Brins Mesa Trail to Vultee Arch - Sedona, Arizona
October 9, 2015 - Like the Grand Canyon, Sedona is all color and shadow. On my one-day swing through one of my favorite towns I chose a 16-mile route I had done previously. Great trails are worth doing again and again. In February, I will be venturing back to Sedona for a week of trail running, so this was just a pleasant prelude to a future of good times.
Feeling rather good after my Grand Canyon foray and a day off, I headed up the steep climb to Brins Mesa from the Jordan Road trailhead in the heat of the day. With temps in the eighties and blue skies overhead, I was relishing the perfect weather and tough technical conditions. Easing down the far side of the mesa I chased a snorting javelina for a ways after it crossed my trail. These wild oinkers are slippery fast and it was gone in a flash.
The air was hot and dry despite abundant evidence that the trail had undergone significant flash flooding only three days before. The wash I followed on a braided trail to the bottom was still wet with quite a few large red rain pools remaining. The trail in the woods is three miles before I turned on a jeep trail for another three miles, then cut back up toward Sterling Pass through a beautiful canyon to reach Vultee Arch.
The road tilts uphill all the way before I cut back into the shaded woods. It was like running in a dry sauna. Half way up the canyon I jumped out of the way of a yellow canyon rattlesnake, about four feet long, that curled in a threatening strike pose to rattle its warning at me. I watched it awhile until it stopped rattling, made sure I remembered where it was so I could just tip-toe past it on the way back if necessary, then continued onto my destination.One is always more vigilant after spotting a pit viper on the trail. God forbid I ever get nailed by one of these guys. I was likely too far out to reach any kind of treatment in time. Such risks come with the rewards. Reaching Vultee Arch, named for a pioneering flyer that crashed nearby with his wife in 1938, I climbed up onto it for the view and photos. Gorgeous piece of natural engineering. I love coming here.
Half out of fluids, I turned for home ex post hasto, watching for serpents in the grass, really just enjoying my make-it-up-as-you-go lifestyle. My four- mile-per hour tempo was just right for watching for snakes and dancing with the challenges of a very technical trail. My legs and lungs are ready for more miles at lower altitudes and soon I am going to put them to the test.
