Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Camp Verde, Gateway to Red Rock Country

From the Phoenix area we headed north about 75 miles to Camp Verde, AZ, southern gateway to Sedona and its miles of hiking and biking trails among fabulous rock formations.

We spent a week at Rancho Verde RV Park, a pretty, green and quiet small park that we've stayed at previously. It's a great place to access the east side of Sedona plus the many Native American historical sites that dot the Verde Valley. The only drawback to this RV park is the slow Verizon signal and spotty park wifi.

We discovered the MacDonald trail, a short but strenuous climb to the Camp Verde Cliff Dwellings. This is a fun place to explore...there are obvious dwellings in the face of the cliff as well as ruins from a large pueblo on top of the mesa to the west. Pottery shards are visible everywhere.

The final steep ascent to the cliff dwellings.

This is the most obvious cliff enclosure, but many more alcoves are scattered along the cliff face.

Heading west from the alcove above, we found a precarious route up onto the mesa top.
Continuing west atop the saddle we came upon extensive rock walls of a former pueblo.

The red bits are just a tiny sampling of the millions of pottery shards we saw everywhere.

Exploring additional alcoves in the cliff face...they are on multiple levels.

This large alcove had several additional holes (storage?, sleeping quarters?) dug into the walls.

We hiked Woods Canyon, a favorite, lightly traveled trail on the south east edge of Sedona's red rock country. We last hiked it in March 2014 and didn't see any water in Dry Beaver Creek until a few miles into the hike. This year the abundant rains have Dry Beaver Creek flowing fast for miles!

Heading into Woods Canyon.

Dry Beaver Creek flowing heavy!

Here's what the creek looked like in March 2014...a lot closer to it's name "Dry Beaver Creek"!

No stay in the Verde Valley would be complete without a weekend trip up to Jerome...live music every weekend afternoon at the Spirit Room!

Cadillac Angels at the Spirit Room.

We hiked another favorite in the area, the Bell Trail, which follows Wet Beaver Creek for several miles. It's an eight mile out and back to The Crack, a neat geologic feature along Wet Beaver Creek.

The Crack,

Lovely views along Bell Trail.

We did a little hiking near the Village of Oak Creek, parking at the Bell Rock Vista parking lot and making a 7.5 mile loop including a trail that shows up on Google Maps but not on any of the official Sedona trail maps. This unnamed trail took us up on a mesa overlooking Jack's Canyon, and though it looks well used, we did not see another soul until we returned to the regular trails...gotta love solitude when you can find it around busy Sedona!

View of Courthouse Butte from the unnamed trail. 

Just another typically fabulous Sedona view!

Hans spotted this big Javelina and a few of his friends near Oak Creek.

We've since moved on to Dead Horse Ranch State Park just up the road in Cottonwood, AZ. More adventures from one of our favorite parts of the country coming up soon!

18 comments:

  1. Fascinating to see those cliff dwellings! Looks like you're having great weather too. Can't wait to see your favorite parts of the country.

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    1. Much better weather than all the rain you've been getting! You need to visit red rock country...

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  2. Thanks so much for the campground suggestion. I’d really like to see the cliff dwellings. I’m always amazed that pottery shards are still there after so many years and the people haven’t pocketed them. Really nice pictures of the dwellings and the views.
    Beaver creek looks fabulous. What a great shot of Hans beside it raging away. What an amazing difference from your previous visit. Glad you put the picture for comparison. Clearly there is a lot of hiking there. No wonder you returned That’s the biggest Javelina I’ve ever seen. Sure wouldn’t want to meet her or him anywhere.

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    1. This area, say in a 40 miles radius, has hundreds of miles of hiking...in gorgeous country. I hope you make it out here some day.

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  3. You found some awesome hikes far from the crowds. We may have to return to this area next year to try these out. We love cliff dwelling and hairy trails! Great finds and so much fun! I can't get over how much water there is this year. Wow! Thanks for sharing the trails:)

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    1. The other thing that helps with crowd avoidance is starting early...just sayin'! ;-)

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    2. Keep preaching, Lisa!! Not going to happen here! But...we did leave for Bandelier at 8:00 and arrived at 9:00! I think the only time to visit the main canyon is 7:00 when the sunrises! We didn't have any trouble getting a good parking spot, but the school buses started arriving along with the families and too many children. Not fun! Besides, it was too sterile. After all the outstanding ruins we have visit by ourselves, this was more like a museum. We loved Tsankawi though, which is more of what we enjoy.

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  4. Nice pics. I've never encountered a javalina in all my hikes in the Sedona area. I'll be in Sedona at our timeshare in late August (I know, terribly warm, then) with the grandchildren from Minnesota. It will be such a treat for them.

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    1. This is the second time we've seen javelina around Sedona! It's always such a thrill! Yeah, August will be hot, but still beautiful!

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  5. Now you're in our old stomping grounds. We lived back in a canyon where we literally had Rabbit Ears right outside our door. Such beautiful country! We love Dead Horse Ranch SP as well and of course Jerome. Enjoy!

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    1. Ah yes, I remember you used to live here! We may end up in Cottonwood or Prescott some day...

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  6. You are in one of our favorite places. We haven't done the hikes you mentioned in this post so I definitely see a return trip in our future. The photo heading into Woods Canyon is so pretty and green! And I do love this years Dry Beaver Creek! And yes, no visit is complete without a trip to Jerome!

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    1. It's one of our favorite places too! There is soooo much to do here!

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  7. Fun! Our paths came close to crossing once more.

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  8. How beautiful! Love that you guys manage to find little-traveled trails even in a place as busy as Sedona. We haven't been there in years and years....but it's been on our list since your last visit there. Now we have even more trails to hike when we make it there! Thanks for the tips. :-)

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  9. The heavy water flow is amazing - what a treat to find out in the desert. Wet Creek is beautiful as well, and so peaceful looking. There just aren't any bad views in Sedona, except for too many people, so it looks like you found the best place to be. The cliff dwellings are wonderful

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  10. Yeah, another trail and area to explore this summer :) AT least you are away from the crowd! That is a mean looking Javelina!

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