Arizona pt 2; Sedona
As we progressed further north in Arizona it was clear that the weather drastically differs depending on where you go. It was a pants and sweatshirt kind of morning and by the time we got to our first spot in Sedona it was hinting at rain. We had missed the shuttle to the trailhead by minutes and after deliberating, decided to forego waiting for the next one and hike to the trailhead instead. On our walk down, we stopped and admired some wild boars running around in a clearing which was an unexpected treat.
It was drizzling by the time we started the hike and we were just hoping that it wouldn't dump on us all morning. Within about fifteen minutes though, the sky cleared and we were blessed with a beautiful sunny day. The massive red rock formations was breathtaking and we passed pools of water, huge sinkhole-esque areas that hosted full grown trees whose tops were level with us, and tons of blue agave. I personally recommend you avoid stabbing and scratching yourself on them, it doesn't feel the best.
The part of the hike we were most excited for was the cave with a beautiful lookout. I had never been in any caves above ground; the ones in Oregon tend to go underground in my experience. We waited for a moment when people weren't climbing up or down and hauled ourselves up into this thin slot cave in the side of the cliff face. My fear of falling was re-realized during the short but awkward climb up. We went to a hole in the cave where you could sit and look out at the view and then inched our way around to the more cramped side to look at the actual cave itself.
This is when I got my favorite shot of the trip. The wind picked up in the cave, stirring the sand and dirt with it and the light streaming down caught and framed it perfectly. After a while though, Mina was chillin in the cave but I needed to get out of the cave before I got so nervous about falling that I actually ended up making myself fall. So we climbed down and sat in that area on some flat rocks to eat a snack. Mina explored a couple other little caves in that immediate area while I sat feeling like a shaky chihuahua. The cave was definitely one of those moments where my photo side of my brain and my rational self preservation side were fighting. Naturally the photo side will always win, but I needed a few minutes to regain my composure and be able to walk without looking like a baby deer taking its first steps.
We ended up deciding we wanted to check out slightly different scenery and hiked back to the trailhead just in time to catch the shuttle back to the parking lot. We sat in the trunk of Mina's little hatchback and ate sandwiches and got pelted with wind blown dirt until we took refuge in the inside of the car.
We went to a river where we hiked for a few more hours, looking at beautiful formations and the vibrant water mixed with deep red clay beds. We found a stream that we sat and dipped our feet in and relaxed in the shade for a while before heading back to the car. We still had another couple hours before shops would close so we went into the town of Sedona. Previously I had thought Sedona was like the gorge or the painted hills; just an area you hiked and enjoyed. Apparently it's also a very beautiful (very expensive) little town as well that we went and walked around while enjoying some boba. There were tons of beautiful artisan shops, crystal and other spirituality-focused shops and tourist shops that we popped in and out of, oohing and aahing about the beautiful craftsmanship.
By the time the sun was getting lower in the horizon we were both tired and wanting to relax so we stopped by a grocery store and got some food to cook at our next airbnb and relaxed, ate, read and fell asleep with excitement for the Grand Canyon visit the next morning.
If you want access to blog posts with sooner release dates and extensive amounts of otherwise not-seen photography work head over to my patreon linked above!