Tag: hiking

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Sedona Dreaming

Recently, I went to Arizona to visit my dear friend K again.  I knew that I hadn’t trained quite enough to keep up with her, but not being quite prepared enough for something generally doesn’t stop me from showing up and giving it a shot and like I’ve said before, she is very tolerant.

The weather was gorgeous.  It was a treat to be there when it was in the mid-70’s to 80’s (and a bit of a relief to not have to worry about overheating while we were out adventuring).  I didn’t know exactly what we would get up to, but I knew that it would include some outdoor activities.

K took it easy on me on day one.  For day two she asked if I would want to take a drive up to Sedona to go hiking.  YES!  Sedona is a bucket list destination for me, and I was so excited to go there.

I generally have a very peaceful feeling in Arizona and in Sedona it was even stronger. Driving into town made me think of that animated movie (was it Cars?) and maybe a Willie Coyote cartoon.  The landscape is so iconic, it felt very familiar. One thing that was unexpected though was how it was so dessert and so lush at the same time.

We pulled into the parking lot at one trailhead, no parking spot, wasn’t meant to be (in Sedona you have to really be open to the signs that the universe sends you).  So, we went to the next trailhead and there was our parking spot!  This was the trail that we were meant to hike.

We set off on the Little Horse Trail.  Rather than deciding our whole route at the beginning, we decided which way to go until we got to the next fork, then we would make our next decision.  At one trail map, I made the mistake of looking at the trail difficulty ratings and got intimidated that one of our options was rated as “advanced”.  We wound up taking that trail anyway and even though it was advanced, all it took was a little bit of encouragement from my friend for me to make it to the end.

My biggest problem with hiking is that I have to really watch where I’m putting my feet.  I feel that I miss out on some of the vistas because I am trying to make sure I don’t slip or twist an ankle.  But this hike had some great scenery at ground-level that I got to enjoy.  I think K said that she counted ten different kinds of flowers, but I was trying to not stop too often so I only got photos of four.

Eventually we wound up at the church rock (someone built a big church coming out of this rock.  When we got to the end of the trail, rather than going to church, we decided to walk back to the car through the neighborhood and check out all the cool Sedona houses.

After a four-mile loop, we were back at the car and ready for to find somewhere for lunch.

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Pinnacle Peak

Remember how I’ve been working on my walking?  Not walking, but getting my steps in.  Well, it’s a good thing! I was just in Arizona to visit my beautiful and talented friend K who recently relocated there.  Among the many fun shenanigans that we got up to, she took me for a hike at Pinnacle Peak Park in Scottsdale.  Since I’m barely a walker, you can imagine that I’m not much of a hiker at all.

Of course, K happens to be an elite marathoner, so walking (even up and down hills on a rocky trail) is a piece of cake for her.  Let’s just say that it’s a good thing that she is so kind and sweet-hearted because I was certainly not anywhere near being able to keep up with her natural pace.  My accomplishment was that I didn’t hold her back too much for at least part of the trek.

It was an incredible experience.  Shortly after we began our hike, we saw a couple of Blue Angels fly overhead.  Since it was a cool day the beauty of the dessert landscape was easier for me to appreciate.  The trail had great signage identifying the different plants along it.  We took a break to admire this in-between things tree.  It was certainly thriving in the gaps.

There were also fantastic views of gigantic Scottsdale golf course homes.  This one has a bridge to the guest home!  A guest home that is probably at least twice, probably three times the size of my little bungalow.

Once I got home, I looked up Pinnacle Peak Park. I was guessing that we hiked around three miles.  The trail is 1 ¾ miles one way (so 3 ½ miles round trip) which is a do-able walk.  It was all of the up and down hills that got me, especially the last third of the trail (where the “strenuous past this point” sign was) which became a long, steep uphill coming back.  Turns out that the 1,300 feet of elevation change is something that I don’t get in my ambles around town.

It was such a fun excursion.  Even though it was strenuous and pretty challenging for me, I can’t wait to try it again.  We’re already planning my next visit and that will give me a training goal to make sure that at a minimum, I’m getting my steps in every day.

Are you a hiker?  Where do you like to go?