We took the opportunity to have a slower morning today so after gassing up, we did a quick swing through downtown Winslow and then headed southwest on Arizona highway 87. As we left town, the landscape quickly began to look like a typical desert, scrubby and sandy. Eventually we gained elevation and entered the Coconino National Forest, where we got to experience following a pilot car on a one-way road on three separate occasions. And of course, when you are stopped in line waiting your turn, you take photos!
After a turn onto Highway 260, we started down into Verde Valley. The temperature went up and the haze increased. We soon stopped at Montezuma Castle National Monument, a five-story, 20 room cliff dwelling built by the Southern Sinagua Indians between 1100 and 1300. American explorers in the 1800 erroneously assumed the people who built the dwellings were Aztecs from Mexico, so they attached Montezuma’s name to the monument. Looting of the structure started in the early 1900s and by 1951 visitors were causing such damage that tours up to the dwelling were stopped. Sadly, even now folks are vandalizing the site as we saw several Arizona sycamore trees whose trunks had been carved into. The National Park Service had the tree trunks covered in a mesh that prevented the damage from being seen. One of the more interesting trees we saw as a oneseed juniper. The bark made an amazing pattern as it morphed around knots and eyes.
We turned north and jumped onto the Red Rock Scenic Byway en route to Sedona. The red sandstone so synonymous with this area began to appear and soon great pullouts allowed us chances to see Bell Rock, Courthouse Butte, Little Horse, and views of the valley to the north. This truly is a geologist’s dream.
A short time later we were in downtown Sedona and found a great lunch spot called 89Agave Cantina. For the remainder of the afternoon we drove around town, going up Airport Mesa to get a great overview of the town with Coffee Pot Rock and Capitol Butte in the background. We didn’t hike to the well-known Airport Mesa vortex, but saw lots of folks headed that way.
For sunset, we took the Red Rock Loop Road and parked at Crescent Moon Picnic Site. As we walked down to Oak Creek, Cathedral Rock came into view. The setting sun lit up the rock so it appeared to glow. As an added bonus, the moon happened to rise right from behind the rock formation, as if on cue. A perfect ending to a perfect day for sure! Tomorrow, we head north to the Grand Canyon.
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