We stayed at 1000 Trails Verde Valley most of the winter. It had been a surprisingly (and disappointing) cold winter. By the end of March, we'd be heading back to Washington. We decided to take a hike someplace around Sedona with some friends from the campground. The Baldwin Trail looked like an interesting hike, not too long, not too difficult, and with interesting views--sort of a Goldilocks version of hiking in the red rocks.
We followed Larry and Carolyn through Sedona and then the Village of Oak Creek until we found the Verde Valley School Road. About halfway to the trailhead the road turned to dusty red dirt that hadn't been graded in a long time. George hates that, but he kept going. There was plenty of room in the parking area because we'd picked a weekday instead of a weekend.
We started out going clockwise around the loop, close to Oak Creek. My handy-dandy
Great Sedona Hikes book told us to take a little side trip to the creek to see Buddha Beach, where people build all sorts of structures out of the river rock. Creek's pretty but we only saw a few little cairns, and neither Buddhas nor interesting structures in sight.
George and Larry were usually ahead of Carolyn and me.
(Sorry, Judy, I've got more pictures of your dad's butt.)
Baldwin Trail has pretty views of Cathedral Rock, as it loops around some butte with no name. The rocks on the ridges were fascinating. This is the top of said unnamed butte.
Sometimes we had to go up or around rocks on the trail.
Wildflowers are popping out all over. This one is know in our house as the little yellow kind. I usually say I'll go look them up when I get home, but I usually don't. I didn't this time either.
From this junction in the trail, we got a really good view of Cathedral Rock. We saw more people on bikes than hiking. Sometimes the bikers have to hike too because the trail's too steep.
Slightly different angle for Cathedral Rock:
Still behind George...
Looking down towards the houses.
We stayed at 1000 Trails Verde Valley most of the winter. It had been a surprisingly (and disappointing) cold winter. By the end of March, we'd be heading back to Washington. We decided to take a hike someplace around Sedona with some friends from the campground. The Baldwin Trail looked like an interesting hike, not too long, not too difficult, and with interesting views--sort of a Goldilocks version of hiking in the red rocks.
