Advocate I
So Mrs Spaze wanted to get out for her birthday and we decided to head to the Sedona area. We always have a few plan B's but the main idea was to camp and hike in Coconino National Forest for a few days and then head to the Verde Hot springs our last night and relax. This is what actually happened..
Thursday we started out a little later than planned and I ended up working most of the morning (hooray cell phone hot spots). We started out driving all the way to the top of Schnebly Hill which overlooks Sedona. I had heard on OB that the views were amazing and was worth the trip. We turned off I-17 and took the Schnebly Hill road west. It was very pretty and wooded till about the last mile where the trees thinned out as we reached the top. We were expecting to see people camping, but we had the whole place to ourselves (probably because it was so cold). We settled at a campsite just off the road with an amazing view down the hill (34.88382721955925, -111.69672778847895). The sunset was amazing but the wind was something fierce. Because of the cold I ended up using the heater I bought to keep the van warm until about 1am where it was just down right hot!
Friday we enjoyed sunrise made some breakfast and packed up to head for the Munds Mountain Trailhead which was 2 miles down the hill toward Sedona. The road was rough, but nothing crazy. We ended up going for an amazing ~5.5 mile hike that had stunning viewpoints throughout.
I may or may not have taken a few pictures....
The summit was essentially the top of a Mesa which was unimpressive given what we had seen coming up. Baloo (dog) was really enjoying himself (even with his pack on) and was finding the best sticks to carry around. So back down we went jumped in the van and prepared for the 5 mile decent into Sedona.
I had heard Schnebly Hill Road is an "intermediate" off road trail. Given the videos and pictures I had seen I didn't think it lived up to that. I was wrong.... very, wrong. We probably saw one nontour operated jeep on the trail, but the rest were jeeps with 4wd and crazy suspension. We were asked a few times on the trail if our van had 4wd or the "off road package" and we laughed a little and said no. A long ride and one very jostled wife later we arrived in Sedona, with everything in tact! 30 min after that we arrived at our camp spot for the night off of FR525... the view was terrible no one should ever have to witness it.
Baloo was super tired, but we were able to play fetch, and he even found a few sticks. We did the usual, cooked dinner, made a fire and enjoyed the stars. It was significantly warmer at the lower altitude so we didn't even bother to turn on the heater in the van. The morning was more of the usual, morning walk for baloo, breakfast, and this
We drove to the Doe Mountain Trailhead and ascended the ~650ft to yet more amazing views.
The trail was packed and we are still working on Baloo's aversion to strangers.... some introductions went great (no barking) and others not so great, lol. Trying to introduce him to people is SUPER hard during covid. We lunched in the van and then plotted out the route to Verde Hot springs! We were excited until we realized that the last 20 miles were heavily wash boarded gravel roads. This time I aired down the tires and it made the ride a little more comfortable. There was a good bit of traffic and a #vanlifer even told us it was packed. We figured there would be other people but we had hoped it wasn't "packed." When we arrived at the (really nice) "dispersed campsite" it was full, but far from packed. We ended up grabbing one of the last spots down by the river. I wanted scout out the trail since the river crossing moves based on river flow and thus the trail isn't super well marked. We ended up walking another 2 miles doing that but also realized it was full enough of people we needed to be there early.
*alarm goes off at 6am* by 6:30 we were on the trail and at the hot springs not much later. That said, let me tell you how cold the Verde river is in January. It was 34 degrees out and the river was colder than that. Baloo got to the other side and was bouncing every which way... clearly he was the only one of us that enjoyed the crossing. Shockingly we weren't the first people there so we settled in the pool "outside" and even Baloo got to swim a little. It was marvelous, soaking in the hot springs and seeing the sunrise over the rolling hills.
Other people started to roll in with the same idea as us and around 8am there were enough people that we decided to go. Back across the *freezing* river and this time we allowed baloo to play fetch with a stick in a calm spot. Did I mention he likes sticks?
We cooked and enjoyed the morning when we got back to camp
At 11:30 or so we were packed up and headed home.
Thursday we started out a little later than planned and I ended up working most of the morning (hooray cell phone hot spots). We started out driving all the way to the top of Schnebly Hill which overlooks Sedona. I had heard on OB that the views were amazing and was worth the trip. We turned off I-17 and took the Schnebly Hill road west. It was very pretty and wooded till about the last mile where the trees thinned out as we reached the top. We were expecting to see people camping, but we had the whole place to ourselves (probably because it was so cold). We settled at a campsite just off the road with an amazing view down the hill (34.88382721955925, -111.69672778847895). The sunset was amazing but the wind was something fierce. Because of the cold I ended up using the heater I bought to keep the van warm until about 1am where it was just down right hot!
Friday we enjoyed sunrise made some breakfast and packed up to head for the Munds Mountain Trailhead which was 2 miles down the hill toward Sedona. The road was rough, but nothing crazy. We ended up going for an amazing ~5.5 mile hike that had stunning viewpoints throughout.
I may or may not have taken a few pictures....
The summit was essentially the top of a Mesa which was unimpressive given what we had seen coming up. Baloo (dog) was really enjoying himself (even with his pack on) and was finding the best sticks to carry around. So back down we went jumped in the van and prepared for the 5 mile decent into Sedona.
I had heard Schnebly Hill Road is an "intermediate" off road trail. Given the videos and pictures I had seen I didn't think it lived up to that. I was wrong.... very, wrong. We probably saw one nontour operated jeep on the trail, but the rest were jeeps with 4wd and crazy suspension. We were asked a few times on the trail if our van had 4wd or the "off road package" and we laughed a little and said no. A long ride and one very jostled wife later we arrived in Sedona, with everything in tact! 30 min after that we arrived at our camp spot for the night off of FR525... the view was terrible no one should ever have to witness it.
Baloo was super tired, but we were able to play fetch, and he even found a few sticks. We did the usual, cooked dinner, made a fire and enjoyed the stars. It was significantly warmer at the lower altitude so we didn't even bother to turn on the heater in the van. The morning was more of the usual, morning walk for baloo, breakfast, and this
We drove to the Doe Mountain Trailhead and ascended the ~650ft to yet more amazing views.
The trail was packed and we are still working on Baloo's aversion to strangers.... some introductions went great (no barking) and others not so great, lol. Trying to introduce him to people is SUPER hard during covid. We lunched in the van and then plotted out the route to Verde Hot springs! We were excited until we realized that the last 20 miles were heavily wash boarded gravel roads. This time I aired down the tires and it made the ride a little more comfortable. There was a good bit of traffic and a #vanlifer even told us it was packed. We figured there would be other people but we had hoped it wasn't "packed." When we arrived at the (really nice) "dispersed campsite" it was full, but far from packed. We ended up grabbing one of the last spots down by the river. I wanted scout out the trail since the river crossing moves based on river flow and thus the trail isn't super well marked. We ended up walking another 2 miles doing that but also realized it was full enough of people we needed to be there early.
*alarm goes off at 6am* by 6:30 we were on the trail and at the hot springs not much later. That said, let me tell you how cold the Verde river is in January. It was 34 degrees out and the river was colder than that. Baloo got to the other side and was bouncing every which way... clearly he was the only one of us that enjoyed the crossing. Shockingly we weren't the first people there so we settled in the pool "outside" and even Baloo got to swim a little. It was marvelous, soaking in the hot springs and seeing the sunrise over the rolling hills.
Other people started to roll in with the same idea as us and around 8am there were enough people that we decided to go. Back across the *freezing* river and this time we allowed baloo to play fetch with a stick in a calm spot. Did I mention he likes sticks?
We cooked and enjoyed the morning when we got back to camp
At 11:30 or so we were packed up and headed home.
