Hiking Sedona

It's been a few weeks since we returned from our week-long hiking adventure in Arizona. Getting back into the swing of work and life tends to suck all the photography post-processing time out of my schedule.

This first image is one of my favorites from the trip. Kara is sitting on the top of a rock they call the Carousel at Schnebly Hill Vista. She is looking out towards the slickrock flats that they call the Cowpies. (They must have hired a marketing agency to name their vistas.) As I have worked the panoramic images from the trip, I have found myself particularly attracted to the black and white versions. The skies and pink rocks make for dramatic duotone scenes.

On our big-hike day, we made a twelve mile excursion to the mesa of Wilson Mountain at just over 7,000 feet. The winds were gale-force. Really, in this photo looking south towards Sedona, there was a 50 MPH wind blasting in our faces. We spent less than five minutes at the north vista because the wind was throwing so much dust in our eyes. Another hiking group had their lunch blown off the cliff and down the mountain. That was enough for them.

Look closely at this panoramic and you can see where we started our hike, 3,000 feet below, near the bridge at the center of the image. The section is enlarged below.