Climbing Bell Rock

Sedona Travelog #14
Bell Rock - Mon, 30 May 2022, 5pm

Today we're pacing ourselves. After a huge hike yesterday we picked an easier one this morning, to Birthing Cave. But once there we found ourselves with energy to spare— and beauty beckoning— so we extended our trip to Mescal Mountain. Then we rested at the hotel after lunch. Hawk didn't want that to be "it" for the day, so I promised we'd go out again at 4pm. Bell Rock is near the hotel, and I've been told it offers great views at sunset, so that's where we've gone.



Bell Rock is one of those "Hike up as far as you want to" places. The trail starts out wide and clearly marked on red dirt, then narrows to a single-track as it climbs, then all but disappears as it hits the slickrock. You go as far up as you want to... as far as you can.

BTW, that is Bell Rock in the photo above. Munds Mountain is just the name of the wilderness area it's part of. I'm not sure there is an actual Munds Mountain



If there is a Munds Mountain, I'd say it's the one over on the right in the picture above. The one on the left is called, I think, Twin Peaks.

Ascending Bell Rock brings great views of Courthouse Rock, right next to it.



This is that odd tradeoff in climbing a mountain. The higher you climb, the less there's left to see of the mountain you're atop. It's under your feet. But the better the views are of everything around. In beauty I walk.

Stay tuned; I'm going higher!

Update: the higher I go, the smaller this mountain gets!

A Mostly Taking-it-Easy Weekend

We're taking it easy this weekend. ...No, not the weekend we're in Sedona hiking amazing red rocks mountains! That was last weekend. It only seems like this weekend because I'm still backlogged on blogging about it. As of a few days ago I hoped I'd be caught up by Saturday. Well, Saturday is now in the rear view mirror, and I'm still not done. I've got 3-4 more entries waiting in the hopper. I'd really like to be caught up by Tuesday— at which point I'll finish just a week behind— but it's possible it could stretch longer if I keep taking breaks to write about other things. Like everything else in my backlog, including the fact that there's an election (a primary) on Tuesday that I've barely thought about.

I was trying to write about how I'm taking it easy, but now I'm feeling like I'm really too busy. No, last week was busy!

Thursday afternoon/evening and all day Friday were marathon days at work. I felt hopelessly behind... I even told a few people, "Don't expect me to have X or Y ready until mid-next week, at least!" Then I finished X on Thursday night (I worked until 9:30pm) and miraculously got Y done by 5:30pm Friday.

I wanted to do something small to celebrate my success on Friday evening, like go out to a nice restaurant for dinner, but by 6pm my energy was rapidly fading. I chose to cook and eat at home instead. It's a good thing I did because by the end of dinner I was practically falling asleep at the table. "Why am I fighting sleep?" I asked myself. I went to bed early and was sound asleep by 9pm.

Getting lots of sleep Friday night was my first form of taking it easy this weekend.

Saturday I got up early. I was well rested since I'd gotten to sleep so early. I lazed around the house for a few hours. Then I combined a few shopping errands with a quick lunch out. After lunch, Hawk and I walked to the Art & Wine show downtown. It's a mile from our house, so the walk there & back plus the walk around all the booths was nice. Hawk bought a pair of earrings from a jewelry seller. We discussed a few pieces of art but didn't buy any as we have few places left to hang it..

After getting back from the show Saturday we hopped in the car to do a handful more shopping errands. By the time we got back it was time to start dinner. I decided to make myself a deep dish pizza. That's now one more thing on my backlog to blog about! 😅 Oh, and I tried a few more beers in my Beer Tasting 2022 thing. So that's two more things on my blog backlog!! 🤣

Today (Sunday) I slept in a bit. Mainly that's because I stayed up past midnight last night... which i did for really no good reason. I really need not to do that. I have to get up at 6am Mon-Wed this coming week for 7am work meetings. It's harder to do that if I get my body accustomed to midnight+ bedtime.

We went out for a dip in the hot tub late-morning today. We'd talked about going hiking this weekend— something nearby and not strenuous. The weather's been meh, though. Clouds yesterday and today, with a threat of sprinkles today. It's just as well; we're still resting up from last weekend. ...Yes, the weekend so busy with hiking I haven't even finished writing about it yet! Plus, today we're planning our next hiking weekend, two weeks from now. 🤣

Climbing Bell Rock, part 2

Sedona Travelog #15
Oak Creek Village - Mon, 30 May 2022, 7pm

Climbing Bell Rock today was fun. The hordes of hikers down near the trailhead thinned out quickly as the trail got progressively harder. While there were dozens down near the parking lot, I saw maybe 6 or 7 total in the mountain's upper reaches.



The main reason for this isn't that the mountain is high. It's actually far from the highest mountain in the area. It's that the trail is tough. The trail all but disappears after the first third of the trek, and you're left following cairns on the bare rock. In the top third there aren't even cairns anymore.



The hike becomes like a "Choose Your Own Adventure" game. You read the terrain and figure out the best way over it. In some places parts of the trail are obvious, like above, where previous hikers have stacked rocks in a small gulch.



Other times it really is a case of, "Hmm, there are at least 3 ways I could get up there...."



And what leaves most people behind isn't the guesswork, it's that all the options are hard. There were several places I had to stretch my arms and legs over the bare rock to scramble for purchase. Things that I, as an adult man with somewhat long limbs, could manage were not manageable for others. Hawk stayed below while I continued up.



I've mentioned before the irony of climbing a mountain. At the top, you don't see the mountain. You see everything else. Here's a view of Courthouse Rock and the Munds Mountain Wilderness off to the east.