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1500 Hike Celebration
It’s been about 4 years since I reached 1000 hikes. Since then, there have been no celebrations. I knew it was my 1500th hike, and I knew that we would celebrate, but I was not aware of the extent. Janie made brownies, so I was sure we would have a little time after the hike.
After the hike, everybody quickly left. I guessed that everybody had their own things to do, and wouldn’t hang around to eat the brownies. Of course I thought that this would mean more brownies for me.
Janie told me we should go to the park, so I knew then that everybody from the hike would be there. The park is always a good celebration spot. Little did I know that a LOT more people were going to be there also. Here’s some pictures of the celebration.
I guess everybody had sent in pictures to use on a giant collage. I collected all of the pictures, and Janie gave me more that she received, and I added them to this gallery. I hope you have as much fun looking at them as I do.
Abu went WAY out of his way to have a plaque made. It’s really cool. I hope everybody gets one of these someday because it’s a great thing to hang on the wall.
Lots of people wanted to thank me for doing what I do for the group. I just do what I can to help make our group fun and enjoy the company of people who love the same things as I do. So I think the gratitude is going the wrong way. It is I who owe everybody my gratitude for coming out and joining the celebration.
THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FOR COMING OUT AND CELEBRATING MY MILESTONE. THANKS TO EVERYBODY WHO BROUGHT FOOD AND DRINKS. THANKS FOR ALL OF THE GIFTS.
Sedona Secret Caves
During the Memorial Day trip to Sedona we were able to find a lot of new things that we had never seen before. We found a couple of the secret caves. Finding these caves took a lot of research online and map studying, as well as reviewing gpx files that we found online. Even that wasn’t enough. We still had to find the caves on our own by some trial and error.
On one of our hikes, we spent about 10 hours hiking in backcountry areas, most of which was through dense manzanita. It was tough hiking, took a long time to get places, and everybody came away with dozens of scratches. We probably aren’t going to do that again. In addition, it was a hot day and some of the group began to run out of water. Luckily, we were able to get out of the sun by going into cool caves and alcoves to avoid the heat.
Check out the Sedona Caves Gallery for pictures.
Halloween in Sedona
After months of planning and waiting, we finally made it to Sedona for what we thought was going to be a “post pandemic” trip. As it turns out, the virus is still affecting everything. But, as usual, we made the best of it.
In prior trips to Sedona, we realized that parking might be a problem. However, we thought that Friday, October 30, 2020, was going to be different because it was not a holiday in AZ. Not true. We arrived and struggled to find the last 2 parking spaces for the Devil’s Bridge hike. When we left, the cars were parked along Dry Creek Rd. in both directions. We did 2 other hikes that day and struggled to find parking in both of the trail heads due to crowds.
We had been looking forward to Halloween in Jerome, AZ. The rumor was that Halloween celebrations there are fun. The setting was perfect. Jerome is a “ghost” town. It was a Saturday night and the moon was full. But every business in town closed early and by 7pm we were ready to leave because there was nothing happening. Our only guess is that the town decided that they were scared of the virus more than they needed tourism dollars. What a disappointment.
We had a lot of fun on hikes on this trip and can’t wait to get back to explore more of the trails in Sedona. Check out the Sedona Gallery for some new pictures.
Halloween in Sedona
We had a lot of fun in Sedona and there’s so much more to see. So we’re heading back in late October. We’re hoping to go to Jerome for Halloween because they have a festival there.
Last Chance to Have Red Rock to Ourselves
The Calico Hills of Red Rock, NCA have been very quiet since the officials there have blocked access. We have enjoyed going to the rocks and scrambling while nobody else was there. But those days are about to end. Red Rock will re-open on Monday, June 1, 2020.
May 31, 2020 is going to be our last chance to have Red Rock to ourselves. Enjoy!