Sedona -- Post 4

Today's posting includes pictures taken during a hike around Chimney Rock, as well as a couple from Jerome, AZ.  We were a little tired after out day hike in the Grand Canyon, so we decided to do a shorter hike.  We chose the Chimney Rock/Thunder Mountain area, which is located in the same general area as the Devil's Bridge trail we had hiked previously.

This trail not only had the typical red rock formations, but also offered a view of Sedona located in the valley below.

Many of the trails are quite narrow with thorny bushes and cacti immediately adjacent to the trail.  You have to be careful what you brush up against.

Looking across the valley...

This is lizard head rock.  I took a picture of this formation on a previous day from the other (shaded) side when we were on the Devil's Bridge trail.

Part of Sedona down below....

This was a shorter hike -- just under 3 miles.  So we decided to try to find a rockhound site near Camp Verde.  I copied a map from friends, Gerald and Jill.   Despite our efforts, we were not able to find the turnoff.  We tried one dirt road, but there were guys in trucks and we decided not to venture forth.  Then we tried another road and people were target practicing with guns. 

So we gave up and decided to visit some of the wineries in the area.  It is amazing that they can grow grapes in this desert climate, but with the help of a few rivers and irrigation systems -- they do.  The first one was Alcantara, located east of Cottonwood.  The wine was very good, although somewhat expensive.

Next we went to Jerome.  This is a cool little town located 27 miles south of Sedona.  A century ago it was a famous mining town that almost became a ghost town.  Then in the 1960s artists and hippies started re-populating the village.  It sits on the side of a mountain and has very steep streets.  We walked around, visited another winery, and had dinner.  We sat outside at the Grapes restaurant under heat lamps.

 

From our table we could look off over the Verde valley and see Mount Humphries, located in Flagstaff around 50 miles away.

 

The entire area obviously is geologically interesting.  In the evenings I have been reading geology books trying to get a feeling of how this whole area in northern and central Arizona came to be.  I have not figured it out yet, given the complexity, but I will by the time I finish developing the next online class.