I’ve got the feeling that I won’t do a super long post tonight. Today was a long and exhausting day. An absolutely great day, but I’m spent.
This morning Sadira, Josh, and yours truly headed out to West Fork of Oak Creek Canyon. It’s slightly outside of Sedona. I’d tried a hike in the canyon last year, but thanks to a fun little flare I was having the walk was cut short. Nice to have second chances!
I’d say by 9 we were off and walking. See, I didn’t check the clock. Why watch a watch? If you’re out doing something nice it just doesn’t seem to matter much, right?
The initial walk in is interesting. A small parking lot leads to the trail head. You walk in on a harder packed trail, and pretty quickly you find yourself in really soft sand. In a set of Chaco sandals the sand can get annoying. The bonus of the Chacos is the opportunity to go sloshing around in water while in the canyon! Trade offs.
We made our way along the canyon with ease. Hikers passed us, we passed other hikers. As usual, I was carrying a lot of extra stuff. That’s ok. Always be over prepared when on a hike. You never know what could happen. Most folks we saw had a single water bottle and little else.
As we hiked we kept running into people who wanted to know, “When will we get there?” Where exactly did they want to get? I don’t know. The canyon doesn’t have some amazing vista. There isn’t a spot with view finders that take quarters, and a hard lemonade stand is nowhere to be found. The trail goes along for well over 10 miles if you’re interested in a longer hike to a dirt parking lot. Most of the hikers were unaware that the whole point of the canyon hike was to enjoy the canyon!
We enjoyed the hike immensely!
Of course, we all got many shots in with our cameras. I’m a little disappointed with myself. As I’ve been expanding with my photography I’ve gotten used to “hand holding” shots. My tripod was with me, but I neglected to use it……..a lot!
The result was the loss of some amazing shots to blur. My new wide angle doesn’t have stabilization…..a fact I totally forgot today. Lesson: USE THE TRIPOD DUMMY! I had gotten into the habit, but for some reason today I kept hand holding only.
Still, in the end I came away with 13 shots I really like. That’s pretty good for a day’s hike I say!
Well, as I said, I’m exhausted. I’m back home in the Airstream enjoying the quiet, and the type of “tired” that only comes after a great day of hiking. So, off to bed now. 9:01 here.
Night all!
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