Trip Report: Oak Creek Canyon, Arizona

On Saturday, I arrived with my parents in Sedona, AZ.  We're here visiting family, Grandpa and Lorraine. The scenery here is almost unbelievably phenomenal.  I know those words sound like overstatements, but... just look at the photos. :) 

From the deck of the house, we have panoramic views of red rock formations.  Our house is also right next to one of the four mystical "energy vortices" of Sedona (Sedona attracts new-age spiritual types), and people can be seen at the vortex from dawn to dusk.  I may take some photos of the view from the house and post them later.

It's been getting up past 100 degrees in the afternoon, so this morning, to beat the heat, we left at 7am for a hike through Oak Creek Canyon.  We took West Fork Trail, which follows the creek into a deep canyon of red rocks.  Just to get an idea of the scenery, here are some photos from earlier today:

 

Seriously, all of Sedona has rock formations like this.  Hence my earlier phrase, "unbelievably phenomenal."  Here's the most-photographed part of the West Fork Trail:

We found part of the creek with a natural water slide:

We took a break to enjoy the scenery next to the water slide.  Here are Grandpa and Dad:

Here are Mom and Grandma Lorraine:

And me, on a rock.

After the break, we continued deeper into the canyon.  We passed some greenery:

But mostly we were looking up at the rocks:

We also passed some piles of little rocks.  While there always seem to be rock piles along rocky hikes, in Sedona there's a chance that the piles are made by people who feel a special spiritual energy in the area.  In the past, I've seen circles of rocks here, forming new-age shrines.

Another interesting feature of the hike was a little room we found built into one of the cliffs near the trailhead.  The skeleton of an old, three-room house was nearby, so it's possible this room was once used for storage.

Overall, the hike was beautiful.  I occasionally got a strange impression, though... a strange impression that I was in a screensaver.  So I took a photo, and I now present a Sedona desktop background for you!  Click to get full resolution and enjoy. :)

Tomorrow we're heading out early again, this time to Cathedral Rock and Bell Rock, which are isolated formations as opposed to canyons.  We may also see some Native American ruins.  More to come!

World's End is Actually Pretty Cool

For years, I've heard about this mysterious hiking area, accessible by public transportation from Boston, known as World's End.  I finally went to check it out on Friday, May 21.  All photos here are courtesy of my friend Kendra Miller.

Getting to World's End is the hardest part; it requires taking the Red Line out near the end of the Ashmont line, taking a bus out near the end of the bus line, and walking a half hour.  The entire trip takes maybe an hour and a half each way.  Here are some things you see when you get there:

You can walk your little kiddlies there:

The trees were tame in a nice way, making the hike feel like a stroll through a New England orchard but without the apples...

The trails are wide enough to be roads, while not looking suburban or anything:

Boston was on the horizon:

Another path:

Some trees with a view:

A tree without a view:

We also saw a fox!  But the fox was too tiny to see in our pictures, so here is a picture of an especially large rock:

Some views, so you can pretend you were there:

Here is where we ate lunch:

All in all, World's End was very pleasant.  It was not very rugged, and certainly not a difficult hike, but it had a certain New Englandness about it.  If you don't mind a long commute (bring a book!), this is an excellent place for a picnic, a stroll, or a place to walk your dog or your kids.

I leave you with a question mark:

Trip Report: Rock Circuit Trail at the Middlesex Fells

Another week, another hike -- this time, the occasion was Sophie Monahan's birthday!  Sophie, Robert Jacobs, Kristin Kuhn, Alex Vandiver, and I hiked the Rock Circuit Trail.  The weather was perfect, and we got pie with lunch because it was a birthday hike.

The idea of the Rock Circuit Trail is that the trail will go out of its way to hit as many rocks as possible.  There are even trail blazes that instruct you to go to the highest point in each rock formation before continuing on.  The hike was 6 miles total, but it probably would have only been 5 if not for its philosophy of hitting all rocks.

 Alex got another chance to try out his rock climbing skills, and climbed up a crack that he would rank a 5.8 (well, 5.9 in hiking boots) on the rock wall scale.  I took an easier route over to the left -- maybe a 5.6.

Since it was a birthday hike, we got to eat pie with lunch (quite luxurious):

Other attractions included a snake:

A snake egg:

 Invasive caterpillar nests:

 Robert trying to burn the invasive nests:

A rock circle in which to discuss things:

Some green areas:

A water tower that looked like it could come from Myst:

A waterfall:

Rest time:

 And, of course, pylons to keep the smoke monster from following you down the trail.