Today's hike: Long Canyon

The beginning of Long Canyon Trail.

We've settled into a hiking routine in Sedona that goes something like this: have leisurely coffees at home, hike hard, go to happy hour for drinks and snacks, collapse at home, dinner. Repeat. 

Today's hike was a six-mile round-trip hike through beautiful Long Canyon in the Secret Mountain Wilderness. Terrain includes the creek bed, sand and cacti, shady groves of Arizona cypress and alligator juniper, tall oaks, soaring rocky cliffs and mountains, and Indian ruins.

Alligator juniper bark in Long Canyon.

The ruins are quiet and peaceful. Every year when we do this hike, we stop here for water, a snack and rest while imagining the inhabitants hundreds of years ago sitting in the same spot. Following are three pictures from the ancient site: 

On the way out, we spotted this intertwining of trees:

To back up a little, on our first full day here we tried to hike the Bell Rock/Courthouse Loop but couldn't find a parking spot at the popular trail. So we went up the road to Little Horse Trail. Same problem. So we went out to eat at Tamaliza, a new tamale cafe. Then we went to Red Rock State Park, where we knew there would be plenty of parking, and did a short hike along Oak Creek. The next day we did the four-mile Baldwin Loop in mostly rocky terrain.

Dave enjoys a tamale and relleno at Tamaliza's.

Back at the rented homestead, I pulled out my wool appliqué project and discovered that I'd forgotten to pack the buttons for embellishment. Guess I'll have to go shopping! More later.

Have a colorful day