ROAD TRIP: SEDONA - Catching up with Old Friends! - PART 1

Finally getting around to taking time for myself, I drove to Sedona Sunday.

Borrowed mom's car, and went to see an old buddy from San Jose. Many good times from years past, he and I have toured Egypt, the Pyramids and the Nile, Nevada and Area 51, met Bob Lazar together and much more over a few decades.

I pulled out early, about 6AM so we could hike early in the day before the sun comes out. Arizona is very hot even in the higher altitudes where we live (4000-5000 feet).

I took the car up hwy 260 North to the top of the Mogollon Rim in the mountains, where I saw a Black Bear running across the road just as I approached the top (~8000 ft). First time I have ever seen a bear while driving in the mountains...

The Mogollon Rim is an ancient fault, where the earth's plates separate by an obvious 1500 ft shift, that goes straight up as a cliff face, and it goes for hundreds of miles, ultimately separating large segments of Pine forests and Sonora Desert landscapes with a harsh divide. See more here.

On the way up to the top, we pass several items on the map, including the Tonto Natural Bridge, the towns of Pine, and Strawberry.

We decided to hike up Bell Rock, at 7am, and beat the crowds and the heat. It's a magnificent view up there, but on the way up, it's hard to imagine just how HUGE this rock is; only when we look up, and see every one up there that had been there to see the sun rise, did I realize how tiny they look up there, standing on the mountain..

(YOU REALLY CAN NOT TELL from this image, that there are tiny people way up there on Bell Rock, they look like ants, so the camera will not capture just how huge this mountain really is..)

Conversation goes back and forth, but my buddy is one of the more funny people I have ever known, so insults do get traded back and forth a bit.. for hours at a time. (He is from Scottland.)

I certainly do recommend seeing this place in your lifetime, it's like a naturally built cathedral, a real monument to nature. Oak Creek Canyon, and Sedona, among many of the worlds' greatest sites, anywhere on the planet.

Finally after lunch, a few drinks, and climbing back into the car, I returned home before dark, and saw a lot of animals on the road at dusk. I will have to mount Deer Whistles on all the family cars, as driving in Alpine conditions has it's own risk (like Elk crossing the road as I come around a blind corner).

Cheers and Blessings, enjoy your Life!