05-01-2025 Hike

Woke up and had hash browns, eggs, and coffee for breakfast. It was a fairly leisurely early morning, as we got ready for a hike in Sedona Red Rocks area. We drove through the town and tried to park in one area, but it was full. We drove back up the road and went into Yavapai Point parking area. It was full too, but I waited until a car left and took that spot. We hiked a short trail upto a vista spot, where there was a group of people sitting in a circle and communing with animal spirits, apparently. We decided to walk south on a mountain bike trail that went parallel to the highway. Saw several groups of bikers coming up the trail, which wasn't too steep but had some rocky spots that slowed Ann down. We ended up hiking to the Bell Rock Vista lot, then from there we hiked back, on a flat trail, to the original parking lot. On the trail we saw a lady hiking in a long black dress, carrying a purse and wearing loafers. At that lot, Ann waited while I hiked back to our car and brought it over. She probably didn't expect to walk as far, and she's sensitive to being out in the sun. From there, we drove to a picnic area along the highway and had lunch. Then it was back to the campsite for a low-energy afternoon. I had a nap out in the sun and listened to some of the book I'm reading, Kingdom on Fire by Scott Howard Cooper. It's an in-depth treatment of the John Wooden championship years at UCLA, pretty good so far. We heated up leftover stew for dinner and had it with the artichoke we've been carrying the whole trip. After cleaning up the dinner dishes, we packed up all of our gear except for the stuff in the tent, so we could get an early start to the long drive ahead of us.