Nyswonger Mesa

Having moved Jacqueline and Zyla out to Zion, I was going to have a few lonely weeks before seeing them again. Jeff, the music teacher at Norwood, was down to go for a hike on the weekend. I finally figured out something fun to do after contemplating it for quite some time. We decided to head out to Nyswonger Mesa in Paradox Valley leaving right from the “town” of Bedrock. The trail had no signage and was rather inconspicuous, though we were able to pick it up from the road. It was an old jeep road but would take a rather hearty jeeper to make it up this steep road. The trail climbed immediately gaining 1600 feet in the first 1.5 miles. We were both feeling pretty good and moving well. We were rewarded with a good view of Paradox Valley. We had been fighting weather the whole weekend, but luckily on this day we just had some good shade from the clouds without any moisture. We flattened out after the initial uphill where a series of roads were to lead to a good view. The mesa was very open going from juniper forest to sagebrush. The road was well defined, though we could tell that no one had been there in a while. We had great views of the La Sals as the clouds hung around their summits. Following the road eventually lead us to the corner of the mesa where we could see La Sal Creek and the Dolores River confluence. The end of the road was a good view, but seeing the little point that was slightly higher, we decided to scramble on over. It was not too much work and soon we had a clear view down to the Dolores River canyon. I climbed up on a rock where I could get a good picture as you could see the whole area where Jacqueline, Zyla and I hiked a couple of months ago. We soaked in the view as I looked at the steep slope below thinking that I could make it down to the river. Now it was time to head back. There were still things to find even though we were just returning on the same route that we had come from. There was a lot of old junk. We had already found a bunch of old Prince Albert tobacco cans from the “do you have Prince Albert in a can?” fame. We found some petrified wood also, which Jeff was rather stoked about having not come upon it much. We also found two Pepsi bottles from the 40s indicated by the date on the bottom. I thought about taking them with me, but I decided not to. It was a wise decision as they could only be worth a few pennies. Too many old people who don’t throw anything away. We returned down the steep climb up the mesa to Jeff’s car. Turned out to be a pretty good short hike for a cloudy Sunday that we did not have to drive too far to get to.

Valentine's Day by the Dolores River

We had not been out in such a long time that when we finally got one day to get out, we took up the opportunity. So even though my beautiful wife may have usually preferred a traditional Valentine's date, we decided this would be our best chance to get out. Wanting to avoid snow and get out in the sunshine a bit, we headed down in elevation to Bedrock and back to the Dolores River. This time we drove all the way to the big parking area and walked from there. Instead of a pregnant wife, we had a nine month old baby. We were trying out the baby backpack given to us by John and Mindy. We appreciate it and so did Zyla as she looked pretty comfy in there. Jacqueline got the fun of seeing the cute baby the whole time and I got the job of mule. Zyla's new favorite thing she learned on this hike was that there are many different trees out there with lots of different textures. She wanted to grab every branch we went passed after I showed her some for the first time. We had a fairly warm day as it felt good to be in just a fleece. The trail was nothing new as we followed the same route as last time heading down by the river at first, then getting away from it, and eventually coming back. My main goal was just to make it farther than we did the previous time we hiked the trail and we did. Once the wind started to pick up, Jacqueline was a bit worried about how Zyla would handle it. Zyla seemed as unconcerned as normal, but we did finally stop and let her get out of the backpack for a while. We did not make it once again to the dino tracks or to the confluence of La Sal Creek, but this time we made it up onto the higher point to get a view. On the way back Zyla checked out some trees until it was all too much for her. She fell asleep and suddenly one side of my backpack was a lot heavier than the other. We let her sleep and consider ourselves lucky to have such an easy baby who tends to live in the now with her environment and just deal with what is in front of her. We look forward to many more jaunts with little Z and the family.

Wilson Mountain

Having the entire week off for Thanksgiving, Jacqueline, Zyla and I went down to Sedona to have Thanksgiving with Jacqueline's aunt Kris. It is a close enough drive so as not to put the baby in the car for too long. We arrived on Tuesday and on Wednesday we went for our first hike. We took the Boynton Canyon trail that left from the end of the Dry Creek Road. The weather was not looking too hot, in fact it was looking cold. We bundled up the baby and ventured out. It followed a resort community for a while and then we got away from it. Along the way we talked to a couple on the trail. There were a lot of people out on the trail for such a chilly day. It began to hail or snow or sleet, we couldn't tell, so we high tailed it out of there to make sure the baby didn't get too cold. The big hike of the trip, though, was Wilson Mountain. I looked through the guidebooks for the most strenuous hike and found that one, which also happened to be the highest mountain in Sedona. I got up super early on Saturday to make the 30 minute drive from Jacqueline's aunt's house in Cornville to the trailhead, just across the bridge going up Oak Creek Canyon. There was one other car at the trailhead as I started up the trail. The weather was chilly. The trail climbed steadily above Wilson Canyon named after a man who was killed by a grizzly bear there in the late 1800s. The views were great and while I was going uphill, it was nowhere near difficult. This was definitely one that could be called a mountain hike instead of a mountain climb. I could see where the trail was going but sometimes in Arizona it seems there are too many options for where to put a trail. Eventually though I got to where the trail came up to a plateau. From there I could choose which way to go and I continued to climb up. The trail was in its worst condition here, a little muddy and grown over with a few trees down, but eventually I came up to where I was close to the top of the mountain. I saw some white tail deer running away to one summit, but the other one said Sedona view, so I took that one. As I was heading there, I saw another hiker, first of the day, coming back from the summit. He was running and looked a little younger than me. Good for him as I continued to the summit and got a few pictures before I started back down the way I came. I was hustling because we still had to drive all the way home to Norwood, because we were trying to beat a storm. It is a little funny to hike so far and still be able to see where you started as the bridge was always in my view on the hike. The hike was somewhere around eleven miles, but I was able to get to the top before ten and back to the car before noon. When I was leaving the trailhead, there was major competition for a parking spot. It made me glad that I did rise and shine so early, so we could get back and avoid the long drive through winter weather. I really enjoyed the hike as Sedona has puzzled me in the past for a spot for recreation, but this was a great choice for a Saturday in late November.