On Sunday, a couple of friends of mine and I drove up to Sedona to hike. One of my friends (Brent) is trying to get in shape to hike Mt. Whitney, in California in July, so he is slowly building up tougher and tougher hikes. Earlier this month they hiked to the top of Superstition Mountain, commonly called The Flatiron. Having tried the Flatiron before (and barely making it down), I was a bit worried about whether I could do this hike in Sedona, but I knew the scenery would be more than worth it, so I agreed to go.
The hike was to the summit of Mt. Wilson, a 6900ft peak outside of Sedona. The round trip distance is listed as being (depending on the
apparently very unreliable sources) either 5.2, 5.6, 7, 9 or 11 miles. After careful calculation, I tend to believe the 9 mile number. The elevation climb is about 2400ft up from the trailhead. We left at 5am
and got to Sedona a little after 7. After various time wasting activities, we hit the trail to Mt. Wilson at about 7:45. We got to the top of the summit at about 10:30am with only a couple of brief breaks. After several photos and lunch on top of the mountain, we headed back down and made it in time to go find some good beer at the Oak Creek Brewery and Grill.
It being Memorial weekend, Sedona was PACKED. Literally, there were cars backed up for a couple of miles trying to get into town. However, we managed to escape relatively easily and get back home to Phoenix around 5pm or so. Good fun all around. As usual, photos are up on Flickr.
A proposed hike for this weekend is Kendrick Peak, which is a 10,400ft mountain near Flagstaff. The elevation gain there is about 3000 ft, but the trail sounds easier, so I may go.
Post Script to this: I have heard this trail and the mountain were badly damaged in the Brins Wildfire. I am thankful that we got to take this trip before it was destroyed.
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