We left Lyman Lake State Park (AZ) and headed north on US-180 up to I-40, then west to Flagstaff on our way to our campground in Cottonwood, AZ, just south of Sedona, AZ. We did finally get some dry weather. I must say that the Interstate highways in Arizona are some of the worst I’ve ever travelled. They wanted to jar your teeth loose even more than the Interstate highways in Louisiana, which were my previous vote for the worst. Heading south on I-17 out of Flagstaff, the road had a severe drop of at least a couple thousand feet. We saw a couple of semis pulled over to the side of the road overheated brakes. Fortunately, the F-250 did its job and got us through without a hitch.
We exited off I-17 to go west towards Cottonwood and our destination of Dead Horse Ranch State Park. A short drive later, including paying a jaw-dropping $3.69 for diesel, we arrived at the park. In spite of the Interstate highway issues, Arizona has some really nice state park campgrounds. At least from my experience so far, I wouldn’t hesitate staying at others. At Dead Horse Ranch S.P., the spaces are fairly wide and level, asphalt, and have lots of trees and bushes separating them for privacy.
We took it easy for the evening so that we’d be rested up for Sedona on Monday. The next morning started out beautifully with no hint of rain. After breakfast, we took the short drive to Sedona. That whole area is BEAUTIFUL, no matter which way you turn. We stopped first at what we thought was the “official” visitor center for Sedona, but it turned out to be one of those time-share places. The Chamber of Commerce’s visitor center was on the opposite side of the building. But, the young lady was very nice and provided us with area maps and suggestions on best how to make the most of the day.
We started our day with a visit to the Chapel of the Holy Cross. It’s a beautiful, small Catholic chapel built right into the side of a mountain in 1956.
We then got adventurous and decided to take a short, 3.6 mile (r/t) hike up to Devil’s Bridge. The hike was reasonably flat for the first mile-and-a-quarter or so, but the last quarter mile was pretty straight up. The trek was worth it as the views were spectacular and we took a lot of pictures on the hike. Three young women helped us out by taking our picture while we stood out on the “bridge” and also took our picture using a small drone while we were out there. The hike back was pretty exciting, at least for Debbie since she’s deathly afraid of heights. It’s pretty funny that she wants to tackle some of these mountainous trail hikes when there seems to be so many edges with sheer drops involved, but we made it down without incident.
We then ate at a really cool restaurant on the west end of town. We sat out on the covered balcony which had a GREAT view of the surrounding rock formations. Then, off again for a drive that offered some pretty amazing views of the area. Following that, we headed up to the airport scenic overlook to finish the day watching the sunset. Since we got there a little early, we took another short hike, about a mile-and-a-half round trip along the Sedona Overlook trail that ended atop a huge rock with excellent views of the surrounding area. After making it back to the airport, we found that the place was just crawling with camera bugs trying to do exactly the same as us, watch and photo the sunset. After a pretty sunset, we headed back down to Cottonwood to call it a night. We’re making an early start tomorrow to get to Las Vegas for the USBC Open Championships bowling tournament that I will participate in on Wednesday and Thursday. Wish me luck, as I’m sure going to need it.
LyndDebTravel 