Views from the Top

Oak Creek Canyon starts about five miles north of Sedona, and ends about 12 miles south of Flagstaff. In reality, that's only about 12 miles, but I could spend a week making the drive. This trip I really hustled and made it up and back, the whole 24 miles, in only two hours. Last trip, Rod, his son Troy, and I spent four or five hours stopping to wander off the road, skip rocks, throw snowballs (at Troy) and generally goof off.

To the west you can see three levels of the road across the narrow neck of the valley. What you can't see is the four levels of switchbacks just below, for a total of seven passes across the face of the cliff as you climb the 1000 feet from the valley floor up the elevation of Flagstaff. Some guy in a red truck nearly rear-ended me; at the last second, I realized it was me. That's a sharp turn.

From the viewpoint, you can look south and see half the valley back toward Sedona, or northeast and see an arm of the valley where the road doesn't go. Guess I'll have to hike it some day. Wanna come?