Cottonwood, AZ - Red Rocks and Green Foliage

What a nice day. Great weather, a great hike and a great meal with friends to end the day. We’ve been good sitting here for the last 2 days getting things done that we have postponed as we have traveled through the 4 corners region of the US. Today it’s time to hike. We will have 2 months in Gold Canyon (east of Phoenix) to sit and do - whatever. We’re here in Sedona, let’s explore.

We’ve hiked in Sedona before but there are so many trails around here that we could hike for several months and never repeat a trail. Today, we want to try Boynton Canyon which we’ve hear is particularly beautiful. As we went up the trail, we hiked through different layers of trees. We began in a desert with cactus and short shrubbery. As we moved higher, we were walking through manzanita with deep red branches and bright shiny green leaves. Further up the trail, we were shuffling through yellow leaves from both aspen and oak. At times, there were so many leaves that they obscured the trail. it felt as if we were on a fall hike through Vermont or New Hampshire.

But, no matter the type of vegetation, the one constant was the deep red cliffs overhead. We couldn’t always see them through the trees but then we’d get a glimpse and know we were in Sedona. As the canyon narrowed, the high cliffs blocked the sun in the canyon where we were hiking and we felt chilled. We had taken off the legs to our hiking pants and were hiking in shorts, short sleeve shirts and a collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up. But, we were hiking up and our body heat kept us warm. On the way back from the top of the canyon, we passed a couple in knit caps, gloves, down vests, long-sleeve shirts, and jeans who asked: is there any sun ahead?

The trail was a poplar one and we met many others either going up or going down. Thus, though this is officially ‘wilderness’ we didn’t often have times when we were alone on the trail. We also could hear the ubiquitous sounds of the helicopters as they carried tourists over, bi-planes with their tourists and then another helicopter buzzing right down the canyon itself.

But, yes, Boynton Canyon was a delightful hike. No matter where you look,, you can see the red cliffs peering through the foliage.

In the evening we had dinner with 2 other couples in campsites near us. We met Wendy and Barry from British Columbia several weeks ago in Mexican Hat, UT and, since we had the same path for the next 4 weeks, we’ve been seeing each other from campground to campground. They are next to Sharon and Gene and thus we 3 couples had dinner together tonight. We all brought our own main dish and then a side dish for all to share.

I, of course brought my deviled eggs. The last two times I’ve had hard cooked eggs, I’ve had a ‘devil’ of a time peeling them. The shells stuck to the eggs, took forever to peel and, when I got done, they were a mess. When you do deviled eggs for others, you are making ‘show’ eggs and want them to be perfect. Luckily, this time, they peeled almost decently and I had my ‘show’ eggs.

What a delightful meal. When RV’ers get together, they talk about they places that have been. This was a more unusual group since Wendy has sailed for 3 years in the South Seas around Austrailia, New Zealand and even out to Tonga. Now, do you know where Tonga is? I had a general idea: in the South Seas - which gives me a lot of leeway. Anyway, she sailed from New Zealand to Tonga in 14 days in a 27’ sailboat. Now, pace off 27’ and put a sailboat in this length. Can you imagine 14 days, out of sight of land in a 27’ sailboat?

Interestingly enough, Sharon has also visited Tonga. 6 people sitting around a picnic table in Cottonwood, Arizona and 2 of them have been to Tonga. What are the chances of that? Obviously, RV’ers are great travelers - but, TONGA?

It was a delightful ending to a delightful day.