Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon, AZ

For a couple of nights we camped in Oak Creek Canyon a few miles north of Sedona, AZ.  The canyon is beautiful and we had great weather - it was clear and about 10 degrees cooler up there than in town.  Neither Jim nor I had seen Sedona for 20 years or more. It has become a sprawling town packed with shops of all descriptions, from very high end to junky. The surrounding red rocks are breathtaking, but it is a bit off-putting to see all the touristy stuff and built-up areas.

This is a walkway in an old shopping complex that is tastefully done, but not of much interest (to me, anyway) except for its little gardens, fountains and lovely old twisted sycamore trees. 

Here is me on a hike through Oak Creek Canyon. You cross and recross the  creek about 13 times.  It's very pleasant because of the shade, breeze, birdsong and smell of pines.

The canyon walls are very high

We did a few short drives around the area, since it was too hot midday to do any serious walking or hiking in and around Sedona. One evening we drove up to the airport high on the mesa to have a drink and watch the sun go down.  The red sandstone rocks are spectacular all around Sedona when you can get away from the houses in the expanding suburbs.  

This photo was taken from the terrance outside the Sedona Chapel of the Holy Cross. As you can see, someone has built a HUGE monstrosity of a private house right below. This thing was vastly bigger than anything else nearby and even had a massive artificial pool with waterfalls on the property.  Pretty awful. 

One of the rocky outcrops south of Sedona. For a sense of scale, that's Jim walking toward it in the field.

I think this one is called Bell Rock, because of its shape.

Another view taken perched on rocks mid-stream in Oak Creek.

Lots of yellow wildflowers on our hike into the canyon

We left Sedona for a night camping near Flagstaff, and then drove on to the Grand Canyon - that's up next post!