#TravelTuesday Sunset Point, Sedona, Arizona

I’ve spent the past few weeks sharing pictures of our trip last Thanksgiving to Sedona Arizona. Its landscape is both beautiful and exotic. These pictures were taken from “Sunset Point” which is located atop one of the hills close to the center of town. The tiny airport that serves the city was directly behind me where I took the pictures. This rest area, having such a romantic name, is populated with many onlookers as the sun declines. Elbowing tourists, protecting my position, and keeping an eye on my gear can be tricky, and I hate doing it, so... luckily for me, before the sun comes up, the area is pretty much vacant. The first picture was taken pre dawn. The sun would eventually rise behind my right shoulder and slowly bath the red rocks in the distance and creep down into the valley, and yet another day would begin in Sedona.

Nikon D800 Tamron 16-24mm f/2.8 @ 20mm f/9 ISO 100 1/15 sec

Nikon D800 Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 48mm f/9 ISO 100 1/40 sec

Nikon D800 Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 28mm f/9 ISO 100 1/200 sec

#TravelTuesday Cathedral Rock

Staying with the Sedona theme I wanted to call your attention to what is one of the most iconic views of the American Southwest. Cathedral Rock is easy to get to. It’s just a mile off highway 179, ten to fifteen minutes from downtown Sedona. Hiking is permitted up to some of the peaks, my wife and I did not make the climb (we had a plane to catch that evening, and a hospital stay would have delayed our departure). There is a state park on Forest Park Rd (fee) where you can walk 3 minutes to a stream and photograph this structure to your heart's content. These are a few of my favorites from different vantage points. When, and I highly recommend it, you visit to Sedona, even if you are not a hiker or trail runner, take an hour or two and relax at Cathedral Rock. (Bring your camera)

Nikon D800 Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 42mm f/18 ISO 100 30sec w/10 stop ND filter

Nikon D800 Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 45mm f/14 ISO 100 30sec 10 stop ND filter

Hiking in Sedona

One of the best things about Sedona is its multitude of hiking trails. There are miles and miles of walking trails for all different types of hikers. You can meet other people, sit and rest by a cool stream, breath deeply the thin air, have a picnic lunch, all while keeping your eyes open for wildlife that may in fact kill you. Attacks are rare and shouldn’t dissuade anyone from walking the glorious valleys or climbing the breathtaking ridges that make up Sedona, but sightings of bears, mountain lions, rattlesnakes, and scorpions occur often. The great thing is, every trail I have ventured onto was clearly marked, well maintained, mildly strenuous and worth every penny. Plenty of trails are free of course, but there are some in places where there is a minimal charge for admission or parking. Not that these are the best trails or come with cocktail service, but if a small fee is what’s needed to keep the trails in the condition they are, then it’s well worth it. Splendid views arise every few minutes, as a reminder of how small we all are in the world. The picture below was taken after climbing about 75 feet up a cliff at the end of the Fay Canyon Trail. It’s a six photo panorama. To give you some sort of scale, if you look directly in the center of the picture and see the rock structures in the distance, they are taller than the rocks on the right and left. This is the view looking through the canyon and my 75 foot climb was merely to get above the tree line. The mountain behind me is much bigger.

Nikon D800 Nikkor 28-300mm @ 32mm  f/6.3 ISO 100 1/60sec 5 image panorama

Who Really Knows

I thought I would give some explanation as to why there are giant rocks around Sedona and how they came to be there. Best I can figure out from my reading is that they are ancient, and when I say ancient, I mean 100 million years ago, when the world was vastly different from the way it appears today. Eons ago the top of the cliffs may have been beachfront property as the Pacific Ocean’s waves crashed against them. This thinking seems somewhat backwards from what would be obvious to anyone standing at their base, that these giant red rocks somehow were pushed up from within the Earth. Maybe volcanic activity , or tremendous earthquakes birthed these immense structures. Or maybe (which seems more of a consensus) the softer more porous ground around them just eroded away, revealing the landscape we know today as Sedona.

Nikon D4 Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 plus Sigma 1.4 tele @ 250mm f/7.1 ISO 250 1/500 sec