We applied sunscreen, packed up our water and snacks and were off. It was a tad bit warm, and shady spots were always welcome resting points. Misha smiled for the camera, but she wasn't really as happy as she appeared.
We stopped at this small inset in the rocks to rest, refuel and wet our whistles before climbing up.
Misha was the first to spot the Indian's face carved in the wall of the canyon. Can you see it under the branch of the tree?
We kind of veered off the "easy" path and somehow managed to find the more difficult one. Kristen was rather nervous about climbing up this narrow pathway in the rocks. I was not looking forward to the challenge of helping Chris bring her down. It was a little unnerving for me too.
Once we reached the top, we followed one path and then another, but they weren't really leading us anywhere. While bending down to retie his shoe, Chris must have brushed his hand against something that stung him good. His hand started to tingle and swell almost immediately. Fortunately the stinging and swelling subsided after a short time. We finally decided that we were on the wrong path and backtracked to where we had gone left instead of right. Once we took the "right" trail, we began to see other people. In fact, I said to one hiker, "Are we close to Devil's Bridge?" He replied that we were on it. Having come up the back way, we hadn't noticed the huge arch. Apparently it was the largest natural sandstone arch in Sedona. Once we stepped back, the arch was clearly visible and magnificent. Seriously, the pictures don't do it justice.
Wouldn't you know the pathway down was so much easier. Steps had been made on the path for an easy descent.
We drove back in to town for lunch at the turquoise McDonalds. We refilled our waterpacks and were off again to Soldier's Pass. Okay, so it was rather toasty earlier, but it was downright hot for our second hike. Along the way we stopped at the Seven Pools. Most were empty, but there were a few filled with fetid water, tadpoles, and even a small snake. Our second attempt to reach Soldier's Pass was once again cut short due to the heat. Ah well, maybe next time.
We took the girls back to the hotel for a couple hours break and for swimming. The pool was the same temperature as the night before, but with the sunshine, it was a welcome treat. All too soon, it was time to get dressed and head back in to Sedona for the promised Jeep tour. We decided to wait on dinner and arrived at "A Day in the West" for our scheduled ride. Mike was our driver, and I must say, we all loved the jostling of the Jeep interspersed with history and lore of the area. Sedona is a great place for those who believe in paranormal activity and vortexes, for Chris and I it was mostly a bunch of hooey. We bounced around so much that my children dubbed me the "bobblehead".
It was late by the time we returned to Sedona and well past time for dinner. We chose a small restaurant off the road called the Blue Moon Grill. Let me just say from the get-go, I don't recommend this place. We apparently arrived about fifteen minutes before closing and were not the priority. We ordered some slices of pizza and waited and waited. When our order was finally ready, some of it was missing. We told the waitress not to worry about it, we didn't want to have to wait any longer as the girls were almost falling asleep at the table. As we were about to leave, our waitress told us she was comping our meal because of messing up our order. We were glad for that and even more glad to be on our way back to the hotel for the night.
The girls were quickly off to sleep. Chris and I packed up all of our stuff and newly acquired shirts and beach towels (good thing our suitcases had expanders) to be ready to head back to Phoenix in the morning for our next day of adventure.