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Forum Index > Trip Reports > 4 Days in the AZ Desert, Mar 31-Apr 3
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Bloated Chipmunk
Cock Rock Searcher

Joined: 29 Jan 2007
Posts: 2993 | TRs | Pics
Location: Margaritaville

	Bloated Chipmunk Top Cock Rock Searcher
	Tue Apr 12, 2011 8:59 pm Top

With Thursday the 31st being a holiday I decided to go ahead & take off Friday as well to make it a nice 4-day wknd. Where to go? After much planning (thanks, MM!) we decided to bum around Sedona & the Petrified Forest w/a quick stop in Tucson @ the end. DAY 1 MM & I packed up our stuff in his car & headed east on the 8 out of San Diego. As we got close to El Centro, I realized I forgot my camera's memory card @ home.

So, a quick stop was in order to buy another one. It took us a bit to find a store that had 'em, but eventually found a cell phone store that sold them @ a decent price. Then we quickly got back on the freeway under sunny skies & warming temps. My jeans had come off & skirt & sandals went on--always a good thing.

We crossed the border into AZ & then turned north on hwy. 85 @ Gila Bend. We hooked up w/I-10 to Phoenix & then headed north on the 17 until we reached the turn off for Sedona, hwy. 179. Upon reaching the uber-touristy town, we turned west on 89 for a bit then north on Dry Crk. Rd. We pulled off @ a couple of scenic spots for pics.

View from pullout along rd.

Shadow

We continued on to FR 152, making a rt. when we got there. We were examining the pay station when a chick came driving out & gave us her $5 pass so we thanked her for her generosity.

We noticed signs warning that the rd. was high clearance only, & boy were they not kidding! This was one of the worst rds. I'd been on for a long time. One would do well to empty one's bladder & don a sports bra before attempting this rd.

On the way out we'd see just how bad this rd. can mess someone up, but more on that later....

After much bouncing around we finally made it to the TH for Devils Bridge.

Map

MM carries a heavy load

Views along the way

Late afternoon light on cliffs across the valley

Bridge

MM & BC on the bridge

MM on the bridge

Shoe shot

Colorful cliffs

MM on the bridge

After the hike, it was time to look for a nearby campsite. We eventually found a nice place tucked away off the rd. w/some privacy. MM cooked dinner & we sat under the stars until we got too tired & hit the sack. The next morning we awoke to sunshine & chilly temps, but it warmed up quickly. DAY 2

MM @ camp in the morning

Our next stop: Bear Sign-Secret Canyon Trail, located @ the end of the forest rd. After returning to the beginning of the rd. to pay our day use fee, we headed back up & found plenty of parking. We started up the shady trail in a northerly direction. The views were meager for this part of the trail, but would open up once we looped around south again.

MM @ the correct TH

Heading through the cypress trees

Sunny trail

Junction & free Sedona hat

Shaded trail

Views to the northish

MM coming down the trail

David Miller Trail junction

After reaching the halfway point & looping back down, we spotted a side trail that led a short distance to a rock outcropping w/a nice view.

Views from our perch

Perfect!!!

Yay!

Cliffy stuff

The views continued as we headed down, & we saw some cool looking rocks.

Looking up toward Secret Canyon

Nice rocks

Looking southish

Reddish rocks above

Agave

Knobby rocks

Penis Rock

Rock pillar

The rest of the trail was pretty flat & easy, & we made it to the other TH & then hooked up w/the rd. back to the car.

Back to the TH

The loop we did

On the rough, bouncy drive out, we came across some people who managed to get their Jeep flipped upside down. We paused for pics while a tow truck extracted it from the ditch & the owners (seemingly not injured) looked on in surprisingly good spirits considering what happened.

Whoops!!

Tow truck trying to get it right side up

Partway there

Assessing the situation

We got on the 40 east & camped outside Flagstaff in the Coconino NF. Again we witnessed a great star show before turning in for the night. DAY 3

Mt. Humphreys

Sunrise on San Francisco pks.

Morning camp

Sunrise on Mt. Humphreys

After b'fast we continued east on 40 toward the Petrified Forest. We opted to do several short hikes, starting from the south end of the park. 1st stop was the museum & Giant Logs trail.

Big Logs trail

A really old log

Colors

Red & yellow

Log

MM sittin' on a log

After Giant Logs, it was time to see Long Logs. Nothin' like seeing giant logs & long logs in the same day

We also checked out the Agate House.

Long Logs TH, though it looks like a sidewalk to me

Paved trail

Long Logs Trail sign

Petrified logs

Lots of logs

Agate House

Agate house

Colorful rocks/logs

MM @ the Agate House

Colors

Continuing on...

Badlands

Badlands & MM

Badlands

Next up was the Crystal Forest trail.

The Crystal Forest TH

Logs

MM & his big log

Crystals

The the Jasper Forest overlook:

Overlook

Then the Agate Bridge, which was disappointing b/c @ some point they put concrete underneath it to reinforce it, making it look pretty unnatural.

Bridge

Next up was the Blue Mesa trail. I definitely recommend this one!

Blue Mesa TH

Badlands

Badland striping

Nice stripes

Pedestal log

Then we moved on & checked out Newspaper Rock & Puerco Pueblo.

Native American ruins

Petroglyphs

The remainder of the day consisted of quick overlooks along the rd.

Views from one of the roadside overlooks

We stayed until closing then got booted out by a ranger.

We drove off into the sunset along hwy. 377 & camped just inside the Apache-Sitgreaves NF.

Sunset

A little cloudy that night, so the star show wasn't as great. The wind picked up during the night, but thankfully didn't last too long. DAY 4 We awoke to a nice sunrise once again, & MM felt compelled to stand atop the car for a better view of our surroundings.

Sunrise

Camp

MM on top of his car

Then we made a beeline for Tucson after realizing there would be time for a quick visit afterall. We had lunch w/my mom & sis, & left just in time for her Netherlands friends to arrive. Turns out they had gone to the Petrified Forest the same day we did, & even hiked the Long Logs - Agate House trail as well! Small world.

All too soon it was time to make the 6ish-hour drive back to SD, & get ready for work the next day.

Home is where the hiking is. "Peaks that have come and gone four times should halt a man in his steps." -- William O. Douglas A balanced diet is a margarita in each hand.

David¹
Token Canadian

Joined: 25 Jul 2002
Posts: 3040 | TRs | Pics
Location: The Great White North

	David¹ Top Token Canadian
	Wed Apr 13, 2011 6:17 am Top

Nice stuff - always appreciated

Warning! Posts may contain traces of sarcasm. Hiking Website: http://members.shaw.ca/karenanddavid/Index.htm

yukon222
Member

Joined: 12 Mar 2007
Posts: 1893 | TRs | Pics

	yukon222 Top Member
	Wed Apr 13, 2011 9:50 am Top

Fun pic of you two on the rock bridge!! And I enjoyed the pics of the petrified logs scattered out in the desert. Thanks for the TR!

yew
non-technical

Joined: 12 Dec 2005
Posts: 1173 | TRs | Pics
Location: Bellingham

	yew Top non-technical
	Wed Apr 13, 2011 8:25 pm Top

Petrified wood...geologic time...boggles the mind...pretty feet....cannot compute

"I aint jokin woman, I got to ramble...We gonna go walkin through the park every day." - Led Zeppelin

Stones
funk soul brother

Joined: 08 Apr 2004
Posts: 1594 | TRs | Pics
Location: in your soul kitchen

	Stones Top funk soul brother
	Wed Apr 13, 2011 8:52 pm Top

I'm always fascinated by the native American cultures of the southwest, especially after visiting Chaco a few years back.

Let me stand next to your fire

furthur
Berry Bagger

Joined: 21 Sep 2006
Posts: 341 | TRs | Pics
Location: onward and upward

	furthur Top Berry Bagger
	Thu Apr 14, 2011 5:18 am Top

You packed a lot into your tour! What's the story behind the Agate House?

"You're either on the bus or off the bus." Kesey

Dean
(aka CascadeHiker)

Joined: 02 Mar 2002
Posts: 1967 | TRs | Pics
Location: ex Kennewick, Wa & Lehi Utah

	Dean Top (aka CascadeHiker)
	Thu Apr 14, 2011 6:22 am Top

Another great TR, you gave me some ideas for an upcoming trip.

Dean - working in Utah for awhile and feeling like it is a 'paid' vacation. http://www.summitpost.org/user_page.php?user_id=1160

MountainMan
Member

Joined: 15 Jul 2008
Posts: 365 | TRs | Pics
Location: San Diego

	MountainMan Top Member
	Thu Apr 14, 2011 6:42 am Top

Agate house was pretty cool - nice building material! Wikipedia describes it better than I can though: "From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Agate House Pueblo U.S. National Register of Historic Places Nearest city: Holbrook, Arizona Coordinates: 34°48′18″N 109°51′40″W / 34.805°N 109.86111°W / 34.805; -109.86111Coordinates: 34°48′18″N 109°51′40″W / 34.805°N 109.86111°W / 34.805; -109.86111 Governing body: National Park Service Added to NRHP: October 06, 1975[1] NRHP Reference#: 75000170 Agate House is a partially-reconstructed Puebloan building in Petrified Forest National Park, built almost entirely of petrified wood. The eight-room pueblo has been dated to approximately the year 900, of the Pueblo III period. The agatized wood was laid in a clay mortar, in lieu of the more usual sandstone-and-mortar masonry of the area.[2] The ruins of Agate House were reconstructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933-34 under the direction of C.B. Cosgrove Jr. of the New Mexico Laboratory of Anthropology. Room 7 was fully reconstructed with a new roof. Room 2's walls were rebuilt to a height of five feet, but not roofed, and the remaining walls were rebuilt to a height of two or three feet.[3]" My Agate House Pics:

Petrified Forest

Slow down, take notice, savor the moment, appreciate the world around you and everything that you have.

MountainMan
Member

Joined: 15 Jul 2008
Posts: 365 | TRs | Pics
Location: San Diego

	MountainMan Top Member
	Thu Apr 14, 2011 9:46 am Top

I really enjoyed this trip! So many awesome places! And it was so nice to spend time with BC again!

We plan to return to that area again because there were so many interesting things that we had to drive by due to limited time.

Here are some of my Sedona pics. It's very touristy, of course, but also very worth while. We could've spent days around there and not seen everything! It was kinda tough to stick with our plan and move on after just a little over one day there. Our first stop:

Sedona

Devil's Bridge:

Sedona

Sedona

BC's turn to hold it up.

MM and BC

Sedona

Devil's Bridge

Us on the bridge

BC on the bridge.

Devil's Bridge

Bridge from below.

Day 2 - Sedona:

Sedona camp

TH to TH Loop

Sedona

Relaxing

Sedona

Prickly heart

Sedona

Overturned car

Wouldn't want to stand there...

Almost on there.

All my Sedona pics here. 2nd nights camp:

2nd night camp

Tent and stars, 2nd night.

Camp, 2nd night.

View from camp, 2nd night.

3rd day - Petrified forest: Took tons of pics, all of which can be seen here, but here's a bunch:

Petrified Forest

3rd nights camp:

Sunset

Camp, the third night.

Tucson:

Lunch in Tucson. Looking a little scruffy.

Lunch in Tucson.

BC and Chulupa

Slow down, take notice, savor the moment, appreciate the world around you and everything that you have.

pimaCanyon
Member

Joined: 13 Jul 2007
Posts: 1304 | TRs | Pics
Location: at the bottom of the map

	pimaCanyon Top Member
	Thu Apr 14, 2011 12:30 pm Top

nice TR and great pix. You've given ME some ideas regarding a Sedona trip we want to do soon--and I live here in Tucson! I didn't know you could do what they call dispersed camping in the Sedona area, so I googled it and sure enough there are places that are legal. The other option we've been considering is backpacking, but most of the trails are so short they don't really make for a good BP experience. Anyway, thanks for posting!

It's never too late to have a happy childhood

Backpacker Joe
Blind Hiker

Joined: 16 Dec 2001
Posts: 23956 | TRs | Pics
Location: Cle Elum

	Backpacker Joe Top Blind Hiker
	Thu Apr 14, 2011 12:34 pm Top

Great pics. Ill be down there for a month in May.

"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide." — Abraham Lincoln

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