Landscapes of Arizona- Sedona
We arrived in Arizona on March 10th which is pretty much record speed for us since we only left Toronto on March 1st. Partly because of the colder weather in the beginning of the trip and partly because we chose a shorter route we arrived sooner than we expected to. We ended up staying in Arizona for three weeks and although we did not travel far from Scottsdale there was still some varied landscapes. This instalment covers Sedona, however the first picture is a desert in Scottsdale. As you can see the desert is not necessarily a dry, barren area of land without vegetation which one might think of when picturing a desert. There was lots of green and a variety of plants everywhere this year.
Our group went hiking on a local trail just north of where we were staying in Scottsdale. You can see the cholla cactus in the front. To me this is a typical desert scene in Arizona. The jumping cholla is a tree-like plant with one low-branching trunk. The "jumping" cholla" name comes from the ease with which the stems become detached when brushed giving the impression that the stems actually jumped. You do not want to touch this plant!
A partial group photo. It was a bit warm in the morning but the girls managed the two hour hike as well as we did.
This shot is taken from a road in Sedona overlooking Cathedral Rocks. The main attraction in Sedona is its red sandstone formations, the Red Rocks of Sedona. There are only about ten thousand people living in the area but the town is full of tourists. It is unfortunate that the area was not included in the National Park system to keep its natural beauty and limit man-made structures. However, even so it is a beautiful area. This really is a hikers' paradise.
I loved this interesting looking tree with the wonderful red rocks in the distance. Sedona with an elevation of 4,326 feet is about ten degrees cooler than Phoenix which makes it a great place to escape form the heat(and pollution) of the big city.
The tree deserved a picture without the models . More than 60 Hollywood productions were filmed in this area from the first years of film through the 1970's. You can understand the attraction of filming in this area.
This is a close up view of Cathedral Rocks, taken at sunset in Red Rock State Park. Unfortunately there were no clouds in the sky but at least there was beautiful golden colour to the rocks. The colours actually look like this at the Golden hour. Cathedral Rocks is a famous landmark on the Sedona skyline and one of the most photographed sights in Arizona.
After sunset, we stopped to take a few more shots from the road. This light really brought out the red tones of the rocks.
The image in black and white reminded me of the many western movies (minus the buildings) I used to watch. When driving in Sedona at night, it is very dark with few street lights . I was told that Sedona follows Flagstaff's "dark sky" laws. The dark sky laws are in place to keep light pollution to a minimum to promote star gazing. This also benefits the Lowell Observatory located in Flagstaff, a half an hour north of Sedona.
We did some hiking in Sedona- there are numerous trails to be found everywhere.
We spent a few days in Sedona and rarely saw a cloud which meant for poor sunsets but gorgeous days.
I would guess that this is the most popular photographed spot in Sedona. We are on the airport road overlooking the city. Yes it is a very beautiful overlook of the city but I keep thinking how much nicer it would have been without the roads and buildings and just the beautiful natural landscape of the area. President Theodore Roosevelt preserved the Grand Canyon area so it was unfortunate that he did not do the same thing for Sedona.
One afternoon we hiked near the Enchantment resort.
As you can see Arizona landscape is not just what one thinks of when thinking of typical desert scenery. I found the colour contrasts between the red rocks and vegetation particularly stunning on our hike.
This is a view of Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona. The church of the rocks is built on two pinnacled spur rocks approximately 250 feet high. It juts out of a thousand foot red rock wall representing the solid rock of Peter in the bible. The idea to build the chapel was Marguerite Brunswig's. She thought of it while traveling through Sedona in 1934- the chapel was not completed until 1956.
A close up view of the chapel. Marguerite Brunswig Staude was a sculptress, philanthropist and devout Catholic who believed the arts should be in service of the spirit. Marguerite Brunswig was said to have been inspired by the Empire State Building and she developed plans with the son of Frank Lloyd Wright, Lloyd Wright.
The surrounding landscape of the chapel was so picturesque with so many photographic opportunities.
The inside of the chapel was small but look at the view!
Ralph and the girls posing outside the chapel. Maggie sure likes to stick her tongue out when being photographed.
Before leaving for Scottsdale, we drove up Snebly Hill Road. This is the road that the jeeps go up to do off road touring. We only made it up so far when we decided to turn back because of poor road conditions. Still the scenery we saw on the road was awesome.
For thirteen miles, the road zigzags eastward out of Sedona to intersect Interstate 17, the highway which connects Phoenix to Flagstaff. En route it ascends through a series of switchbacks up a mountainside. The first white settlers arrived in the Sedona region in 1876 and in those days the journey from Flagstaff to Sedona took four days. So the early settlers set out to build a shorter route- Schnebly Hill Road and succeeded in creating the rugged wagon road out of the steep canyon to join a dirt road leading from Phoenix to Flagstaff. Carl Schnebly arrived in the area in 1900 and first used the road to transport lumber from Flagstaff to build a two-story 11 room home. Before long people associated the road with the Schnebly family and the route assumed its present name. Today, only the first mile is paved and after that turns into a rutted, very rough dirt road. It was at this point that we decided that the road was a bit too rough for us and it was time to head back to Scottsdale.