Cherry Creek Road and FR525

Dale is camped up near Cottonwood waiting for the weather to warm up enough to head north toward Alaska. I had some open days between other trips and commitments, so decided to go up and camp with him for a few days one last time before he leaves. Remembering I did not like the Thousand Trails boondocking area much from last year, he found a nicer spot on Cherry Creek Road just out of Camp Verde. The whole area is prettier this year because it has been wetter and the surrounding hills and desert are much greener and more flowery. So I really enjoyed this spot.

I drove up on Monday, arriving just after noon. I set up camp and was pleased to discover I could get 39 TV channels with my antenna. Of course, half of them were Spanish and several were religious or shopping channels, but at least I got all the network stations. Score!

On Tuesday morning, we hopped on Dale's motorcycle and went down the road to Out of Africa Wild Animal Park. The $30 admission price got us a bus tour and access to all the walking areas, plus we watched the Tiger Splash show. Dale got a picture of me feeding a giraffe from the bus. It turned into a warm day and by 2:00 we were ready to head back to our camp. After lunch and a rest, we took the motorcycle up to Montezuma's Castle to see the cliff dwellings. Our senior pass got us free admission and we enjoyed walking the trail and seeing the ruins.

On Wednesday morning, we packed up and drove about 20 miles north toward Sedona and found a nice spot on a spur road off FR525 a few miles from town. Surprisingly, I got 41 TV stations there! Later that afternoon, we walked over to a nearby site where several RVs were camped and visited with Barb from Me and My Dog.

On Thursday, we rode the motorcycle 10 miles north planning to make a short hike up to Devil's Bridge. We were unaware just how far it was and how difficult the hike would be, and we did not take our water bottles with us. Turned out, the hike was pretty tough. Between the heat, exhaustion, dehydration, difficulty of the climb, and discouragement when we kept meeting people coming down who told us we still had a long hard way to go, I was tempted to give it up. But with some shady rests, Dale's encouragement, and a determination to succeed, we finally made it, and the view was spectacular!

I was so far back from the edge you can't get a good perspective of how high this is.

Look at those boulders we had to climb up!

The height of the natural bridge and people walking out on it made me feel physically ill, and I kept having to turn away and look at the scenery elsewhere. Coming down was just as hard as going up, and it felt like an even longer walk back to the parking lot. But we made it and downed our water bottles before riding back into Sedona for a burger. When we got back to camp, we were both pretty tired and just relaxed the rest of the day.

I packed up on Friday, said goodbye to Dale for the rest of the summer, and turned south toward home just before noon. Unloading my Minnie when I get home from a trip is always something I'm anxious to get done even if I'm too tired to do it. So I put her in the back yard, got out the plastic bins and carted all the clothing, electronics and perishable foods back into the house.

My next planned sojourn will be in May when I head up to the Rim for a few days.