Double dip

 3/1- Coconina National Forest, Flagstaff AZ

   We thought we give Sedona another shot as we could get there a little earlier. No such luck I’m afraid as every parking area we pulled into was full. So we continued on and went right through downtown Sedona. There was supposed to be another vortex on our way. This one, if we indeed passed it, only amplified my feeling to just get out of there. Downtown was full of tony shops which were filled with stuff I could neither afford nor desire. 

    After passing out of town we headed up Oak Creek Canyon. The road wandered along what was presumably Oak Creek at the bottom of this huge gorge. Even here it was hard to find a spot to just pull over so we just kept going. At the end of the canyon the road switchbacks up a pretty steep grade until we reach the rim. There was a National forest view park. 

   The view was impressive and it was scary just walking to the edge of the 1000 foot drop. You could look back down the whole canyon and see cars coming up the multiple switchbacks. They also had here a craft fair of sorts selling Native American crafts. There was not a single booth selling anything other than jewelry. 

   The road to Flagstaff was straight forward from there and after passing through an indeterminate number of stop lights we headed up into the hills. We pulled off at the road for Sunset Crater National Monument. 

    This is the site of a cinder cone volcano that last erupted about 1000 years ago. Trails led you through craggly lava flows and most of the ground around here is cinder ash or ground up lava rocks. The volcano didn’t get impressive until we viewed it later from further away. It is interesting to note that the Apollo astronauts all trained here on the cinder fields as they thought it would be most like the lunar surface. 

   From there we had a twin billing as we drove along the park road to the Wupatki National Monument. This is a bunch of pueblos that have been preserved. It was fun to actually go inside and climb around on these 1000 years ago old structures. There was one that was considered a big meeting place for all the tribes and as such was quite large and even had athletic venues. It also had a blow hole. This is a spot depending on the barometric pressure where air blows out of this hole in the ground. Air speeds can get up to 30 mph. It blew the hat off my head. 

   Our campsite tonight is a dispersed campsite in the National Forest. We drove about a half mile up this dirt road and pulled off in amongst the pines and parked it. We are sleeping tonight at over 7200 feet of elevation. There are several other campers pulled off here also. The wind is howling and it is bound to be chilly tonight but the moon is close to full and the forest is lit up like daytime. 

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