Day 4 - Hiking in Sedona

So today was an AMAZING day. Ended up crashing pretty early last night and woke up early - about 5:45 am. Packed up the backpack, had breakfast and was on the road to the trails by 7:30.

Had originally planned to do a nice easy hike to Chimney Rock. Couldn't find a place to park so ended up heading up to Boyton Canyon - which I had planned to do tomorrow. Boyton Canyon is a moderate hike and has multiple personalities. Part of it is hiking up rocks, part is through woods, parts cross a stream, you get the idea. I was nervous but decided once again, to pull up those big girl panties and give it a try. (Thinking of renaming this trip the Big Girl Panties trip).

Anyway, the trail was beautiful! You felt like you were miles away from anywhere and then you would come around a bend, and down below would be these beautiful homes! Must be nice right?

Rumble did really well. He was the perfect guard dog, protecting me from a bunny that obviously had bad intentions. He may not win any Darwin awards though as he kept trying to nibble on the cactus plants.

We only ran into two other people on the first half of the hike - the first was another solo woman. We laughed, took pictures of each other so we had more than the self portraits and then headed our separate ways.

The views were gorgeous and I took tons of pictures which I can't wait to share. We turned back about 1/2 mile from the actual canyon as we had already been hiking over an hour and still had to trek back to the car. I'm glad we decided to turn back at that point as it began to get really really hot and both of us were pretty tired. Rumble's swamp vest was perfect and a big reason we were able to stay out so long so thanks Jen for pointing me towards those. The new backpack was also a great purchase as we went through tons of water! Ended up hiking for over two hours, probably about 3-4 miles total.

So overall, a really good hike. I spent the afternoon grabbing lunch and shopping in this very cute little market place. Came back and we both took a nice long nap.

After naps, we headed to another park and walked down to a stream where Rumble had a blast! I think he was actually ready to swim but slacker mom hadn't brought the long lead.

So the only disappointing part of this whole trip has been the food. I figured Sedona would have some great restaurants but so far the food has been pretty average with the exception of a cute little vegetarian restaurant across the street.

Oh well, can't have it all right?

So early night tonight so we can get up early again for another hike. Going to the same general area tomorrow but trying a different canyon. Total distance is a little shorter and the trail a little easier but the scenary is supposed to be just as nice and I think there may be some old Indian ruins nearby.

Wish us luck!