I received my new GPS setup on Thursday and the weather forcasted for Friday was for clear skies and warmer weather. So I prepared the truck, downloaded my maps, queued up my song list and called work to tell them that I am not going to be in on Friday.
The plan was to leave for Sedona early and tackle Broken Arrow, look at Soldier Pass (Pink Jeep has access only but you can hike in), and then try out Greasy Spoon. Then on the way back I was going to meet up with the crew for our regularly schedule Friday night run to the Gillette Ruins till the sun came up and head directly to 4 Peaks to help out in cleaning up the desert.
I woke up bright and early and headed out. On the way there I met a nice couple in a Jeep who was heading up to Flagstaff.
It has been some time since I have been to Sedona but the first thing I noticed was these round about circles that they put in the center of the road. There are three of them and they are suppose to speed up the traffic around the area. Here is a funny picture that I saw from a nice looking woman in a very nice car. Take note of the license plate.
So my first stop was the Holy Church in Sedona. It a tourist attraction and I have always seen it by the road so this time I figured I would just go check it out.
It was a cool site to see and so I headed off to Bell Rock. If you have the time then I would highly plan a day for this location and just hike around the many trails around this mountain.
After taking some pictures I decided to fuel up and head out to Broken Arrow. Broken arrow is a short run but offers a lot of nice views. I would highly recommend that you park your vehicle and just hike the area to Chicken point which is at the end of the Broken Arrow trail. Since this was my first time driving Broken Arrow I decided to wheel in. So here are a few pictures from that trail.
After the Broken Arrow trip I decided to hit Greasy spoon but on my way there I decided to roam around the area and found two locations where they have Indian Ruins. Both locations have a Forest Service guide who talks about the area and gives some history to the location that you are visiting. Sometimes following Pink Jeep tours can lead you to some cool spots.
Greasy Spoon came at the end of the trip but unfortunately the light was so low to take any pictures. The road was ok but not as scenic. I did see some Deer and Antelope when scouting with Binoculars.
My final stop was Table Mesa going towards the Gillette Ruins. It was already nightfall and late so I did my best to take a picture of the Ruins.
After crossing back and playing around the area I decided to crash out there and wake up the next day to drive directly to the 4 Peaks area where people were volunteering to clean up the desert.
Here is a link to the rest of the Sedona trip pictures
azskyrider/Sedona_Feb09_08 - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
And here is a link to the 4 peaks clean up area. I wasn't prepared to carry loose trash and a desk on the top of my roof rack but luckily a Forest Ranger showed up with a trailer and stopped by and picked it up. Here are the pictures from that event. Over 215 people showed up to volunteer and the Desert looked really clean when we were all done. A huge thanks for TIM (SOAZ) who organized this whole thing in 4 weeks!
azskyrider/4peaks_cleanup - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
Cheers,
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