We survived record low temperatures in Arizona last week. The news was full of the horrors of pipelines freezing and the shortage of natural gas because too many people were turning on their heat at night. The temperature hovered around 0-15 degrees Celsius, depending on the day - colder than we expected for Arizona (I packed flip flops), but tolerable for a couple of Canadians. Some would say downright balmy, and definitely perfect hiking weather.
We ran P.F Chang's Rock n Roll Half Marathon in Phoenix. When we originally planned the trip it was to run the full marathon, but injuries and Mexican margaritas derailed us in December. The half was awesome - over 30,000 people ran, we both did well, and we weren't too sore to enjoy our holiday afterwards.
Cathedral Rocks - Vortex extraordinaire
We seem to have cultivated a bit of a fascination with the desert. I can't get enough of red rock and cacti. We headed north from Phoenix to Sedona, full of fine food and awesome desert hiking. Also full of New-Agers who have marketed the most beautiful red rock locations as Vortex sites. A vortex apparently is where the earth is living and one can be healed by the masculine and feminine energy eminating from the rock if you meditate long enough. We tried and evidently we weren't "open" enough to receive peace from the earth. We sure liked the views though.
Hiking around Sedona
This is a Frank Lloyd Wright - inspired church, built into the rock in the 1940s. Absolutely stunning architecture. Only fits about 50 people though.
Despite the weather forecast for snow, we headed further north. We stopped in Flagstaff, Arizona, a cute university town. At 7000 feet (a large elevation jump from Phoenix) with a rumour of a ski hill, I was expecting a full-on mountain town. Flagstaff was a cute university town, but had the tiniest of tiny mountain ranges poking up from the plateau - a handful of peaks at most, although they do reach up to 12,000 feet. Still optimistic, we thought we would check out the local ski hill, Snow Bowl. Turns out the season opening planned for the weekend we were there was cancelled because wind blew all the snow off the mountain. Indeed, it looked pretty bare. So, we got back in the car and kept driving.
Spent a few days at the Grand Canyon hiking some world-class terrain. Unfortunately, the accommodations are not so world-class. We had dinner in Tusayan at We Cook Pasta and Pizza, the only restaurant in town. We had, you guessed it, pizza. January is apparently the time to go to the Grand Canyon, it was pleasant off the rim in the canyon and we saw virtually noone on all our hikes.
Below is down Grandview. We descended over 900 m to a mesa and were still only 2/3 of the way to the Colorado river at the bottom.
We hiked the infamous Bright Angel Trail, probably the most under-estimated hike in North America. Tourists clamber down hundreds of meters every summer in the heat, only to find they don't have the energy or time to climb back out again. Jacob's Ladder, leading us into the canyon.
We hiked Bright Angel down nearly a vertical kilmetre to Plateau Point, a perfect mesa dropping dizzingly down to the river. Too much exposure for me! We saw 2 other people on the way down, and then noone for the rest of the day. We put in a 20 km day with a lot of climbing, but it was high value!
Our fascination with desert flora comes through again. Growing quite happily on the mesa in the sunshine, one of the only shots of non-red colour we could find.
A parting shot. Even if we seem to have a black weather cloud following us this year on every vacation we take, it was still a perfect trip and a welcome break from Calgary's winter. Onward to the rest of ski season!
