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Bridge into canyon walk

The first part of the drive from Flagstaff is quite spectacular as you drop down from Flagstaff's 7,000 feet into the Oak Creek canyon, a drop of about 2,000 feet. As you descend a very windy mountain road, the vegetation changes from pine trees to scrub oak hence the name of the canyon. As the road goes down, so the temperature goes up. By the time we were at the bottom we were back in the 90 degree plus range. Forgive us if we belabor the temperature statistics a little. For us they were a major factor in the comfort or lack of it of almost every day on the trip. In truth, it obsessed us not a little.

On Oak Creek

Oak Creek and Oak Canyon

Not long after we hit the valley floor, we passed a sign to West Fork Trail. After talking to the ranger on duty, we decided to take the hike hoping to find some nice views of the striking deep red rock formations that Sedona, a little further on towards Phoenix, is famous for.

The hike was rated excellent by the ranger, but as we got further into it we found it a bit tame as there was almost no change in elevation and the views of the red rocks although fairly pretty are just not that impressive. Perhaps the best one can say about the hike is that it was very shady and with upwards of nine creek crossings there were ample opportunities for cooling off, which was necessary at that time of the year.

A little farther on is Slide Rock Park. It is a popular spot to get in the water and cool off. But as usual, we were getting behind schedule and had to rush on.

Hardened and empty cicada shells

Dragon Fly