Two Gals & a Tripod: Two Hikes for the Price of One Weekend

“I like geography best, he said, because your mountains & rivers know the secret. Pay no attention to boundaries.”

― Brian Andreas, Story People: Selected Stories & Drawings of Brian Andreas

One part of our hiking adventures that didn't necessarily get our heart rates up, but I enjoyed nonetheless, was the drives (at least in the beginning). It helped jumpstart the feeling of escaping--even if it was just for the day--by letting our minds and the conversation wander as we drove.

Sometimes we didn't talk at all and just listened to music as the landscape slipped by.

Most weeks we only hiked one day, but there was one time in those three months that we hiked twice--once on Friday and then again on Saturday. The first hike took us up to Sedona for the first time and the second took us north also, but towards Payson, AZ.

Solider's Pass Trail: Hike #4

This hike is particularly memorable for me because we had to park miles away from the trail (again) and walk to the trailhead because the parking lot was full. (This would soon be a trend for most hikes in the Sedona area). The hike began in a neighborhood and as we were parking, where we'd seen many other would-be hikers park, a lady from the neighborhood came and told us that if we parked there our car would be towed.

We tried to take her advice as helpful and not accusatory or spiteful--and neither of us wanted to pay for a ticket, so we attempted to find a better spot. We circled the neighborhood multiple times trying to find a spot that wasn't in the way of someone's driveway but had no luck.

So, erring on the side of caution, we parked near the dog park a few miles away and walked along the road to the trailhead instead of risking a ticket on the windshield when we returned from our hike. Even just walking in the neighborhoods or along the roads in Sedona is a sight to behold because you are surrounded by red rocks wherever you turn.

With our legs warmed up, we hit the trail, which led us through a lightly wooded area and then out again where the terrain changed from dirt to dust and we had a clear view of the red hills around us.

The climb was a gradual up and down for the first beginning stretch of trail and there was the view of a crater in the earth where something (a meteor maybe) carved out a hole. There was a sign by the crater, but the trail was pretty busy and we were on a time crunch so we didn't stop to read the information.

The trail continued to travel up with more of an incline and we made it to a cluster of rocks that looked like the top of the hike. It wasn't the top, but a few other hikers on their way down told us to veer to the left and climb up into the secret cave--they said it was great for photos and also a great view looking out from the rocks.

We had to wait for people coming down from the cave because it looked like close quarters up above. There were steps made of rocks leading up to a landing that would be easy enough to climb up but may create a problem on the way down.

Once it was our turn we climbed up as best we could and made it to the lookout-- it took some arm and leg strength and a bit of balance to get to the top, but we both made it.

As it turns out this secret cave was below the actual end of the trail and we could see other hikers when we looked above our heads through the large crack in the rock. There was a narrow ledge we could walk down and a hole overlooking the trail below, with some pretty epic views of the other red rock formations in the distance.

On the way down from the cave, a family was trying to come up but stopped to let us pass. The parents joked about being our stand-in parents in case we lost our balance and said they'd catch us if we fell, which was reassuring because it was a distinct possibility.

Because we had to be back in Phoenix by a certain time, and we were planning on hiking another trail the next day, we decided to cut Solider's Pass Trail short but promised to come back and make it all the way to the end. But it felt a little bit like stopping a book midway through and wondering how the story ends.

The hike down was pretty uneventful, though we did get tired out on the trek back to the car. We had a moment of panic wondering if we remembered to lock the car, but it was too late to do anything about it. Luckily, the car was locked and where we left it. *Whew.*

Horton Creek Trail: Hike #5

Our second set of guest stars on our imaginary hiking show were the lovely Feldy Fiancés, Alex and Paige joined us one Saturday morning in early May and we traveled up north towards Payson to the Horton Creek Trailhead. Again, we drove up separately so I followed their Tesla around each curve until we made it to the trailhead.

None of us had hiked that particular hike before and though we started pretty early (we arrived at the trail around 8 or 9), the multiple parking lots were full so we had to drive down and park along the road.

The beginning of the trail was very mellow, leisurely, and pleasant weaving in and out of tree cover. The total length of the trail is 8.3 miles, but our plan was to go as far as we could in an hour and then turn around and head back.

The portions of the trail that backed up directly next to the creek were particularly idyllic. We decided to stop in one spot and enjoy some snacks, conversation, and the sound of the creek streaming by. There were a lot of families on this hike, which made sense because the difficulty and incline weren't too intense. We walked fast but the energy was still relaxed and it was so nice to catch up with one of our favorite couples, especially because we hadn't seen them in person in a while.

Just as the incline started to increase, we decided it was time to turn around. Jana and I were a little stiff from hiking two days in a row. Even though Soldier's Pass Trail wasn't too long, just 3.5 miles out and back and we had skipped the last 0.5 miles, we still had to walk the few miles to and from the car. So, with Horton Creek Trail, we were looking at 10-12 ish miles for the whole weekend. Getting to and from the trail was beginning to tack unintended miles onto our mile count. We didn't know it yet, but those extra miles would serve us well in the near future by making sure our legs were strong enough and we had better endurance for future hikes.