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Arizona
Saturday,
September 21, 1998
I'm sitting on a barely sloped ridge of rock midway (or less -- I may really be flattering myself here) up the trail to Cathedral Rock. Below me, the terrain falls away in undulating heaves of red rock and red sand scattered with a heavenly mixture of gray-greens and forest greens of scrubby vegetation and cacti, mud streams, clear streams, yucca and grasses, and then rises away again in striated red rock and limestone formations of every shape imaginable. I feel like I'm falling. I feel like my blood has been replaced with battery acid and will never stop running. I feel tight and out of control. It's unbelievably beautiful here and the scenery, almost completely untouched by manmade structures, goes on for miles and miles in every direction, but my psyche isn't acclimated and my body isn't accustomed to peace and beauty yet.
I'm trying to place myself here somehow while Nancy continues the climb to the top.There are several other couples hiking. They seem nice and of similar age and type. The huge sky is pewter gray with darker puffs of cloud. Meditating feels good. The air is cool. The rock is cold beneath my legs. I feel the wind, but I have to watch closely to see movement in the trees, so short and scrubby that from this vantage point everything in the universe open and revealed. There is nowhere to hide. It is the opposite of what I love about the forest, where all is within, cradled and allowed to be in peace and solitude. This is a wilderness I have not known. In places it reminds me of Crete -- the roughness and the strength. But I do not understand this land, this way of being, yet.
Nancy was waiting at the airport (I learned one runway was closed due to "unusual weather" (rain), and my flight was further delayed behind the 25 planes landing in front of us, but she didn't seem to mind. We left Phoenix in the red and purple striated sunset (amid many palm trees) and drove the two long hours to Sedona. I was exhausted! We registered in the well-designed lodge at L'Auberge de Sedona -- two huge fireplaces crackling, lots of deep tapestried armchairs and loveseats, and a high beamed ceiling. Our room on the third floor has a balcony overlooking the canyon and red rocks beyond, a big bathroom, and fireplace. Perfect.
We
woke to sunrise over the red rocks and ate a huge breakfast (several slices of banana
bread, a giant mound of yogurt, and a plate of fresh fruit). Then off for our Ancient
Expeditions Pink Jeep Tour, which was long, cold, fun and abundantly informative.
Rosemary, our guide, put me up front with her so I could hear (and as a bonus, get an
occasional breeze from the heater -- the jeeps are open), and Nancy huddled under Indian
blankets in the back with four others -- one couple from Columbia, only two hours from us.
We rode through a long mud road for miles and then hiked up to see cliff dwellings and
rock art. Though I am sometimes wary of tours, it was a great experience, and we learned
lots about the flora and fauna.
Later we browsed the galleries at Tlaquepaque and ate rainforest sandwiches (broiled sesame/pizza bread filled with pesto, olive oil, artichoke hearts, feta, tomato and mozarella, heated -- divine!), hot cider and cookies, then came here to hike Cathedral Rock. Just as I'm beginning to chill, down comes Nancy leading a pretty blonde girl by the hand with tiny steps. Nancy found her farther up the trail hugging a tree. That could have been me. Several of us walk down together, and everyone we meet is really nice.
Before dinner we drive to the Airport Mesa for what could have been a spectacular sunset with a few less clouds. I climbed fairly well onto the heap of red rock, found a big rock that seemed made to cushion my own particular body, closed my eyes, and felt extremely comfortable and rather touched by a sense of well-being. Nancy climbed to the top and took pictures in and among the several meditators. Again, all the hikers looked much like us. I felt good when we left, though still sore, perhaps a bit more energized. This is one of the vortex sites, as is Cathedral Rock. I can't say one way or another about that -- but I sat on that rock and had a rather nice revelation, and I watched the barely discernable wisps of evening fog roll in just beneath me.
While sitting at Cathedral Rock, I closed my eyes and moved my head slowly from side to side, for no reason, then opened my eyes and stared directly at Cathedral on the Rocks, which I had not noticed at all in the panormanic view. We later drove over to it, and were given a 360 degree description of every visible formation by the very fiendly parking attendant, who wanted us to know everything. He was very careful to make certain we saw exactly which formation he spoke of, and then he told us its name and all of its nicknames. He was so nice, and rather Mexican, I think. The Chapel, designed by a woman sculptor who was a friend of Frank Lloyd Wright, is striking. There's a lot of iron sculpture inside, candleholders and such, and the a tape of Gregorian chants was playing. The front is all glass with a huge cross form placed into the window, and the view is across the valley to these awe-inspiring red mesas. Then more red rocks encircle the Chapel, which is perched at quite an alititude upon more red rocks. I liked it. No services are held -- it's a chapel of private prayer, and the designer's statement noted that she wanted it to be "a place for a nation to be with God as a contemporary." Intriguing thought.
For dinner we made some soup and had a little wine, then I steeped in an excellent, long, hot bubbly bath. Slept great.
Sunday, September 22, 1998
Slept
til 7:30, then enjoyed a nice, slow morning with our breakfasts, the paper, the fire and
the view. The morning was misty, so we decided to take a drive with some side hikes. We
headed up 89-A, the scenic route to Flagstaff, which follows Oak Creek up through the
canyon. The elevation change in 30 minutes is 3,000 - 4,000 feet and spectacular. We
parked by a pretty spread of snow-peaked cliffs and hiked over boulders to the rushing
creek. There are perfect campsites all along this stretch, and we eyed a few. Only fifteen
minutes north of Sedona there were fields of snow on both sides of th road, and suddenly
the trees changed, growing straight and tall, the snow-sided mountains covered with them.
It seemed too much like being in Vermont -- not as lush, but totally foreign compared with
the Arizona we'd been coming to know for two days. The road began to climb steeply with
hairpin curves and magnificent, snowy mountain views. We drove to the top and the scenic
overlook, but there was no view. We were totally surrounded by cloud in the middle of a
lovely pine foret with perhaps six inches of snow on the ground, and it was snowing!
Flurry-ish, but snow nonetheless, and a real treat for two girls from the South Carolina
coast. I was tickled pink, and now we had the drive back to look forward to, noted for
being one of the most remarkable drives in Arizona. And it was, in fact, even better than
the drive up. We stopped along the way to try a brief snow hike along the creek. Cold! And
I had totally forgotten how slippery snow can be!
As we drove on and the snow gradually faded again into the backdrop, we stopped at Garland's to admire the very well-made Native American jewelry. Nancy wanted rings for her two daughters. Well, the rings were great, leading to a gift for my own daughter as well, and then they pulled out the bracelets! I gave them a glance, and