Choose Your Own Adventure

We got out at a decent time without rushing this morning and made it to our first planned trail about 10am.  Our plan for the day included the Soldiers Pass to Brins Mesa loop, the Cathedral Rock hike/climb, and then the Chakra Sound Healing session with the woman we met at dinner our first night here.  The chakra session was at 5:30pm so we had a set end time for the hiking we needed to keep in mind.   We did some mini research on the Soldiers Pass/Brins Mesa trail before we headed out this morning and read about caves that could be found by veering off the trail onto an unmarked side trail.  The directions to find this unmarked side trek seemed pretty solid so we screenshotted them and added that to our itinerary.  The Soldiers Pass trailhead parking lot holds a whopping 14 cars and there is no street parking legal immediately surrounding so we parked about half a mile away and got started what we thought would be about a 5.5 mile loop.

Just a couple hundred yards up the Soldiers Pass Trail we came to the Devil’s Kitchen Sinkhole, a massive sinkhole created by the collapse of gigantic underground caverns. It’s scary to reflect on how many underground caverns we may have hiked across not knowing; it’s trippy to think that there are most definitely places, not just here but on hikes I’ve done all over, where the ground could collapse.  I took in the awe of the massive hole and noted where the next surrounding section was due to collapse, the fissure in the rock was deep and defined. There was a guide nearby giving a tour and I could overhear him saying that someone had fallen into the sinkhole not that long ago. I’m unsure if they made it out alive or not.

Not much further down the trail we came to the Seven Sacred Pools. This was where our fake chakra guide was to have taken us our first day.  I had read comments in the trail guide about people having missed the pool and I understood why, especially in cloudier weather.  The seven pools are just that. Seven pools of water carved into the side of the rock, cascading down the hill. They look like just puddles of water in the rocks but in fact they are close to 5 ft deep each.  The pools were all completely iced over. As we approached Jenny asked in disgust if there was broken glass alongside one pool.  “No,” I amusingly assured her, “its ice!”  We hopped around the pools, climbing up and down the rocks like mountain goats and being silly taking pictures.  We met a few other women and exchanged tips on best picture taking spots around the pools and taught them about apps to erase all the random other people in their pictures. We spent a good amount of time hanging out around the pools.  And we had just gotten started on this hike!

The temperature was about a cozy 35* degrees when we started our hike but with the sun shining down on the trail it was feeling warm.  Warm enough to start taking off layers. I was stunned to find that I was able to strip my top half down to just the very thin long-sleeved shirt I wore today a vest.  I was also stunned at the beauty of this trail.  Soldiers Pass offered, yet again, a different feel from each of the other trails we’ve done this trip.   Patches of snow dotted the ground and mini forests of little trees lined the path.  This trail had A LOT of little side paths and alternate options, it was definitely a “choose your own adventure” type of hike.  We discussed remembering those books from when we were kids.

The turnoff to find the caves was supposed to be about 15 minutes up the trail from the Seven Sacred Pools.  The directions said we would see three large arches in the low cliffs to our right and when they came into view we should be at the side trail.  We stared at the surrounding cliffs as we hiked trying to figure out what exactly the directions had meant by arches and if that was what we were seeing. We saw many little paths that look liked side trails and would take a few steps in on each one, discussing if that was the way but we never felt like we saw arches.  Finally, after about 40 minutes, we saw very distinct arches and a split in the path. We had found the side trail! We started up remarking on how the damn directions didn’t warn us that this side trail would be steep!  The views around us were gorgeous.  We stopped on plateaus on the rocks we were climbing and took time to enjoy the stunning red rocks forming beautiful sculptures all around us.  The sun was surprisingly warm and I was able to strip off my outer layer of pants. We still weren’t clear on how we would be approaching any caves.

After a decent amount of time we came across a woman on the trail with her poodle.  So many poodles in Sedona!  This woman was geared out like she knew what she was doing.  Our first realization she was coming our way was when we heard her holler to a couple who had gone off the trail to make sure they knew they were off the trail and people got lost out there all the time.  She had a pack that put mine to shame complete with a large GPS navigator, whistle, and giant knife attached to the front straps. She wore a wide brimmed safari looking hat and carried trekking poles.  I’d guess she was in her mid 60s.  You could tell she was a badass.  We shall call her Sue.  We realized after speaking with her that we never got her name but she seemed like she could be a Sue. We asked Sue if we were on the right track to get to the caves and she scoffed, telling us that we had passed them but they weren’t worth our time.  How the hell had we passed them?  Jenny and I had a coy exchange trying to decide if we really wanted to go back and find the caves but Sue was adamant that it wasn’t worth our time.  But, fear not, Sue had what was certain would be a better trek for us.  She told us of an unmarked side hike out to a giant “mushroom” cap that would offer 360* views.  “Are you both ok with edgy ledgy?” Sue wanted to know.  I told her yes to an extent and she pointed to a ledge off in the distance and described the side trek out to a Mormon Canyon overlook. She instructed as to just stay to the left every time and eventually red rocks would come into view.  We were hiking in the same direction now, she had been coming off a side trek when we met up with her.  She told us to go on ahead and not let her slow us down.

We took our time as the hike was steep and when we made it to the top of the mesa (we were now on the Brins trail and just “summitted” Brins Mesa) we knew to start looking for the trail.  A couple trail runners blazed towards us, are these people insane?  One dude made me stop in my tracks and stare, fully clad in a an amazing pornstache, floppy shoulder-length hair, sweat band, and little neon green running shorts.  That was a sight.  I thought I spotted our turnoff and we stepped off the main trail.  As I turned around I saw Sue wasn’t far behind us on the main trail still.  We made eye contact and she pointed in the direction I had just turned down, yup, this was it!  I gave her a thumbs up and she waved. Nonverbal communication at its finest.  I hadn’t realized yet that Sue was like a guardian angel sending us to a magical place.

The trail started out pretty flat, which was a nice relief, across the flat mesa top we tramped on. I admired the shiny sparkling insides of broken rocks beneath my feet and pondered why some cactus was turning purple.  The trail got edgy ledgy and red rocks grew larger before us, we were almost there.

Coming around an edgy ledgy corner I was stunned and in awe at the beautiful red rock mushroom cap rock before me.  I could hear Jenny giggling in delight, having the same feeling I was.  It drew me.  It drew me in something fierce.  I couldn’t contain my enthusiasm and scrambled up the rocks, climbing to higher and higher ledges, until I was at the very top.  This was amazing.  My whole body changed, my energy changed, I felt drawn.  It was like the surrounding red walls had a magnet pulling me to them.  I do not have the words to describe the beauty and awe that surrounded us.  The scene was truly breathtaking.  Spires of red rock and niched red rock cliffs at eye level were nature porn thrilling my entire body.  Looking down and realizing that we were standing on top of one of the spires like those we could look out on was a complete mindfuck.  I felt an amazing energy wash over me.  We spent a good deal of time up there just giddy, turning in circles trying to soak it in from every angle.  I didn’t want to leave. Jenny didn’t want to either.  We both felt the magnetic force saying we belonged there.  Turning my back and starting the climb back down felt like a herculean task.

We made our back to the Brins trail and were so glad we had started on Soldiers Pass instead of Brins as the trail was quite steep and coming up it would have sucked.  We were both getting hungry.  We had picked up sandwiches for lunch, but they were in the car.  I had snacked a couple times but was ready for real food.  The Brins trail provided yet another trail atmosphere and was just as gorgeous as Soldiers Pass. The sun had moved and it was getting chillier again on parts of Brins.  We wondered how much longer we had and kept going.  Surely we had to be close.  We spotted a parking lot and thought we had made it.  Nope, this was a different trailhead.  We checked the trail map again and realized that Brins didn’t actually loop back to Soldiers Pass.  We had another mile to go taking the Cibola Pass trail to the Jordan trail before connecting back to Soldiers Pass. And Cibola Pass was steep.  We whined about wanting flat land and food as we made our way along, often times pausing and surveying the land trying to figure out which way the trail was going.  We came around a corner onto a pancake like section of rock and realized we were back the Devil’s Kitchen Sinkhole!  We’d made it!  Almost, we still had to get to the car.

The rest of the walk back to the car from the trailhead seemed to take forever.  It was 3:30pm.  We had hiked 9.49 miles.  We had seriously set out believing our hike would be close to half that length and done three hours sooner!  That will teach us not to pack our sandwiches into our gear and take them with us.  We had a car picnic while we regrouped and reconfigured our plans.  We were supposed to do the Cathedral Rock Hike but there wasn’t enough time.  We decided to go back to the Boynton Canyon area where we had gone with the lame guide on our first day and explore there some more.  For some odd reason the GPS on my phone keeps defaulting to thinking I’m in Scottsdale every time I plug it into the charger in the car but we figured out directions and got to Boynton Canyon.  The Dead Man’s Pass hike was rated easy and only 2.6 miles. We had exactly one hour to hike before we had to head to our chakra healing, so this was perfect. Off to our left, we could see the energy vortex we had visited our first day.

Both of us had lackluster energy as we started the hike.  We had warmed up in the car only to now be back out in the cold, and the sun was making its way down, so much of this trail was in the chilly shade, with puffs of wind blowing even colder air off of the sitting snow.  Neither of us spoke much and we just sort of trudged along, mildly discussing the shape of one of the formations on Kochina Mountain. It looked like it was being twisted and distorted, like the cliffs on either side were playing a spirited game of tug-o-war with this beast of a rock.

We hadn’t seen anyone else out on the trail.  It was quiet all around.  And then I heard rapid footsteps and saw a weird flurry running towards us. And of course we had just had a brief discussion about the bear warning we saw at the trailhead.  I was so startled I yelped and jumped to the side. Scaring Jenny who jumped as well.  And then we started to laugh as the flurry blew past us.  Two dogs running in step side-by-side down the trail.  We still had not heard nor seen a single person.  Then I heard a man’s voice yell and one dog stopped.  I whistled and the other came back.  These pups were hilarious and so friendly!  We laughed and petted them.  The owners reached us and apologized, laughing with us as we told them how startled we had been.  They told us that just about a week ago they had scared another hiker even more by seemingly jumping out of nowhere in front of her on a trail.

We didn’t have much time before we had to turn back but we continued on. We were happy and chattier, stopping to discuss what we saw in the rocks and taking a customary trail selfie.  Jenny saw an Indian sitting in the massive stone behind us.  I saw an eagle. It was time to turn around and we headed back with the setting sun striking us straight in the eyes as we discussed how glad we were to be startled by the flurry of dogs as they had definitely raised our spirits and revived us both.  We were so excited to come across the dogs again as we descended the trail.  Unsure why these people were going back out but we took the opportunity to love on these pups yet again.

We made it to our car at exactly the time we had aimed for and were thrilled to turn on the heater and warm our booties up.  We had hiked 12. 21 miles today.  That means over 25 combined miles in two days.  No wonder my feet and quads are so tired!  From here we would be heading directly to Awakening Yoga for the Chakra Sound Healing Session.

Neither of us really knew what to expect as we arrived and we weren’t excited to leave our shoes OUTSIDE.  It was COLD, back down in the 30s again, they’re going to be freezing at the end.  Another lady arrived at the same time and we confirmed with her we were in the right place. Walking in we were greeted by a deliciously warm and intimate yoga studio set with an impressive array of bowls and gongs in the front and seven yoga mats fanned out in front of them; set with pillows, blankets, and eye masks.  Laura, the Yogi we had met who was leading this session, was excited to see us and made us feel welcome.  Her energy still felt perfect.  I will just refer to her as the Yogi since we share a name.

Yogi’s Reiki master friend was also there and we were warned she would be doing energy work on us during the session.  We started by being anointed on our wrists with lotus oil and then settling in to begin.  The Yogi guided us into settling in and preparing ourselves for the healing by discussing the coming new year and how only we can create the story of ourselves and every day is a page in our story unfolding.  She suggested we physically write down the stories we want to create for ourselves before guiding us through a series of hums, sounds, and ohms to help open our throat chakra.  This made sense as the throat chakra guides speaking your truth and you must be able to acknowledge your truth to truly heal. The sound healing was one of the most spiritual experiences I’ve ever had.  We laid back on our mats and covered ourselves with blankets and eye masks to take it in.  The Yogi began to gong and, through the course of the session, went through each chakra, guiding us on journeys within ourselves to help acknowledge, feel, and heal and teaching us about each of these wonders in our bodies.   I teared up more than once, admitting to myself where I need to still heal and acknowledging hurt within me that I had so masterfully buried.

The Reiki master went from person to person providing additional healing with her energy.  It was palpable.  Energy is an amazing thing and allowing ourselves to actually distinguish and feel the energies arounds us feels so primal to me.  Between the reiki, the spiritual guidance of the yogi, and the amazing vibrations of each of the unique sound bowls there were times when my brain felt like it was turning into a scrambled, jumbled mush.  And then it would start to untwist and I would feel a peace over my body.  At the onset, the Yogi had instructed us to tense up our bodies as tight as we could and then fully release with a breath out. It felt like that’s what my mind was doing. The final exercise was a color meditation where she led us through meditating on the color pink for pink is a symbol of forgiveness and compassion, which the world needs more of.  She then led us through a Sanskrit recitation that translated to, “May all beings everywhere be happy and free.”

A solid 90 minutes later the session was over and we sat there in a daze.  I so wish she had a recording of the class.  I need to hear these sounds again. I need to hear her soothing guidance and teachings.  This was the first time I have ever traditionally meditated successfully.  I’m going to miss her.  I will probably come back again some time(s) just for her healing.  It’s not so much healing, but more the ability to help one tap the awareness within themselves.

We lingered after class talking with the Yogi and the other four students. Comparing which sounds affected each of us the most.  We also discussed the hikes we had been on.  When we said we had done the Birthing Cave yesterday the Yogi’s face dropped before we could say anything about it.  “That place is heavy and has an unnerving energy.”  It was like she had read our minds. Our shoes were indeed as cold as we feared they would be when we stepped outside the door and put them back on.

Dinner was a little Mexican diner and was yummy except they mixed onion with my cilantro.  Why would you ruin cilantro with onions?!?! On the way back to the hotel we discussed our plans for tomorrow morning.  We have until 1pm free and then we get massages and head back to Phoenix to fly home.  The problem?  A snow storm is moving in, expected to hit about 10am and drop about three inches of snow.  It will be cold, maybe 30* if we are lucky.  The snow will most likely make it too slippery to climb Cathedral Rock.  We could start the trail but it will be freezing.  I am torn.  I know every part of me will be glad I went if I do but do I really feel like freezing my ass off and doing half the trail?  Would I really regret it if I just stayed in bed and slept another hour or two and Jenny went without me?  I’ll see how I feel in the morning, and how the weather looks!