Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Hangover Hiking with Friends

We have good friends from San Diego meeting us in Sedona for a few days so we decided to go all out and stay at the fancy RV park right in Sedona: Rancho Sedona RV Park. There really aren't any special amenities here, but the park is very pretty and it's right next to the heart of the Sedona tourist area so it's close to many trails and close to our friends hotel, thus making it worth the highway robbery price for a few nights. And the blazing fast 4G Verizon signal is much appreciated after our excrutiatingly slow signal in Camp Verde.

Thanks to a cancellation we got site #77, with excellent site separation and a gorgeous setting.
Oak Creek is just behind the berm in back of our rig.

Oak Creek.

But before our San Diego friends arrived we planned a big hike with RVing friends who happened to be staying in the area. Steve and Mona Liza and Howard and Lauren joined us for a repeat of a hike Hans and I had done (twice) in 2014: The Best Hangover Ever!

This eight mile lollipop loop took us into the red rocks and along the mountain biking double black diamond Hangover Trail. We saw some crazy folks riding this trail and were very happy to be traveling it on our feet...there are numerous steep drop offs and traverses across nearly vertical slick rock plus lots of rock steps that any normal person would have to hike their bike through.  :-)

Lauren, Howard, Steve, Mona Liza and Hans.


Traversing the Cow Pies.


Mona Liza approaches the gap between red cliffs that we will pass over.

At the gap we get a tremendous view into the red rock country immediately North of Sedona.

We stopped for lunch at the gap and got to watch a couple of mountain bikers as they came over the top and headed for the narrow shelf of the Hangover Trail.

You can just barely see the bikers below the rim.
The trail continues through the shelf of trees ahead of them.

The Hangover Trail is not for the acrophobe!

Waves!

Hanging out on the Hangover!

A look back at the gap, we've walked through the band of trees in the shade.

As we head west Sedona comes into view surrounded by its amazing red rock landscape.

Now comes the steep drop...it's hard to imagine anyone RIDING this!

One more shelf to walk, with amazing views, before another steep drop.

Down, down, down, with a little butt scooting.


A fine view of Midgely Bridge.

Another terrific day on the trail in one of our very favorite places with friends...Life is Good!


28 comments:

  1. That's a great hike, isn't it. Fantastic area, too bad they dropped the ball and didn't make it all a National Park.

    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

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    1. It's an excellent hike! With so many trails in such a beautiful area I could stand to live here!

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  2. Life is good! And so are friends and hiking in Sedona. I love that place.....

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  3. That looks like a great trail! It's been too long since we've visited Sedona, and we missed that one when we were there.

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    1. It's a wonderful trail! We may return in early 2017 and stay a month again!

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  4. What a great hike! Judging by some of those drop-offs, I'd definitely be doing a little butt scooting…..I have no pride when it comes to heights. I cannot imagine riding that on a bike!! That sounds insane!

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    1. Hard core mountain bikers are a little insane in my opinion! ;-)

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  5. Okay, this is a must do hike! We would love this! You know we like those edgy hikes that take years off our lives:) I'm sorry we never found this in either of our visits! Thanks so much for sharing and showing so many trail photos!! I love seeing the trail:) That is the coolest wave! Those bikers truly have a death wish. How nice that you got to take friends along on this very cool trail:) Fun times!

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  6. Those red rocks are gorgeous! What outstanding scenery! Wish I was out hiking there instead of stuck at work......

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    1. If you've never visited Sedona you must...I know you would love it!

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  7. Congrats on the cancellation. Sometimes it pays to anti up for convenience. Gorgeous picture of Sedona and its red rocks. Looks like the steep downs had the hikers in deep concentration. Great hike and even better with friends.

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    1. We got really lucky on our site and it is indeed worth the splurge!

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  8. Nice hike, I love the over hang thing. I am always amazed that there is only 1 RV park in Sedona.

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    1. What is up with that??? In such a tourist destination it is amazing there is only one RV park. We've spent a month in Cottonwood and just drove a lot for our hiking.

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  9. Beautiful, one of my favorite places. I wondered about that park so thanks for the info! Love the waves 😄

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    1. Mine too! Rancho Sedona also has about a dozen monthly sites for $650/month. We would fit in two of those sites and they must be booked at least a year in advance.

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  10. Thank you for inviting us Lisa, Steve and I always enjoy hiking with you. And you did the best call doing it in the reverse or we would still be sore today. That was really a great hike and so glad we came.
    Great pictures capturing the red rocks and the hikers having too much fun!
    I would not mind doing this again one day without hacking :(

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    1. I was amazed at how well you did even with the tail end of a cold! It was wonderful to hike again with you guys!

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  11. You have really good RV park karma! That's a gorgeous site. When we were out on a section of the Hangover, I could not believe what people would ride their bikes on. We, too, were happy to be on our feet and not tires.

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    1. This really is an awesome site...I could easily spend a month in this beautiful setting!

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  12. I love your photo of the valley view taken from the gap. I would prefer hiking to biking too. I think the hard core bikers are just a little nutty :-)

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  13. Awesome hike! We will have to give it a shot next time we hit Sedona

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