John & Anne Wiley

I’m happy we have digital cameras. Back in the film days we’d have at most 100 pix of our day hiking, driving and flying the Sedona area. As it is, I’ve just looked at 400 or so and Anne snapped half again that many. Here then are a few more I’ve chosen to complement those I posted during the trip.

You may recall that we woke at sunrise and drove into town for some coffee. Among our first pix of the day were from Starbux balcony, including this butte with lovely light that the camera couldn’t really capture.

6127 Sunrise Star$$ Butte

The sunlit edges show some, but the glow on the pillar at right doesn’t and the sky we were enjoying is completely gone. I was fascinated by the small narrow pillar on top, but couldn’t zoom any closer. After exploring the area by car, on our way back up to the airport to meet Zubair & family we stopped at this roadside viewpoint.

6148 Airport Road View

Pretty nice! But we remembered from our flight there some years ago, that it’s actually even better from the air. We thought the weather was clearing, so we drove back into town with our new travel companions. Unfortunately, by the time we left them to explore town more while we went flying, the clouds had come in and even some scattered rain showers. Still, we liked the views better.

6194 New View

It’s not just that there are so many more fascinating things to look at, but you can get closer than on the ground and still see what’s beyond and around them.

6199 Red Rock Faces

Also, many of them are not near any roads. Even though we stayed far enough away not to disturb any hikers, they were visually stunning and zoom pix like this came out well. In some places the carved stone was so intricate it was somewhat like Bryce Canyon.

6331 Bryce Impersonation

There are also innumerable caves, and some must surely have sheltered ancient peoples at some time.

6282 Shadows & Light

It would’ve been nice to tour the back country in sunny conditions, but we still liked how the dappled light played on the rocks. But remember that sunrise view from Starbux? Well, as we approached the airport to land after an hour of enchantments we saw it from this perspective.

6316 Above Star$$ Butte

The light and color are quite different, and I loved seeing it in context with the surrounding formations. I also got a much closer zoom pic of the little pillar on top.

6323 Pillar Sculpture

At the highest resolution on my original pic, it looks like some space alien in a lotus position. Vastly more interesting than what we could see from town. Still, when we drove out for our river walk with the family it was awe inspiring to be up close to the timeless stone.

6360 Red & Blue

By the time we all climbed into our two planes for the short flight to Flagstaff, the lowering light still provided postcard views of the sleepy city outskirts.

6414 Looking Back

Sequels never measure up, they say. In some ways, maybe that was true of today’s flight. We started the day by taking Stacey and Michael (two of our three hosts in Castle Rock near Denver) on our brief aerial tour of Boulder. This included spotting the Goat Farm, and wondering if Maddie saw us fly over. Pix of that tour later, but back to Rocky II.

1437 La Manga Pass

Our first flight through the Rockies at Monarch Pass was through towering peaks. Today we followed the road angling up a relatively shallow valley from bottom center toward the left. Being at the southern end of the Rockies, it might seem pale in comparison but keep in mind that road is over 10,000 feet above sea level and still beautifully adventurous. Next, this being the 4C Adventure and neither of us ever having visited the actual Four Corners monument, we decided to detour a couple of miles for a look.

1520 Four Corners

I’ll admit it would be mildly amusing to stand on all fours at the very center, with one limb in each state. But there seemed to be a toll gate halfway from the highway, and the whole thing is surrounded by two perimeters of merchandise. I’m happy to have simply flown in a two minute circle that took us over four states and producing a state of satisfaction that we’re spared the drive (and fee) to go there again.

The prize for today though, probably goes to our repeat flight through Monument Valley. While it was windy again, the air was clearer and the thrill undiminished.

1745 Monument Valley

This time we also flew out over the southern end where the rocks are smaller, yet perhaps even more magnificent. I’m sure every one of these spires has at least one name and a very interesting collection of stories, yet I’ve taken to calling this portion the Little Monument Valley.

1780 Little Monument Valley

Though we have many hundreds of pix from today, some I like a lot, these will have to do as we rest up in Flagstaff for our final leg home tomorrow. Then as we settle back into our little paradise, these pix will grow even more powerful as they rekindle our memory of traversing these marvels amid a panorama of delights.