Flagstaff is a good day's drive from our home, and traffic through Phoenix can make this an even longer drive. When it's hot, the drive is a nightmare. I tried hard to avoid the heat, avoid the Phoenix traffic and in the end only made the drive longer. I just wanted to get home.
Sedona isn't that far from Flagstaff. I drove toward that artsy fartsy town but had forgotten about the massive fire that had raged through the area a few months ago. We stopped outside of town to walk around a picnic area for a three mile loop while it was still cool out, but so were other dog walkers.
The northern part of Sedona's forest had suffered burns. No parking anywhere on the road was allowed, and all trails were cordoned off. Several homes displayed "Thank-you, Firefighters!" banners on their gates as a token of thanks for saving their homes in the Slide Rock Fire this past May. The big threat now is flooding during the monsoon. Since the best trails were closed off, I decided to just bypass Sedona after a quick breakfast here, and head to the Verde River. Perhaps Sadie wouldn't mind hiking a short river walk with me before the heat of the day took the best of us.
Getting out of the Sedona-Oak Creek area took me longer than expected, though.
MORE TO COME
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