the Red Rocks, are most easily seen and admired from a distance.  If you get up close, they end up just being walls of red and you don't get the whole picture.  Our last stop was the Chapel of the Holy Cross,  one of the four Vortex's in the area, a modernistic chapel, built by a philanthropist in 1956, up in the mountains, wedged in between the Red Rocks, with an amazing view of the entire Sedona area.  Even if you are not religious, it's worth going just to see the view.  The church is modernistic, rectangular box, with a huge bay window behind the altar looking out over the canyons.  It's small inside, seating perhaps a hundred at the most.

Chapel of the Holy Cross

Our drive home took just about two hours, arriving at Claire's just about 4:00.  I do like the drive between Phoenix and Scottsdale, the elevation and the wide open plains, so you can see for long distances both to the left and right, with hardly a house in sight, just open prairie or desert.  When you start getting closer to Phoenix, the Saguaro Cactus start to appear, peopling the landscape

When we got back, Claire was baking banana bread, for her boy, Scott, who will be here this weekend with his new daughter, Grace.  She had texted us yesterday to see if lamb chops would be all right for dinner.  I said mais oui...of course.  So, I grilled them outside, Claire made my favorite kind of of potatoes, hash browns, and with a salad and a glass of red wine, we had a feast.  We watched more of The Voice, had some of Claire's freshly baked banana bread for dessert and went to be around 10:00, both of us exhausted from the day's hike and ride home.