As far as I can tell… I have Saturdays off now.
We had thought about doing Fossil Springs this past wknd but not all parties could schedule it so it was postponed. I couldn’t see wasting a wknd so I took a trip of my own.
I added Munds Mountain into my GPS waypoints and started heading up to Sedona.
On the way up, there was a huge accident around Anthem on the 17 and traffic wasn’t moving due to a helicopter on the freeway. From what I could tell on the CB, it was a pretty bad roll over with a stroller visible as one of the items ejected from the vehicle. I referenced the GPS for a way around and as I was pulling off to the ramp, another lifted Xterra drove past. I got behind it and recognized the driver from the AZ X club. We figured out what CB channel to drop too and discovering that we were both driving up to Sedona, he followed me through my detour and all the way up to Schnebly Hill Road. If nothing else, it made the trip up less boring.
Once on Schnebly we drove down to the Vista Point and saw the storms roll in on Sedona. After a few pics, we parted ways there and he driving down to town while I veered off on a forest road. My destination was a hiking trailhead for Munds Mountain. The road out to it was no where near maintained and even with my clearance I still banged a few times; it didn’t help that it had begun to pour turning what little dirt there was to slop. I had fun though and the trail did pass by a few secluded vistas I marked down for future HG camping spots.
I eventually made it to my GPS marker as the rain still came down heavily. There was still daylight left and I didn’t want to just sit around so I hiked to a close by overlook with my poncho. I found a nice spot blocked by the rocks and sat and watched the rain fall 2000 feet below. When it grew dark the rain let up and I hiked back to the X to set up camp. I hooked the tarp to the back of the roof rack and then tied the other end to the fence I had backed up against. With the hatch open it gave me a large dry area to chill in. I ate my camp food and then lay inside to watch the lightning, falling asleep to the sound of the rain.
I awoke at 5:00am before the sun, grabbed some light food and began my hike. As I climbed up the hill from the saddle, I looked back to see smoke near camp. At first it didn’t look like much, but as the sun rose and lit it from behind, it grew. Seeing no one at all when I came in and that the smoke had grown, I deduced that lightning from the storm had struck a tree setting it on fire not a mile from camp. It was still white smoke so I figured that the area was wet enough to keep it from spreading. Plus I had hiked almost to the top and the smoke was enough for any tower to spot. It ended up that plenty of planes and helicopters circled it calling it in before I got back down anyway. Once at the top I checked out some of the edges that overlooked Sedona, but seeing that the trail continued, I did as well. I ended up traveling quite a distance through meadows and oaken shadows. When I came to the end of the trail (which still marked with cairns was mostly now used, judging by the tracks, by game), I found myself overlooking Chicken Corners at the end of Broken Arrow. With my zoom lens I could actually see people exiting the pink Jeeps for their own view. About that time the sun stopped playing the shadows and the valley view became brighter. It really was amazing. I stopped here for quite awhile, taking pics and trying to figure out what rock formation was what. I then backtracked a little until I could travel along a narrow ridge that jutted away from the main landscape. I ate lunch on the ridge and then headed out. It was a little tough getting back to the main trail because of the overgrown oak, but I eventually made it back to the single track. It got a little warmer with the noon sun now out, but nothing too bad with the breeze. After finally descending, I saw the smoke was still going, but that my Xterra was still there intact. Once I had loaded everything back up, I hiked over to the fire and found 4 firefighters working on it. I chatted with them and snapped a few pics. The large tree that was still very much on fire at top and bottom ended up snapping as well. It made the fire a little bigger but they radioed in that the “Olympic Fire” was 100% contained. While talking they asked if I had seen the bear up where I had been hiking. They were surprised I hadn’t because apparently they usually do. Having filled up my card with all the trip pics and the fire finally dying down a little, I hiked back to the X and drove out the way I came. Even made it back in time for church.

Sound like a good time.

nice, looking forward to the pics!

Hmmm... this is going to be a tough group to sort through. I can either post as I go or all at the end.

Keep in mind I was underneath my poncho with the tripod on these as it was raining ;)




Or if you prefer the landscape full flare version

Stupid plants





Going to bed

Looks good, some of your better pics too

I like these





Any way to get rid of the sun reflections on this one?

Wow those are awesome Skatch thanks for sharing

offroadaz wrote:Looks good, some of your better pics too
Any way to get rid of the sun reflections on this one?

Thanks.

Not really. It would take too much cloning work. Pretty much any lens is going to give you some flare. I have some versions of this pic w/o enough to tell, but the detail isn't as high. It's a trade off and on this particular one I don't mind it.

Those look great. I really like the ones Chris picked out the 2nd one looks fake. Very Cool.

Just amazing, Mike. I was really jealous of you (and Paul) last night.

There was the most amazing full moon with a cloud that looked just like something you would see in a horror movie moving across it... I didn't waste my time with my little camera because it wouldn't be the same, but I wished, at the moment, that I had the same gift you guys have and could capture moments in time like you do... <sigh>

Great work, man. Great work.

Thanks for the warm comments.
Well here's the other ones. I knew I shouldn't have led with those sunsets :red|

Hiking the saddle at sunrise


Sedona warming up


Great views aren't hard to find


Fields with trees?


Rarely travelled


The other direction


The end of the road


See the end of Broken Arrow calendar shot spot?


Kinda of a big drop


I went and ate lunch on that cropping


Of course

wow great shots!!

nice rack!

WOW thats all I can say

That's why you gotta love Arizona. Never a shortage of food for your camera.

Great stuff as always Mike...... thanks for sharing.

Got bored and since I had fun with Chris's G-pa photo...

Was that from the Xterra meeting last night?

Nope that was the guy that ended up caravann... I mean caraXing up to Sedona with me.

This was from the X meeting last night :eyeroll: