Sedona Pink Jeep/Tlaquepaque Village.
After spending some time on the phone with my internet provider this morning, trying to figure out how to make this blog more user friendly (I finally figured it out, after I returned home to Massachusetts), I headed for my Pink Jeep tour – which initially got cancelled as I was the only one signed up for that time, and then got cancelled again for the same reason after I signed up for another time. So, I signed up for a different, and more expensive tour (although I can’t figure why it got so much more as it was only 30 minutes longer, although a different tour), and got to Pink Jeeps in Sedona for the noon trip.
There were seven of us, and I happily got to ride shotgun with Tyler, our driver and guide on this three-hour tour of the canyon rim along Schnebly Hill Road and then the Broken Arrow Trail (featured in the 1950 movie of the same name, with Jimmy Stewart and Jeff Chandler, shot here).
Schnebly Hill Road, which starts out as a very normal paved road, and which I’ve driven before, but not very far once it becomes obviously undrivable for any normal car or SUV, quickly turns to a heavily pock marked, rough, rocked, and gritty dirt road, which most definitely needs a rugged four wheel vehicle fitted with suitable tires and suspension – like the Pink Jeep. The photos don’t really do it justice, and especially the large rocks and small boulders that the jeep has to traverse and/or climb.
Schnebly Hill Road started as a wagon trail in the 1800s, but after T. C. Schnebly (one of the founders of Sedona) started his General Store in Sedona in the early 1900’s, he found it took 14 days to get to Flagstaff by wagon along the trail, where he got provisions for the store and local farmers took their crops for sale. He received government money and built what is now Schnebly Hill Road, cutting the travel time to maybe 5 or 6 days by wagon. It was further improved and paved by the federal government in the 1930’s, but later torn up in order to lay fibre optic cables, and has since become the rugged off-road (very off-road) trail it is today, still connecting Sedona to Flagstaff. Once route 89A (going through the fabulous Oak Creek Canyon) was built and later improved in the 1990s, the Schnebly Hill Road became the back roads, scenic trail it is today.
Okay, so that’s the history of this road, which is very rugged and very scenic. We did see several other heavy duty jeeps out there, moving very slowly and carefully along the trail and climbing the rocks. One the way, Tyler, our guide, not only did a great job driving, but also told lots of interesting stories. He was a very nice guy, and his voice and laugh put me in mind of the actor Seth Rogan, as well as his humor and delivery.
We saw some great vistas along the way, and of course got pretty close up in a way that would be impossible in any other vehicle, and difficult to hike as it’s pretty desolate out here.
Tyler masterfully took the jeep up and then heavy duty rocks and boulders. At one point, we were climbing a boulder big and steep enough, that the view straight ahead was the sky.
We went up, down, and across many steep and large rocks, and at one point down a set of boulder steps that were pretty steep and pretty rough to ride. It was like an advertisement for jeeps.
We went up, down, and across many steep and large rocks, and at one point down a set of boulder steps that were pretty steep and pretty rough to ride. It was like an advertisement for jeeps.
It was a good trip, and I could have easily gone another hour (or two). But back into town, around 3, and I then headed to the Tlaquepaque Arts and Shopping Village, housing stores built in the 1970s, designed and built using traditional construction methods to look and feel like a traditional, centuries old Mexican village, including a beautiful chapel, fountain, and streets.
There are old and very large sycamore trees throughout the shopping village, which many of the buildings are built around, as they were the favorite trees of Sedona Schnebly, the grandmother of the family that owned and allowed the development of the property. Beautiful place, with some really lovely stores, art galleries, and eateries.
I drove about 10 miles north, back along route 89A toward Oak Creek Canyon, and hiked about 4 miles on the very special West Fork Trail of Oak Creek, which leads into the Coconino National Forest Secret Wilderness. Bev and I hiked a different part of the Secret Wilderness in 2019. The Coconino National Forest is gigantic, and over 1.8 million acres, almost half the size of Connecticut.
The West Fork trail is a forested wilderness area that follows the meandering Oak Creek through narrow box canyons, mountains, and buttes that the creek flows through in a narrow valley surrounded by towering cliffs of red and grey. The trail, also known as Call of the Canyon, goes back and forth across the creek, requiring 13 river crossing across stones in the creek, as the trail goes from one side to the other. I managed to avoid getting my feet wet while crossing the creek going out and coming back, except once… but the water was lovely and cool. Just the right temperature.
And then a drive to Cottonwood, about 20 miles south, to my new digs for the next two nights, away from the upscale Los Abrigados resort.
My right ear is blocked, and so tomorrow morning, I’ll be checking out urgent care in Cottonwood, getting caught up, taking a hike, and visiting nearby Jerome, once a big time mining village here, which eventually faded, whereas Sedona had a resurgence, becoming the lovely town and the big-time tourist area it is today. On Friday, I’ll be heading up to Cedar City, Utah where I’ll visit my old pals, DeLynn and Maggie, who I managed to reach today.