Encompassing Flagstaff: Red Rock State Park

The red cliffs of Sedona, taken from the air on my flight into Flagstaff. I thought this was the Grand Canyon, and...so did most everyone else on the plane. I realized my mistake once I'd driven northwest to the Grand Canyon and realized a plane approaching Flagstaff from the south would be nowhere near the GC..

Working on that video yesterday made me realize...I'd never finished my Encompassing Flagstaff photo collection, so named because during the week of April 7 - April 14, I visited points north, south, east and west of Flagstaff, Arizona, using it as my base.     Previous posts covered a few national park tours, the town itself, and Mars Hill.   Now witness...Sedona! Well, mostly Red Rock State Park.  Sedona has a well-deserved reputation for being fantastically beautiful, as cliffs of red rock overlook the town itself. I got there early in the AM and decided to do some hiking at a state park outside of town, and when I finished I was so tired and the city so fantastically full of people I decided "Nope, going back to Flagstaff". 

Driving to Sedona. The road south from Flagstaff is extraordinarily pretty, but also extraordinarily inappropriate for multitasking, so I didn't take many more until I was out of the dangerously beautiful woods and cliffs.

South of Sedona, taken while driving either to or back from Jerome, a place I visited solely on the merits of it being, quote, "cute". I was there waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too early, but I am a man of principles, namely "Wake up at dawn and see it before the tourist mob shows up!"

Jerome, AZ. Succeeding streets are above you when you visit, and I found this distressing.

Hiking at Red Rock State Park. I went on several different trails out here,  first an easy one to get the lay of the land and then a hill ascent. I then did another hill ascent, because when I am on vacation I sometimes go overboard.  According to my phone, I logged 18K steps this day. 

Wide shot, continued

The House of Apache Fire, which sounds terribly dramatic. It even as a trail named after it.  If I remember the signs correctly, the house was built to imitate indigenous architecture, despite being itself relatively modern (1947).     This is probably the least photogenic way to approach it.  When verifying I was remembering then name correctly I found a page of different shots of the house, taken at a time when the park was much more verdant. 

Driving back to Sedona

I actually took this shot because of the Burger King.  To its credit, Sedona must have some kind of building code that forces structures to fit a certain aesthetic. 

Sedona from the air again, this time flying back home

Now that I've finally posted my helicopter GC video, I can share some photos. Look for those a little later in the week, possibly tomorrow.