Yesterday we drove about one hundred miles north of Phoenix to this canyon area. It was almost tempting to drive fifty miles further to see the Grand Canyon,but we were quite satisfied in just driving through Oak Creek Canyon. It has its own spectacular beauty,but on a smaller scale. As we came into the town of Sedona we started noticing high red rock buttes and monoliths. From that town we swung a bit more west and took highway SR 89A north through the canyon. This road is 16 miles long and rarely more than a mile wide. Rocky cliffs in shades of white,yellow and red rising to 1,200 feet towered over us on either side of the road. We stopped frequently to view the spectacular vistas and to peer down into rocky gorges. We soon found ourselves in higher elevations with the air getting quite cooler. After weeks of seeing dry dessert cactus land we were pleasantly surprised to see forests of pine,juniper,and cypress. We also saw a herd of elk. Returning home we took Interstate 17 and made a stop at Camp Verde to visit some friends of ours. They work at Rainbow Acres,a residential home for adults with special needs. That is quite a beautiful area located in the valley of the Mingus Mountains.
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