Day 23: Sedona Day 2

“Take only memories, leave only footprints.” – Chief Seattle

Hello all!  After not having such a great hike yesterday, today made up for it.  Although the crowds have been pretty bad because of the holiday weekend, we battled through them and made our way to West Fork trail outside of Sedona.  It was a little over a 9-mile hike if you count going to and from the car, and followed a creek up until the trail stopped.  It was well shaded but heavily trafficked.  There was relatively no elevation gain or loss, but quite a few creek crossings.  In fact, the trail is measured in miles but is also measured in 13 creek crossings.  After 13 the trail goes primitive and a lot of it is in the creek itself.

The beginning of the hike starts by crossing a sweet little bridge which actually crosses into an old apple orchard homestead.  There you can find some abandoned buildings from quite a while ago.

For almost the entire hike we were surrounded by red rock cliffs. This wasn’t so much of a slot canyon as many of my hikes so far on this trip have been, but instead had quite a bit of width at the bottom, sufficient for a lot of riparian vegetation.

And of course throughout the hike there were tremendous views of the creek.

Finally, after about a 5-mile hike in, we reached the point where the trail ended and we could go no further without getting our feet wet!

After a couple hours of hiking back, we fought traffic back into Sedona and had a quick bite to eat.  It was great to have family and friends to keep me company on the trail.  After being alone for so long, conversation was both much needed and much appreciated.

I have seen enough red rock this month, so I made the decision to take off a day early and start the two day drive up to La Pine, OR to do some hiking in the forest.  I am going to maybe do one solo hike before meeting up with some friends to finish off the trip.  I am not sure where I will be staying tomorrow night, but most likely Beaty, NV.  As always I hope all is well where ever you are.  I am super stoked for the last few days but sad to see this trip come to an end.  Happy adventuring!