Scheduling a hike in Sedona was supposed to avoid high temperatures. When the day finally came, however, the forecast was the low 90s! And that wasn’t for Phoenix, mind you, but for supposedly cool Sedona!

Undaunted, twelve Trailblazers equipped themselves up with plenty of water, lots of sunblock, loose breezy clothing, and all good intentions of finishing early. From there we just needed to finish. And so we headed out. No one expected that only three of us would make it back as planned.

Barbara, April, Karen, Linda, Nikita, Val, Mechelle, Dave, Tammy, Mark, Nancy, Jim

The first leg of our trek started at the Sombart Lane Trailhead, continued on the Margs Draw trail for about a mile, and then ended at (where else?) the Margs Draw Trailhead.

The scenery, of course, was spectacular. Average in Sedona beats some of the most beautiful places on Earth. And since the first leg of the hike was on fairy level and open terrain, it was easy to look around and enjoy.

This Margs Draw Trailhead, unlike the Sombart, had toilets. This resulted in some delay but soon enough were on the move again, this time on the Munds Wagon Trail itself.

The hike started with some of the most beautiful scenery on Earth. [photo by Barbara]

Val and April compare experiences early on.

Barbara, Dave, Linda, and Val chew up the miles.

The weather was dry so even the suggestion of water was welcome. [photo by Barbara]

After the Margs Draw Trailhead the trail featured a long descent along the wall of a canyon. The bottom features an unusual and interesting stretch of slickrock, but nobody felt like stopping for pictures. Maybe on the way back, I thought.

Linda, Jim, April, Val, Nancy, and Mechelle enjoy a breather. [photo by Barbara]

About an hour and a half into the hike Karen reported that her rib was bothering her. Apparently, she’d bruised it on a recent European vacation and the impact of hiking was aggravating it.

Mark volunteered to accompany Karen back to the trailhead, and Val and Nikita joined them because they needed to get back to the Valley early. So with that, our number fell to eight.

After the slickrock the trail starts climbing again. Well, canyons are like that: down one side an up the other.

Dave, however, had started to weaken. The day was growing warmer by then but he didn’t think his problem was heat exhaustion; rather, too much hiking and tennis in one week. Shortly before we reached the turnaround point, though, he found a shady spot along the trail and decided to rest there until we returned. He could contact us by radio if necessary.

This was our outdoor lunchroom and turnaround point. The high school cafeteria was never like this!

The turnaround point itself was spectacular, even for Sedona. We enjoyed a fantastic vista of red rock and conifers, and the site even provided a natural arc of red rock theater seating.

Nancy, Val, Barbara, Linda, and April enjoy natural theater seating at the turnaround point.

Mechelle snaps a souvenir photo. [photo by Barbara]

A hilltop at the turnaround point.

April, Linda, Barbara, Mechelle, Val, and Nancy enjoy the view.

This balancing rock was another interesting feature at the turnaround point.

Also near the turnaround point is a stack of balancing rocks that form an arch. It looked as if people sometimes stepped onto it but no one in our group felt like testing that. We were more anxious about getting back before the temperature rose further.

Despite originating millions of years ago, the Sedona scenery never gets old.

An amazing outcropping of balancing rocks.

Jim, Tammy, April, Nancy, and Mechelle check out the outcropping. [photo by Barbara]

Here’s a remove view of the same outcropping. It’s a long slide down.[photo by Barbara]

To return, of course, we needed to descend the canyon wall we’d just climbed and climb the one we’d just descended. Of course, that interesting slickrock was still there. It’s a couple hundred yards long and over the years flowing water has carved into surreal shapes. The stratified rock adds a surreal texture. And we even found a natural tank with water in it! And time for pictures!

Tammy, April, and Barbara navigate the slickrock.

Waterflow carves the slickrock into surreal patterns.

Linda and Dave pass by a tank in the slickrock.

After climbing back up the canyon the trail flattened out and crossed Schnebly Hill Road several times. One of these has some rock steps leading down to the roadbed, and as Dave was going down he lost his footing and fell. Fortunately he wasn’t seriously hurt, but he did get a cut above his eye. And even more fortunately, two guys in a Jeep passed by just then and asked to help! Is that karma or what?

The Jeepsters asked Dave if he wanted a ride back to the trailhead, and after some discussion he agreed. Linda also agreed to accompany him, and so our number fell to six.

Because we were close to the trailhead, April, Tammy, and Nancy headed out to finish as quickly as possible. Barbara and Mechelle, however, left a little later with me. And then after a bit more hiking I missed the sign pointing back to the Sombart Lane Trailhead!

Pretty soon (OK, a mile later) I realized we seeing Route 89A from an altitude of several hundred feet, and that couldn’t be right because our trailhead was only a block from the same highway. And so we turned around and chalked it up to:

• Some bonus miles we hadn’t even expected.
• An unplanned pre-hike on the Huckaby trail.
• Experience, experience, always experience.

How can scenery like this not be memorable? Despite the warm weather, this was a great hike! [photo by Barbara]

Back at the trailhead we found both Karen and Dave perfectly OK. Karen had removed the Ace bandage she was wearing and after that the pain had quickly subsided. Dave’s eyebrow had stopped bleeding and he was in great spirits, so to speak, enjoying a Kiltlifter.

On our way home we stopped at the Marketplace Cafe in the Village of Oak Creek for a nice meal on the way home. The food and service were OK, the prices were reasonable, and it was right on our way.

I tried convincing April, Tammy, and Nancy that since they were only ones who completed the trail as planned, they should become hike leaders! But I guess they’re still thinking about that...

As for the rest of us, I guess this hike proves the value of hiking in a group and staying in contact.

These statistics include the “bonus” miles I hiked with Barbara and Mechelle.