Sedona again

Fall continues

 

It's raining leaves, there were none the night before!

After Grand Canyon and with some pleading from Rob, we returned to the MTB mecca of Sedona. We were also hoping things might warm up a bit. What we found was some brilliant weather and some very colourful cottonwood leaves. When we left Sedona early March the leaves were just appearing and it seemed as we went north we experienced an endless spring. Now we seemed to be experiencing an endless fall. Interestingly some trees just lose their leaves without changing colour. One morning we woke to leaves raining off a large tree across from our RV. The tree decided that the previous night was time to drop most of its leaves.

Looking north to Midgley Bridge from Huckaby Trail

Early morning panorama (thanks Joe) from Hog Heaven.

While Fiona and Symi recovered from our GC walk, Rob made the most of the trails revisiting some favourites from early in the year. As usual it doesn’t take long to run into like-minded riders. The first was Ken Drew, a local artist who specialises in bronze animal sculptures. It turns out we had visited his very nice gallery in the Tlaquepaqa Village before. Symi of course remembered because it was full of animals. Ken introduced Rob to two fantastic new trails that were soon to be sign posted, Western Civilisation and Last Frontier. Rob also rode with another rider Joe who makes snowboarding movies. Maybe Rob was harnessing the Sedona vortex energy to attract creative people?

Xmas lights

Hiline Trail descent, epic. The keen will spot an A and B line.

When the post-GC soreness resolved we did some family rides. Unfortunately for Fiona and Symi the conditions were challenging in places as the ground was very dry and loose. We revisited some trails we had ridden early in the year and the improvement in Symi and Fiona’s MTB skills was very noticeable. There was definitely less freaking out at anything exposed. Rob did expose them to the Mescal Trail that while stunning has a few don’t fall here zones that were quite rightly walked. On one family ride Rob managed to have his most painful fall of the year while cruising (always the way and a reason to always ride 100%!, Rob) he clipped a tree with the handlebars sending his right knee into a small sharp rock. The next day Rob managed to jar his back while pushing his bike up a trail and miss-stepping over a rock, resulting in ibuprofen fueled riding for a few days.

Gourmet Thanksgiving Diner and warm enough to eat outside.

Enjoying the last warmth of the sun at Creekside.

While in Sedona it was Thanksgiving and Fiona managed to produce a roast turkey dinner complete with stuffing, fresh cranberry sauce and roast vegetables from the RV. There were plenty of families enjoying a long weekend and plenty of food. Thanksgiving we heard is a food holiday! We met a family from Yuma Az and the dad sold RV’s for a living. Quickly handing him a beer Rob picked his brain for some very useful information on selling RVs! Next door to us was a family from Albuquerque NM who had an 11 year old daughter! It was playtime for Symi and Trinity. The dad Chris was a keen biker, unfortunately Rob due to his injured state didn’t ride with him in Sedona. We did however get an invite to stay with them the following weekend as we headed towards northern NM to try and find snow.

Symi and Trinity walking Hiline Trail.
 

At the end of our visit to Sedona earlier in the year we discovered the happy hour at the walking distance Creekside Restaurant. Having saved $170 by carrying one meal into Grand Canyon we decided to use this money on some happy hour drinks and tasty bar snacks. Try $3 for a boutique pint of beer, $3.70 for a Margarita and $8 for half a kilo of cooked prawns. Symi enjoyed the endless refill old fashioned lemonade and the fact that the barman just brought her the drink one evening without her asking.

Stunning late afternoon colour just outside RV park.

With our time fast running down it was time to head further east, visit our new friends in Albuquerque and do some more snowboarding. Symi was very excited.

Mescal Trail

Tech on High on the Hog