Great Smoky Mountains National Park

     This spring there was one thing that I knew I needed to do: visit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  I am somewhat ashamed to admit that I had never been there before and it is not all that far from Carbondale, Illinois. 
     We set out Friday morning for the park.  Not really knowing that much about the park, we figured we would head to Gatlinburg and go from there.  We heard from wise friends that we wanted to avoid that area, as well as Pigeon Forge, and decided to start in Townsend.  What a neat little town that was!
     Before finding a motel, we decided to go to a Visitor’s Center to learn more about the park and mainly, to get a detailed map.  We proceed to Cades Cove and found ourselves driving the scenic loop.  It was a bit early in the year at that altitude and so we did not observe that much in that area, but we did stop at the small Visitor’s Center, which was a neat little log cabin.  On the way back around the loop we stopped to admire and photograph some old settler cabins, but it was getting dark so we went back to town.

Motel in Townsend, TN

     We found a motel to stay at for only $60 and it had a nice fire-pit area with wooden rocking chairs.  We joined the crowd around the fire and had interesting small talk until one of the participants told us a couple bizarre stories from his tenure as a police officer in Chattanooga.  I’ll spare you the details.  Another person told us to check out the trail at the intersection just south of town so we packed it in for the night.
     In the morning we drove a few minutes to the Chestnut Top trailhead and proceeded up the slope.  It was splendid indeed!  The cliffs along the trail were loaded with wildflowers.  We saw large patches of many wildflowers like Fern-leaved Phacelia (Phacelia bipinnatifida), Great Chickweed (Stelaria pubera), Early Saxifrage (Saxifraga virginiensis), Soloman’s Seal (Polygonatum biflorum), False Soloman’s Seal (Smilacina racemosa), Bishop’s Cap (Mitella diphylla), Stonecrop (Sedum ternatum), Meadow Parsnip (Thaspium sp.), Long-spurred Violet (Viola rostrata), Dwarf Crested Iris (Iris cristata), Fire Pink (Silene virginica), Toothwort (Dicentra lcacinata), Rue Anemone (Anemonella thalictroides), Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia), and several species of Trilliums (Trillium spp.).  It was a splendid introduction to the spring wildflowers of the park, but we had lots to see so we turned around after a mile or so and went back to the car.

Yellow Trillium (Trillium luteum) and Fire Pink (Silene virginica)

     Next we drove the Little River Road in order to make our way up to Clingman’s Dome.  The road was lined with Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) blooming along the cliffs.  The road followed the river and it was an extremely winding road.  We drove slowly in the light rain, and traffic was light, allowing us to take in the views all around.
     There was some more activity around the Sugarlands Visitor’s Center, so we skipped stopping there and drove up Newfound Gap Road.  Traffic was light for the most part and I was beginning to wonder where all the people were, since we knew that this is the most visited national park in the United States.  All it took was a wildlife encounter to bring the people into visibility.  On our way up Newfound Gap road we encountered traffic and cars along the side of the road.  Our inquiry indicated a female black bear and her three cubs could be seen in the woods.  We responsibly drove up to a small parking lot nearby and went to observe the black bears slowly walk around foraging.  It was pretty cool.

Female black bear and view from Clingman's Dome

     After a couple more hilarious encounters with motorists, we arrived at the parking lot for Clingman’s Dome and headed up the short, steep path to an observation deck that had been erected on the summit.  Clingman’s Dome is the highest point within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the highest point in Tennessee.  Having completed Arizona’s highest point last November, we were excited to have completed another one.  On the way down we noticed some inappropriately dressed tourists make their way up, and I said, “You’re going to be cold up there!” to which they just awkwardly smiled.      

     

Clingman's Dome, 6643 ft, highest point in Tennessee

     It was cold, windy, and rainy up in the parking lot area, and visibility was reduced from the cloud cover so I snapped a few photos and we headed back down the mountain to one of the main Visitor Centers.  On the way, we stopped several times to look for salamanders under rocks in the smaller flowing streams.  Unfortunately, we didn’t find any, but they are reportedly usually everywhere.  However, we did stop to admire an area with old growth trees and huge mats of wildflowers, mainly Fringed Phacelia (Phacelia fimbriata) and Large-flowered Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum).  

Fringed Phacelia (Phacelia fimbriata)

     I was very impressed by some of the large trees here, mainly the huge Ohio Buckeyes (Aesculus glabra), probably because I had never seen ones so large before.  Before getting into the car at this spot, a young girl pointed out a curious mouse that was roaming around in the grass.  We went to observe it and it jumped on my boot!  

      I stopped along the road at a couple other pulloffs to photograph wildflowers, particularly the Trilliums.  I found some pink ones that were beautiful, and read in the guidebook that the white ones turn pink with age.

Blue Cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides), Ohio Buckeyes (Aesculus glabra), and Trilliums (Trillium spp.)

     Once at the Sugarlands Visitor Center, we asked for advice about visiting some of the better waterfalls and ended up buying a guidebook to the waterfalls in the park.  We decided to go to Porters Creek at the suggestion of a botanist who works in the park.  He told us to go at least a mile to get into the real good wildflowers.  The trail was wide and well-travelled with mostly flowers we had already observed and so we made quick time in the late afternoon rain.  

     I really liked an area with a small bridge that was loaded with Brook Lettuce (Saxifraga micranthidifolia).  It was a plant I had never seen or even heard of before!

Porters Creek and Brook Lettuce (Saxifraga micranthidifolia)

     Things got real cool when we came to the crossing over Porters Creek.  There were several large logs that were cut in half and lined up to form a single walkway across the cascading river.  The flat part of the logs were placed face-up and were covered with roofing tiles to increase traction.  There was also a wooden handrail secured with wires and some cement foundations anchoring the log bridge to some large rocks in the river.  It was so fun to cross, and I made a video of it that can be seen here.

Crossing Porters Creek and at Fern Branch Falls

     The vegetation became very interesting immediately after crossing Porters Creek.  All of a sudden, Fringed Phacelia everywhere!  The lightning was poor and the rain was falling, preventing me from getting any good photos, but it was a beautiful site.  After another short hike, we made it to Fern Branch Falls.  Although not a spectacular flow, the area was lush and colorful in the late afternoon rain.  We scrambled around the area, took a selfie, and headed back to the parking lot. 
     On the way, we ran into some folks who pointed out a neat plant called Little Brown Jug (Hexastylis arifolia).  It is in the Aristolochiaceae, along with Wild Ginger, and it was something I had not seen before.  

Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum), raging river, and Little Brown Jug (Hexastylis arifolia)

     Another highlight was seeing several flowering Showy Orchids (Galearis spectabilis) along the trail.  Seeing orchids in flower is always a cool thing.       

Dwarf Crested Iris (Iris cristata), large rock cleavage, and Showy Orchid (Galearis spectabilis)

     Later on, we saw another orchid, the common Rattlesnake Plantain orchid (Goodyera pubescens), not currently in flower although the seed capsules could still be seen.  Another interesting shrub we observed that I had not seen or heard of before was Dog-hobble (Leucothoe fontanesiana).  Apparently bear hunters back in the day used dogs to chase bears and the heavy bears could penetrate the dense thickets of this shrub but the dogs would be hobbled.  Another plant that I enjoyed photographing was Blue Cohosh (Caulophorum thalictroides).  The delicate flowers are hard to capture and there was more of it here than I’ve ever seen in southern Illinois!
     It was getting late in the day so we decided to look for a place to stay, while also avoiding Gatlinburg.  The guide at the Visitor’s Center made it seem like little else was available outside of town, but we took our chances.  We were planning on camping, but the rain was a strong deterrent.  We found a place just outside of Cosby that was nice.  We had a living area with a full kitchen and wood stove for only $75.  We ordered a homemade pizza from an Italian guy in Cosby who told us many stories while we waited for our pizza.  I played guitar while Susan relaxed.  It was a nice evening.
     The sun was finally shining in the morning and the air was warm.  We were excited to get on the trail to enjoy a few more hours of the park before heading back to Carbondale.  We headed over to the Big Creek Campground and hiked up the trail to Midnight Hole and Mouse Creek Falls.

Midnight Hole

     One of the folks we spoke with (I have a habit of chatting up everyone I encounter), mentioned that Midnight Hole was a really nice spot, but wanting to see waterfalls, we didn’t think the picture in the guidebook looked too phenomenal.  Funny because when we came upon Midnight Hole, we didn’t realize at first we were there, but both immediately thought what a cool place it was.  It is was warmer, we would have jumped in!
     A short hike up the trail from Midnight Hole was Mouse Creek Falls and it was a pretty waterfall.  What was so nice was that this was supposed to be the most visited national park in the system, yet we had the waterfall all to ourselves for the half hour we spent there having lunch and taking it all in.  On the way back, we saw a lot of the same wildflowers we had been seeing, and a hiker pointed out a water snake and a black rat snake.

Mouse Creek Falls

     Hiking along Big Creek was so nice.  The surging crystal clear water was flowing over and through the large and well weathered boulders.  It sounded very peaceful.
     After getting back to the car, we split the last beer in our cooler and decided to hike a short way up the Baxter Creek Trail.  The most interesting thing observed along this section, besides lots of the neat plants we had already been seeing, was a plant called Yellow Mandarin (Disporum lanuginosum).  I had never seen it before and had fun pondering what it could be before I got out the guidebook and figured it out.

Baxter Creek Trail and Yellow Mandarin (Disporum lanuginosum)

     As we made our way back to the car we were sad our brief vacation to the Smokies had come to an end, but we knew we would definitely be back.  Although there were many plants I was hoping to see in flower, there was one thing I spotted flowering at some point along our travels that I wished /I had stopped to photograph.  On our last few miles of road before getting to the Interstate, I found what I was looking for: the Silverbell (Halesia carolina).  What a great way to end a great vacation.

Silverbell (Halesia carolina)

Porcupine Mountains in Winter

    The Porcupine Mountain Wilderness is a state park in the upper peninsula of Michigan. My very first overnight backpacking trip was there over Thanksgiving, back in 1999.  Seeing the beautiful natural character of the forest in winter convinced me that this place was special.  Now, 15 years later, I look at the forest through the eyes of an experienced ecologist, and while I understand it much better, I retain the awe I felt on that initial trip so many years ago.
     Another vivid memory from that trip was seeing a man with a female companion, who were pulling a sled into the woods to stay in a cabin.  I thought the idea was so romantic, and ever since have wanted to take my honey on a wilderness experience in style and relative comfort.  I was very excited to finally have the chance.
     In the winter season, staying in a yurt is certainly plush compared to tent camping.  This became strikingly apparent to me during my first yurt trip in the Never Summer Wilderness in Colorado, after years of tent camping in the snow, and several times in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness while an undergraduate at Winona State University.  While yurts have no plumbing or electricity, sometimes propane is provided for running a stove and heater, but mostly you rely on a wood stove for heat, and canvas walls around a wooden frame for shelter.
       Susan and I drove up from the Chicago area on a Sunday night and stayed at the AmericInn in Silver City, just 3 miles east of the park.  The last 30 miles of driving were blizzard-like conditions, a rather regular occurrence in this area.  It was dark and cold and windy, so we were relieved when the drive was over and we found ourselves at the hotel bar in time for last call.
     A couple inches of fresh snow fell overnight so we were excited to get to the yurt.  The road to the park entrance was close to the lake and was very slippery due to ice and blowing snow.  It made for an extreme scene.  Since we started our trip on a holiday, the visitor's center was closed.  We found our reservation packet on the kiosk and headed over to park at the Whitetail Cabin parking lot.

At the trailhead to the Union Bay yurts

     There are two yurts along the shore of Lake Superior in the Union Bay area. In the summer, the yurts can be accessed from the nearby campground, but in the winter it is about a one mile hike from the nearest plowed parking area.  We pulled our plastic sleds from Ace Hardware loaded down with gear along the nice path through the forest to the yurt on the west end of Union Bay.

If you come to a fork in the road, take it - Yogi Berra

     It was very cold outside, the temperature hovering around zero degrees, and the yurt seemed even colder inside once we got there.  The previous occupants did not leave us any split wood, but we had brought plenty of newspaper and firestarters.  I chopped up a couple logs to get the fire going, and, although it took a bit for the radiant heat from the wood stove to warm up the yurt, the fire was roaring quickly.  We made warm drinks and unpacked our gear.

Inside the yurt with the wood stove

     Confident that the yurt would provide warmth during the bitter cold weather, we decided to get in a loop on the cross country skis.  Almost 90 miles of groomed ski trails exist right out the door of the yurts, and they provide access to the beautiful forest in the surrounding area.

Chris and Susan in front of the yurt   

Cross country skiing in the hemlock forest

We returned to the yurt after completing a thoroughly fun and brisk ski along the Deer Yard and Big Hemlock trails.  The website said they groom the ski trails daily, but the only evidence of such we observed was a new grooming machine that appeared stuck or abandoned along the ski trail.  The few inches of fresh snow from the night before made for fun conditions to plow through on our skis.  After a couple hours we were back at the yurt, and enjoyed a toasty night playing games.

Playing Spite and Malice and Yahtzee while drinking Labatt Blue

     The yurt was a really a wonderful way to enjoy the winter beauty at an expansive park.  The two yurts in this area are a little close together, but with such extreme conditions, we found that somewhat comforting, and it really didn't distract from the solitude, since we were either out in the wilderness (where we saw no one), or closed up in the yurt.

     I was concerned about keeping the yurt warm since the folks we saw at the trailhead said that the yurt was colder than the cabin they stayed at, and it was bitterly cold outside, and inside the yurt initially.  This led to my overzealous tendency to add more firewood than necessary to maintain a comfortable temperature, and soon we were in our underwear and opening the door to cool down the place!

     The next day we went on a longer ski adventure, and it was exquisite.  Although it was cold, the winter conditions were perfect, and although it was the day after a long holiday weekend, we saw no people nor any sign of recent activity on the ski trails.  We enjoyed the fresh layer of powder snow and decided to plow our way up to the East Vista.  The park is said to have the most scenic cross country trail systems in the region.

Ski trails in the Porkies

     The Porcupine Mountains Wilderness is a state park administered by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.  It is located in the upper peninsula of Michigan on the western end near Ironwood. The Lake Superior Ojibwa referred to the area as "Kaug Wudjoo" which means "place of the crouching porcupine."  There is a series of high ridges in the park that begin at the East Vista, and the series of basalt and sandstone rock is known as the escarpment.

     The Porcupine Mountains Wilderness is 60,000 acres of forest along 23 miles of Lake Superior shoreline with hills and cliffs that rise above 1000 feet from the lake.  These are volcanic mountains that are over a billion years old, worn down long before the birth of the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains, but are not, as local folklore sometimes asserts, the oldest in the world.  About half of the park is old growth forest, and the area below the Lake of the Clouds is considered to be the best tract of virgin northern hardwoods in North America.
     It was an awesome sight to see such a winter scene in the forest.  Small trees, laden with heavy snow, were completely bent over, and their highest branches were stuck in the snow on the ground.  Several spanned the width of the trail and made it feel like we were entering an enchanted land.  I was able to free some of the smaller trees by whacking them with my ski pole.  It was fun to watch the snow drop and the tree catapult back in the upright position.  Only once did I succumb to the temptation to move a branch of an evergreen tree with my ski pole right after passing it along the trail, and laugh as the fluffy snow fell onto Susan as she skied by. Anticipating possible retribution, I vowed not to do such a thing again.

Skiing through the forest under trees bent by snow

        When I looked at the availability of cabin and yurt rentals online while booking our trip, almost all the rentals were taken for every winter weekend.  However, we didn't see anyone on the trails, except our neighbors staying in the yurt to the east.  The trails we took to the East Vista led to cabins as well, and it was right after a holiday weekend, but it didn't appear that anyone had used the trails, or groomed them, recently. That added to our wilderness experience in my opinion.  Coming up on the view at the East Vista was fantastic!  Clear late afternoon skies made for a great view and I was able to get a photo of us together at the overlook by lugging my tripod in my backpack.

View from the East Vista

     We drank some hot chocolate at the overlook and took in the view, but soon it was apparent that the sun was going down and temperatures were dropping. Susan was getting quite cold so we decided we had better make our way back to the yurt.  As soon as I started skiing, the colder snow started sticking to the bottom of my skis and I was unable to ski downhill.  I became anxious as Susan skied on and I was stuck scraping snow of my skis.  Once I was able to continue, I caught up with Susan and she said her fingers and toes were starting to hurt.  I was able to warm up her hands in mine and that helped but warming up her feet would have been a much greater undertaking.  We thought once our heart rates picked up, we would warm up.  As we made our way down the slope, I was quite concerned and wished it was not so late in the day.  I scolded myself for not bringing hand warmers and getting an earlier start, and I was worried because I could not judge the severity of Susan's cold feet.
     The trail was mostly downhill on the way back and that made for easy and fun skiing, but we were getting tired.  The light from the setting sun cast at a low angle sparkled across the tops of the trees.  It was a beautiful sight that I was cognizant to remember.  Soon we came out at the parking lot at the chalet, crossed the entrance road, and completed the final mile back to the yurt.  Thankfully, when we got there it was still warm from our morning fire.  We enjoyed the view of Lake Superior on the only clear day we had while in the park.

Lake Superior from the yurt

      The temperature dropped below zero by the time we returned and the wind chill was dangerous.  We were thankful for the wood supply we had left ourselves from earlier!  I think my beard at the end of the ski trip says it all.

Frozen beard man

     We had another fun night hanging out in the yurt playing games and staying cozy. The next morning the weather was ominous and we decided it would be best to get on the road back home.  The snow was blowing in the wind and after signing the yurt journal we packed up our things and pulled the sleds of gear to our car.

Signing the yurt journal and sledding out our gear

Leaving the Porkies

Montezuma Castle and Tom Thumb Mountain

     This is the last installment of posts from our Arizona vacation.  After thoroughly enjoying Sedona, we wanted to see a great example of some cliff dwellings left by ancient indigenous people.  However, we did not have much time to spare before needing to head south to Scottsdale.  We found a place called Montezuma Castle which was close to our route along Interstate 17 in Camp Verde.

Montezuma Castle National Monument, Arizona

     Being a National Monument operated by the National Park Service, the area was well developed with a large parking lot, paved trails, and a visitor center.  It cost $5 per person and it was a nice facility.  We were actually hoping that the place was going to be less developed (and less visited), but even in the late afternoon on a weekday in November the site was fairly populated.  After enduring the usual bureaucratic delay, we paid the entrance fee and walked out onto the short 1/3 mile trail to view Montezuma Castle.

     Montezuma Castle is one of the best preserved prehistoric cliff dwellings in North America and is so well built that it has stood for over 700 years.  Theodore Roosevelt called it a place "of the greatest ethnological value and scientific interest" and declared it one of the first National Monuments in the country in 1906.  It was built by the Southern Sinagua, reached its maximum size in 1300, and was inhabited for another century. It is not clear why they left, but with an "undiscovered" continent to roam, why stay in one place for long?

Montezuma Castle cliff dwelling

          Originally, visitors could climb up into the ruins by using a series of ladders that were placed along the limestone cliffs.  Due to damage by visitors, the ladders were removed and public access was discontinued in 1951.  Although most of the original artifacts were removed by early looters, a wealth of artifacts have been recovered from this site, particularly from an excavation in 1933.

     The nearby Verde River flows through the valley and it was easy to see why this site was chosen for a cliff dwelling.  Early visitors assumed the site was Aztec in origin, hence the name "Montezuma."

     There were some interpretive signs along the way explaining the vegetation and we really liked the Arizona Sycamore (Platanus wrightii), very similar to the American Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) we have back in Illinois.  As they say, the bark of this species looks normal at the base, but as you go up the bark, it looks "more sick."  One way to remember it at least.

Susan and I by the Arizona Sycamores (Platanus wrightii)

     Since the rental car was due back in the evening we had to boogie on back down south.  Everything seemed so close on this trip, two hours here, two hours there.  Soon we were back at the Hertz rental car location.  My father picked us up and we returned to my parents' house.  They live in a gated community and there is a heated pool and hot tub across the street.  Sore from all the hiking and travelling, we took advantage of the hot tub.  It was a beautiful, big, and bright full moon and a perfect way to end our vacation. Except we had one more hike planned for the next morning before our flight back to Chicago.

Sitting in the hot tub under the full moon

     My father is quite active and fit and wanted to take us on a hike nearby.  We decided on Tom Thumb Mountain in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve.  The is a nearly 28,000 acre non-motorized desert habitat owned by the city of Scottsdale.  In an area with such urban sprawl, it was nice to see at least a little bit of desert set aside and left almost untouched. It was a lovely Sunday and there were a lot of people hiking on the trails, but there was plenty to share with everyone.

Susan and I hiking Tom Thumb Mountain

     I especially enjoyed the interpretive signs next to the plants close to the trailhead.  It is so important in my opinion to teach people about plants and particularly native species.  Here are a couple neat plants we observed along the way.

Teddy Bear Cholla (Cylindropuntia biglovii)

Buckhorn Cholla (Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa)

     It was a more difficult hike than I expected, although I was consuming plenty of water in the mild autumn sunshine, I felt rather terrible by the end.  I think a week of super vacation was catching up to me!  We managed our way up and up around the granite boulders that seemed to be formed in every shape and configuration possible.

Hiking the trail up Tom Thumb Mountain

     The slow action of erosion, wind, water, ice, and gravity have weathered the rocks and left them in the condition we see today.  The rock left exposed on the surface was quite rounded and this was evident on many of the largest boulders near the summit of the mountain, such as Tom Thumb Mountain, rounded in such a way to look like the shape of a thumb finger.

McDowell Sonoran Preserve

     It was interesting to see the diversity of people on the trail.  Diversity in the sense of attire, age, ethnicity, and physical fitness.  It reminded me of why I love the wilderness. Not very many people are willing to work for the solitude.  But nature is important wherever it exists, even right on the outskirts of a major metropolitan area.  Before long, we made it to the top, at least as far as we could go without ropes.  I scrambled my way up a little further and had some photos taken.

Me on the granite rocks

     The views from the summit were pretty much spectacular!  It is so interesting to me how steep and jagged mountains meet the flat and gently sloping valleys.  As they say geology rocks!

View from Tom Thumb Mountain

     After snapping more photos at the top, we made our way down the trail the same way we came.  The trail was mostly easy, with some fun maneuvers along the way.

At Tom Thumb Mountain

     Such concludes our 2013 fall vacation to Arizona!  I had wanted to visit my folks and see their winter home for some time.  Since they plan on selling it next fall, I am glad we took the opportunity to travel out there and hang out with them, as well as travel to a few of the many popular destinations in the state of Arizona.  Until our next adventure, take care now ya hear.

Cowboy Benda

The Devil's Bridge and Sedona, Arizona

     As tempting as it was to stay at the Grand Canyon for sunset, we had more to explore elsewhere and needed to continue our road warrior pace by heading back south to Sedona, Arizona.  We drove down the crazy switchbacks of highway 89A through Oak Creek Canyon, which turned out to be a very scenic drive.

Driving down Oak Creek Canyon

     We later stopped to stretch our legs at a trail under the highway bridge.  It was super windy and so we did not loiter for long but instead headed into town for some early dinner.  I had the best cream of celery soup!

Bridge on highway 89A and the town of Sedona

     There was just about enough time in the day to find a place to catch the sun go down.  I read about a good spot away from the hordes of tourists to see a view of Cathedral Rock.  We parked at the Airport Mesa trailhead, one of the many vortexes in Sedona, and headed along the trail on the east side of the plateau.  It didn't take us long to realize that this wasn't going to produce the desired scene, but I did manage to get a decent photo of the late afternoon sunshine on the red rocks.

Sedona at sunset

     After our early morning rise, we were pretty worn out but after cleaning up in our hotel room, we headed out to a bar to try the local specialty, margaritas made with prickly pear infused tequila.  It was terrible.

Prickly Pear Margarita

     When we return to the hotel it was raining very hard.  Unusual weather for the desert.  This thwarted any chance of a nice sunrise to photograph, but we were glad for the extra sleep.

     When I did a simple internet search for things to see in Sedona, I saw a photo of Devil's Bridge and knew right away that was one hike we should do.  But none of the tourist information I read said anything about it in their guide books, and my parents, who have visited Sedona many times, had never heard of it either.  I managed to find it on some of the maps though and it was located just outside of town.  

     There was a nice paved parking lot at the suggested trailhead, although those with 4x4 vehicles could drive the 1 mile dirt road to the actual trailhead.  We were ready to hike and had no issue parking our vehicle and walking from the parking lot.

Hiking up to the dirt road to the Devil's Bridge trailhead

     We were passed by a few high clearance vehicles but they were friendly enough.  Despite the less than ideal weather, there were quite a few people out hiking and we could tell it was a Saturday.  I took time along the road to check out some of the more common plants.  I recognized the cones of this shrub right away and later learned that is was called Arizona cypress (Cypressus arizonica).

Arizona cypress (Cypressus arizonica)

     I found it quite odd that a cypress tree would grow in the desert since I am most familiar with the bald cypress (Taxodium distichum), being from southern Illinois (which is the northern extent of the vast southern cypress swamps).  It turns out that the term cypress refers to many species in the Cypressaceae and that the cypress family is the most widely distributed group of conifers in the world.  This is not too surprising as it is quite a large family.  In fact, in the recent taxonomic changes, the bald cypress has been moved to its own family, the Taxodiaceae.  It's hard to keep up with all the botanical name changes, but it is important to continually advance the scientific understanding of relationships between species.  Learning all the new names can be difficult, since in most cases you really need to know the old names as well, and so I hope that the changes are really based on solid evidence and are not arbitrary or superficial.

    Susan tolerates my botanical wanderings and photography very well and will even listen to my corny jokes and interesting "gee whiz" facts.  Turns out that the Arizona cypress "cones remain closed for many years, only opening after the parent tree is killed in a wildfire, thereby allowing the seeds to colonize the bare ground exposed by fire" and is the only member of the Cypressaceae known from the desert southwest.

    Before long, we reached the trail register at the edge of the wilderness and the steep rock stairs that would lead us up the cliff to the top of the bridge.  

Entering the Red Rock Secret Mountain Wilderness

Rock staircase up cliff

    There was another trail that led to the bottom of the arch, but we wanted to see the top.  Before getting there, we were rewarded with some outstanding views of the valley just outside the wilderness area.

Susan overlooking the Red Rock Secret Mountain Wilderness

     The Devil's Bridge is located within the Red Rock Secret Mountain Wilderness Area which is part of the Coconino National Forest.  It is the longest spanning arch in the Sedona area.  We realized on the way there why the area was not listed in the guide books.  It was a about a two-mile hike, which is nothing to us seasoned hikers but since every trail or landmark in Sedona has relatively easy access, most people tended to stay on the short trails and driveable overlooks.  That being said, there were still a lot of people hiking the trail that day.  It was like I said, a Saturday morning after all.  

     We knew we had to get a photo standing on the top of the arch and we did.  Even though there were lots of people in the area, people were respectful in letting everyone take their turn getting photographed on the top.  I offered to take the photograph of a couple trying to do it themselves, and they obliged in return.  I had my tripod with, but it would have taken quick footing to press the button and get out to the arch within 10 seconds!  As I mentioned in a previous post, asking random folks to take photos rarely yields a great photograph.  The person we asked zoomed in on us, not getting the background for most of the photos, but the first one was at normal zoom and turned out pretty well.

Susan and I on the Devil's Bridge

     I even did what no one else did or could watch.  I went out to the arch and sat on the edge.  It sure made for a sweet photo!

Me sitting on the edge of the arch

     I find it interesting that so many beautiful and natural wonders on this planet are named after the devil. Devil's staircase, devil's backbone, devil's smokestack are a few that come to mind.  They are always really cool features too and so I do not get the association with the devil, unless you think the devil is a cool dude. Religious folk certainly do not and if you are not religious, then you probably don't believe in the devil anyway.  

     But I digress, where were we?  Talking about plants no doubt.  We observed a very neat looking shrub all over the cliffs and in the chaparral zone, called Manzanita (Arctostaphlos sp.).  I found it interesting because again it is something like what we have in Illinois.  In the sand dunes along Lake Michigan, there is an Arctostaphylos species that is rare in the state, called bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi). However, the Illinois bearberry is an Artic and Subartic species, circumpolar in its distribution, whereas most of the other species are Mediterranean in origin.

Manzanita (Arctostaphylos sp.)

     Up on the red sandstone rocks, this shrub was everywhere and it was quite beautiful in its growth form and texture.  We took plenty of artistic photos and managed our way down the cliff.  On the way back, we took a different trail back, which is also a mountain bike trail, instead of the dirt road.  It made me wish we had our bikes and in one spot we watched an old dude totally crank it hard up a series of rock steps that would challenge any rider.  I said "nice job!" to which he quickly replied, "thanks!"  We stopped for some more choice photos.

Susan and red rock country

     I noticed the dead leaves of several Agave plants, a perennial monocot that is monocarpic, meaning it lives several years to maturity, then sets seeds and dies.  I found an Agave leaf that looked neat and held it up to my face, pretending it was my Agave goatee!

My Agave goatee

     Though there were many places we wanted to see in Sedona, we didn't have enough time.  But we promised my Dad we would take photos with the cowboy hats he loaned us and since we didn't want to carry them on our hike we had to make another stop.  We decided to drive up to an overlook at the end of Airport Road.

With silly cowboy hats on at Airport Road overlook

     From here, we had one more stop before heading back to Scottsdale and returning the rental car to Hertz (which is a terrible name by the way, because every time I rent from them it hurts!).  We wanted to see an example of cliff dwellings left by indigenous people.  That will be the subject of my next blog post!  Stay tuned for more and follow this blog by adding your email address to the box in the upper right corner.