Sedona Part #3: A Trip Report

[jbeegoode]

Sedona the last couple of days, when we were able to freely hike among majesty. This is the new improved version. There are more pictures embedded and prompts to bring you along.

At: http://thefreerangenaturist.org/2015/11/29/sedona-part-3-a-trip-report/

Back in Tortolita next week, all new.
Jbee

[nudewalker]

How about "Memories" from the musical "Cats"! Although we only did a day trip to Sedona your report brought back memories of the majesty of those red rocks. Since we've begun to decorate for Christmas the smell of pine permeates the house so it was easy to imagine the hike through the forest. Once again great job and a warm thanks from the cold damp and rainy (for the moment) East!

[jbeegoode]

Since we've begun to decorate for Christmas the smell of pine permeates the house so it was easy to imagine the hike through the forest. Once again great job and a warm thanks from the cold damp and rainy (for the moment) East!

I'm glad that you enjoyed it, thank-you for the positive feedback. That one took a lot of time to refurbish. I threw so many new pics into the text that it took over two hours just to load it onto the website alone. The traffic on the site had quite a spike, so people are getting it, but there are no comments.

YA know, the first time I went through there was in the mid-seventies. It was a place to get gas and a Dairy Queen, pretty much, just there on the side of the highway. Some motels on back. A pal and I were coming back from Flagstaff. We had spent the weekend with girlfriends partying around NAU. We had all been skinnydipping and nude walking the creek at Grasshopper Point down the hill from the slide in Oak Creek Canyon and decided to see what was down the road on the way back.

The desert is starting to get winterized. We have had no rain for a couple of weeks after this unusual condition of rain every week for months. There was a freeze last night and two more predicted (29F). Already, this morning I see yellow leaves on many of the plants. It used to drop off my nude time outdoors when the two month winter arrived and I waited for February with highs on the 70F's. This year, thanks to this website, experimentation, those of you who showed the way to enjoying colder temperatures and displaying tenacity with your stories and reports, I now can enjoy the 60F's. Most days, for a while, in the afternoon, there is time like that. It depends on the breezes and winds that flow through here, or if I'm in the windbreak of the city. I also get a kick out of the colder temps. I can get sun all year, keeping the tan dark, when it used to fade.
Jbee

[nuduke]

Woo hoo jbee, Do I vaguely remember that one posted on TSNS?  I think your blog has much increased the number of pictures.  I'm ashamed to say that due to lateness of hour I didn't read the words just looked at the pics.  The sense of awe one gets even looking at the pictures must be almost overwhelming when you're actually there facing those ancient hewn sandstones!  We visited stuff like that on our 2014 trip but never got chance to roam alone or immerse ourselves in the landscape enough.
Utterly wonderful.  One day, whilst we're still fit enough to do it I'm going to return to AZ and go with you!

John

[eyesup]

Photos of burn recovery always amaze me.

I have some pictures from 2004 on the Mogollon Rim of a burn area north of Payson. We were there barely two weeks after the fire. It was a Boy Scout camp, so no SN there. Three other leaders and I hiked up from the camp to right below the rim and into the burn zone. The whole area smelled like a campfire.

I'll locate them and select a few. It's not SN, but some good pictures of what a burn looks like.

Many of the other pictures remind me of places I've been. Zion & Escalante in Utah, Great Basin here in NV, Hualapai in Az and points east in Colorado.

Good stuff, Jbee.

Duane

[eyesup]

So here are some of the photos I mentioned.

In 2004 my son's Boy Scout troop went to a summer camp in central Arizona. It is about 10-15 miles north of Payson, right below the Mogollon Rim. In June of that year a lightening strike started the Willow forest fire and it was burning just south and east of the camp. In the weeks beforehand, we were watching the camp's website in case they had to evacuate. One photo posted on the opening page showed the fire on the rim and slowly moving west. You could see the flames from the main camp.

Luckily, the rains arrived in time to put the fire out and we ended up spending a week there. I believe it was in the Tonto National Forest. The camp was above 5000 ft. and the hike up to the burn was around 7000 ft.

What was amazing was that we were there within 2 weeks after the flames were out and there was new plant growth all over the area. Walking through a still black landscape with these dark green splashes of life was unbelievable. The rain, which put the fire out was also responsible for the new growth. Nature seems to know how to handle these naturally occurring fires.


Looking downslope towards the camp.


New growth already!


The fire went all the way through the trunk, yet the tree is still standing.


Some look like standing burnt logs from a campfire.


New growth all around the burned area.


The creek running through the camp. Contrasts from desert to lush streams and from devastation in the burn to the camp right below it.


A panorama looking west. The direction the fire was headed.


To the right you can see where the fire simply stopped.

Stunning landscape, even the burn area.
It would be interesting to hike back up there now 11, almost 12, yrs. later to see how it looks.

Duane