Wednesday, April 13, 2022 Sedona, Arizona
We made plans, that was our first mistake. (It seems our plans always change.)
I researched hikes in Sedona, I knew I’d have no trouble finding one that would be great since there’s no shortage of beautiful trails there.
We chose Soldier Pass. There were comments on AllTrails that if the parking lot got full you had to take a shuttle to the trailhead. No problem, we’ll leave early and beat the crowds.
First Glitch of the Day – Freezing Weather
That morning it was 27* F. WTH? The weather app forecasted 38! I know, not much difference to many but to someone living in an RV it’s a huge difference.
Plus, at that below freezing temperature things stop working, like my propane – that HEATS the rig interior. Yup, we woke up to no heat. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway since our battery was dead, which sparks the pilot to the propane heater. The lower temps drain batteries much faster than normal.
Let’s just say I was not a “happy camper” waking up that morning.
Luckily, the propane for the stove was working because I needed my coffee. Ray of sunshine? Maybe.
John and I ate chorizo with egg tacos for breakfast, gotta get the protein and carbs in for our hike at Soldiers Pass. Put on our cold weather hiking clothes and headed out.
Second Glitch of the Day – Don’t Spill My Coffee
Forest Road 525 in Sedona is not paved, well, nature paved it with rocks. This is the bumpiest road this boondocker has ever seen. And I have 30,000 boondocking miles under my belt on mountain roads, coastal beaches and desert sands.
Being since it was so bumpy I couldn’t continue to enjoy my liquid gold for at least 30 more minutes. I can handle a lot but don’t get in between me and my coffee. I was not so patiently awaiting pavement and highway 89A into the town of Sedona, Arizona.
We finally hit the highway. Things are looking up – I have my hiking clothes on, my backpack, a sunny day and coffee!
Third Glitch of the Day – No Signal
“How do we get there?” John asked approaching a few miles outside town. “Oh! Let me look!” I replied. I open AllTrails to get access to directions. No signal. None. Zip. Zero.
It’s cool, we’re getting close to town, we’ll get a signal soon. About a 1/2 mile into town I still had a bad signal, AllTrails was not responding. We pulled over and waited. Whew! To my relief we got directions, we were heading the right way, just a few more miles.
I started to think “With all these small roadblocks in our day, are we really meant to head out today?” I’m not superstitious, but these thoughts enter my brain.
Fourth Glitch of the Day – Where the Hell is the Trailhead?
Getting to the, what is supposed to be, trailhead to Soldier Pass Trail a home stood. Maybe we went the wrong way or the directions were wrong. We tried directions directly from Google and we were where we were supposed to be.
F*ck! We did pass a parking lot about 2 miles back, we should have parked there. BUT there is usually parking at trailheads and the ones further out are overflow.
We turned around.
Then we saw a couple sitting waiting for a shuttle. We pulled over and asked “Where do you park?” “Up about 2 miles back.” They answered.
Then I heard it. She said sweetly and informative “The shuttle runs every 45 minutes.” It just spurted out of my mouth “YOU HAFTA FUCKING BE KIDDING ME!?” She flinched a bit and they laughed. I thanked them for their info and wished them a great hike.
John and I already had a slightly trying day, the odds the shuttle will not show felt highly likely with the luck we were having this day.
We ditched our hiking plans and decided to hit a local dispensary for something to relax us later because the day wasn’t over.
Fifth Glitch of the Day – No Wi-Fi
I like to publish 4-5 blog posts a week, it’s my journal and I like to keep up on it. I usually hot spot my phone to my laptop when we camp but the signal up off forest road 525 is spotty at best. I hadn’t been able to post and needed to hit a Starbucks for their Wi-Fi to get work done.
John and I parked and headed into Starbucks. He was going to drop me off to work then run errands himself so before I settled in with my laptop I wanted to be sure I could connect to their Wi-Fi (I had issues in the past).
You can probably guess – the wifi wasn’t working here.
We grabbed a couple of mochas and headed back to camp.
The Day Was a Bust
Not really.
We didn’t put our hiking clothes and shoes on for no reason. When we got back we hiked 3 miles on OHV road 9513 that runs right behind our camp. It was a great hike! Rocks, hills, dirt and views down below of Sedona! And bonus, we got to watch all the side by sides crawl the rocky trail.
Moral of the story : never give up on nature, she’ll provide if you keep an open mind and your hiking shoes on.
