Social climber: Fay Canyon and Doe Mtn.

The Fay Canyon trail, hiked end to end is, about a mile long and flat and wide enough to drive a jeep through without much trouble. However, as with many of the trails in this region, what recommends it are its "social" trails - unmaintained tracks that hikers have created in a mad scramble to get to interesting places.  In the case of Fay Canyon, these places are nothing short of spectacular. 

First social trail I climbed: up the canyon wall near the mouth, looking out

Views of the canyon 

Looking out again

The trail I was most interested to find was described to me as a trail well-marked with cairns, about 0.6 miles from the trailhead, leading to a stone arch.  If you'll pardon the overexposure, this is what that looks like...apparently. 

The way up

Arriving at the arch. From here you can see that the arch really is free-standing from the clif face.

Views out of the arch

And up!

Best vantage for a sketch I think! 

This marks the beginning of social trail #3 - up to the back of the box

Views out of the canyon

Views up the canyon 

Top of the box

Back down the canyon via the wash. This return route definitely has cool shade to recommend it! 

Hike 2: Doe Mtn

View of nearby Bear Mtn.

Lovely little cairn marking the end of the end of the maintained trail. From here a maze of social trails covers the top of the mountain. 

The view from the top looking out toward Sedona.

Morning routines

One of the most fun parts for me about staying for a few days in the same place is developing a few regular habits.

Every day, I wake up in a place that looks about like this. I break camp around 7 and head into town. 

All the dispersed camping areas are well outside Sodona. I have been camping to the south, so my morning commute to coffee and breakfast looks something like this. 

And this is coffee and breakfast. I work on the sketches I started on hikes, upload my photos from the previous day and plan the day's activities.