Sedona, AZ
 

On Christmas day I went hiking in Sedona (I forgo the typical Jewish movie and Chinese food).

If you have never been to Sedona, it should be on your bucket list. Scenery like you have never seen in your life. it's about an hour and thirty minutes from my house, so getting there is easy. Picking a hike to do, that's a lot harder. So many good ones, I often pick based on the accessibility of the trailhead to a standard car. Some require high clearance just to get to the trailhead via fire service road.

Anyway, I wanted to try a new trail and picked Bear Mountain #54. 5 Miles, out and back, 2000 feet of actual gained elevation. It felt a LOT longer and steeper. I think they should re-name the trail to "staircase of stone."

I got to the trailhead before sunrise and found myself in the middle of a 30mph windy snow squall. Did not expect that. anyway, once the sun rose, it cleared up a bit and despite being cold and windy, the weather was incredible. It certainly added some drama.

Driving to the trailhead. Yes, I had a white Christmas in Arizona:

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Once the sun rose, it was all spectacular scenery.

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Lot's of diverse high desert plants

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Weird way the bark is half "dead" looking and half looks like it was covered in red epoxy paint:
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And more scenery

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And finally, the top! I did find a little snow up here, along with fairly fresh scat that appeared large enough to be from a bear, so I didn't stay too long. I mean, it is called Bear Mountain trail.

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