Sometimes, for lack of anything better to do, you just have to get out and do something - anything - just to get out of the house.  Even if it means spending time with crowds of other people at a state park.

Red Rock State Park in Sedona is one of those parks that we had never visited, simply for that reason. While it truly a beautiful place, it is also extremely popular among tourists and sightseers alike.  In other words, it was not a place to go to seek solitude, because you just won't get it there.

Although we are typically all about the solitude when we hike, every once in a while it's okay to venture out with the crowds, to see beautiful places. Usually, this happens due to lack of better planning on our part. It goes something like this:

Me: "Where are we going hiking today?"

John: "I dunno. Where do you want to go hiking today?"

Me: "I dunno."

John: "Wanna just do a state park or something?"

Me: "Sure, let's go."

One of the nice things about Arizona State Parks is that they have their park maps on their website. John immediately went on-line and pulled down the map for Red Rock State Park, to figure out where we should hike that day. He found a nice series of trails - the Eagle Trail, the Coyote Ridge Trail, and the Apache Fire Trail - which would form a nice loop hike. If we were doing very well, we could do a longer loop; if not, we could cut the trip short by taking one of the other trails back to the Visitor's Center.

We left the house around 8:00 a.m. and started on the road to Sedona. To get there, we took I-17 north and exited at the Sedona exit (SR 179). We drove through the Village of Oak Creek and into the town of Sedona, where we intersected with SR 89A. We turned off there and continued on until we arrived at Red Rock State Park.

And as soon as we entered the park, we were utterly amazed by just how beautiful it was! As the name suggests, Red Rock State Park is surrounded by stunning red mountains, with some of the most intricate rock formations ever seen. In the valley at the base of the mountains is Oak Creek, which flows through the entire park. There are several bridged crossings along Oak Creek, including Red Rock Crossing, where my friends Debbie and Brian got married only three years ago.

We parked at the visitor's center and stopped inside to pick up a map before embarking on our hike. We also picked up a Junior Ranger workbook for Mary to do during our trek; that would certainly keep her well distracted! Then, once we were ready to go, we set off on the Eagle's Nest Trail. 

The Eagle's Nest Trail started at the visitor's center and immediately crossed over Oak Creek by way of Black Hawk Crossing. From there, the trail then climbed gently up a ridgeline, through a mix of scrub oak and manzanita vegetation. It was shaded and cold on that side of the ridge - it was still January, after all - so we kept our jackets on to stay warm.

About a mile later, we looped around to the other side of the ridge, where we came to find some great views of the red rocks. There were benches along the way, so we sat down periodically and enjoyed the scenery while we rested and ate a snack. Every time we sat down, Mary worked a little bit on her Junior Ranger book as well, in hopes of having it done before our hike was over.

As the trail began to turn away from the view, it then connected with the Coyote Ridge Trail. This trail continued to follow the ridgeline high above Oak Creek, and it gave us more great views of the mountains. It was also easy hiking; the trail was nice and flat and free from rocks. Mary loved this trail so much that she ran part of it, giggling all the way.  She would run about two hundred feet, stop, wait for us to catch up, then run some more. It was nice to see her having so much fun, considering that she was normally melting down by now...

We followed the Coyote Ridge Trail until it intersected with the Apache Fire Trail; at that point, we had to decide whether to take this trail back to the Visitor's Center, or to continue hiking along the ridge. Considering Mary's history with hiking, we decided to air on the side of caution and take the shorter route.

And we were so glad that we did, too, because as soon as we turned the corner, Mary announced that she was tired. "When are we going to be done?"

So, of course, we decided to turn our hike into an episode of Dora the Explorer. In Dora the Explorer, Dora is always trying to get to her destination, which can be reached by way of three short goals. In Mary's case, the three short goals were: the Apache Fire House, the Kingfisher Bridge, and the Visitor's Center.

House. Bridge. Visitor's Center. It was that simple!

The house was first. Locked away inside of fencing, the House of Apache Fires was built by Jack and Helen Frye in 1947 and is now preserved by Arizona State Parks. Jack Frye was once the President of TWA, and his wife Helen was an artist. To her, the house was a spiritual place, where she could be free, and when she divorced Mr. Frye, she retained ownership of her house. Today, the House of Apache Fires is not much to look at - in fact, it's hard to see anything because of the fencing surrounding it; it's just an old, run-down adobe shack in the middle of the desert.

Next came the bridge: the Kingfisher Bridge, over Oak Creek. As we left the House of Apache Fires, we could see the bridge in the distance. The bridge provided us with safe passage over Oak Creek, which was very wide and deep at that point. The bridge, in fact, was very long. Halfway across it, we stopped and gazed out onto the creek and enjoyed its beauty for a while.

And finally, we arrived at the last stop: the Visitor's Center, which was at the end of our hike.  By that time, Mary was chomping at the bit to get there, so that she could turn in her Junior Ranger workbook. It was all completed and just needed the ranger's signature to make it official. Not only did the ranger sign the book, but he also swore her in as an official Junior Ranger for Red Rock State Park!

Although our day hike was over, our adventure certainly was not. There was still the trip home, of course. And John thought, "Hey! Why not take Schnebly Hill Road again, only this time, from Sedona to Flagstaff? We've never done that before. 

That was true, of course. We had done Schnebly Hill Road twice in the past but had never started the drive from Sedona.

Finding the terminus for Schnebly Hill Road in Sedona was a little more difficult than we expected; having never actually looked for it before, John had to take a wild guess based on our past experiences. He guessed correctly the first time, and soon, we were well on our way.

As we made our way up Schnebly Hill Road, we passed by a number of pink Jeeps - part of the famous Pink Jeep Tours of Sedona; we also saw several 4WD vehicles doing what we were doing. No Oldsmobiles, though...hmm...

One of the most interesting things that we saw on our tour was a backcountry tent, perched high up on one of the red rocks. Mary was completely amazed. "How did he get up there?" she gasped.

"I don't know," John replied. "He's probably a rock climber!" 

"Wow!" Mary sighed. We agreed; it was a cool place to pitch a tent!

We soon began to climb away from the red rocks of Sedona and soon found ourselves in the pines outside of Flagstaff. Oddly, there was no snow to be found in the higher elevation. We had had a very dry winter, and that didn't help our drought situation at all. We were in for another summer of fire danger and restrictions.

At the end of Schnebly Hill Road, we merged onto I-17, at which point we started our long drive back to Phoenix. And with that ended another adventurous day...

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