April 20-23

Sedona Hike; Jazzy: Large bug; Marshall Lake and Flagstaff

We knew our stay in Cottonwood was coming to an end, as the weather was heating up during the day; however, we still wanted to visit Sedona. After some moderate-to-severe thriftstoring, we took a short hike on the outskirts of Sedona. Even Jazzy walked for a bit. Leah: Richard, give me a break....2 stores does not deserve the label 'moderate to severe.'  

Sedona Hike

Sedona Hike

Hiking Dog

 After-the-hike Libation

On another hike down the Cottonwood road, saw this guy snacking:

Snacker

Once again, hot weather moved into Cottonwood and we decided to move north...to Grand Canyon. Our first thought was to drive to the North Rim, but we discovered that the only road to the North Rim didn't open until May 15th--too late for us. Also, the low temps were forecast to dip into the 20s--too cold for us. So that left the South Rim...and that's where we headed. To get there, we needed to pass through Flagstaff, so we decided to stop at a Sam's Club, where we are now members--we had our trailer mattress replaced under warranty by Crossroads; however, the replacement they sent us was the wrong one (they sent a child-sized bunk mattress), and they told us to buy one locally, and they'd pay for it. Hence the membership at Sam's Club: they were the only store that sold mattresses without box springs. Anyway, we bought a mattress there, and I got a Canon SX-50 superzoom camera, with a 24-1200 mm zoom lens. Thought I could use it to shoot birds.

But even the south rim was still pretty cold, so we decided to explore Forest Service road 128 near Flagstaff in hopes we could camp somewhere along it. Once we turned off the highway and onto the road, I was concerned that there would be nowhere I could turn around, in the event we couldn't find a place to camp. But fortune shined on us and we found a terrific site right on a lake with no one else around...and we could turn around...and it was free.

Elk in front of our Marshall Lake campsite about 5 AM

Sunset from camp at Marshall Lake

Marshall Lake campsite near where the heron hung out

This camp was one of our favorites ever, as it was isolated--maybe 5 cars per day on the dirt road in front of our site--had a great view, but was only 10 miles from a good-sized city with a Trader Joe's, Walmart, Sam's Club, good restaurants, and of course, plenty of thrift stores and pawn shops.

Here's a typical day at Marshall Lake: awaken, grind French coffee beans, pop some toast in the toaster, put the water on to boil, pour my coffee, butter and jam my toast, then glance out the window in time to see a Blue Heron 100 yards away, walking stiffly through the water. Grab the camera and tripod and stalk to as close as he would allow, then fire off a few shots at 1200 mm. Once he moved away, pick up the tripod and glide quietly toward him, fire off more shots, move closer...and repeat until he flew off. By this time, I was probably 1/4 mile away from where I started...but no big deal: the coffee was still hot, the day still young.

As close as I could get to the heron.

Near where I shot the heron each day

When I returned, Leah would be sitting near the lake, book in one hand, coffee in the other, engrossed in a novel. Occasionally, she'd put the book down, pick up the binoculars and scan. The first 2 or 3 hours would be spent this way, with no sound other than the breeze, the birds, and the clicking of the cameras. I say cameras plural, because I used both my Nikon D7000 with 300 mm lens and the new Canon SX-50 with 1200 mm lens. Wanted to see how they compared taking the same photos.
Later in the morning we'd sometimes (Ok, often) sit at our computers drinking coffee and surfing the net or Facebook:

We'd eat a lunch that Leah prepared in the trailer, play a few games of Scramble, then go for a walk or drive. One day as we had lunch, a group of horsemen rode by. All of them looked like dusty old cowboys who'd been out on the range for weeks. Turns out that wasn't far from the truth, as I met one of them later that day while I was photographing birds near their lake-side camp. He told me they were doing the Arizona Trail on horseback, and were about 2 weeks into the trip. The Arizona Trail traverses 800 miles of Arizona, from Mexico to Utah, often through remote and rugged mountains and desert...and Marshall Lake happens to be right on the trail.

Of course, Flagstaff was nearby, so we often would drive in for a meal and some intense thrift shop/pawn shop/photography: Leah: Once again Richard, I must object to the word 'intense'...Yes, I went to one thrift store and one pawn shop, but most of the time I went into craft stores and art galleries. I also read a few menus. Richard: just a few?

Leah examining turquoise jewelry at Cash America Pawn

Here's what captured my eye as I walked around downtown Flagstaff:

Back at camp, late one afternoon, I was outside with my camera examining a flower on the ground when I heard a whoosh and saw a huge shadow move across the ground above me into the nearby forest. When I looked up, I just caught a glimpse of a big, dark bird disappear into the trees. Slowly, I brought up my camera to my eye and scanned for movement above...but nothing. After about a minute, I began walking slowly toward where I'd seen the bird disappear. Suddenly, the forest canopy quivered and a giant bird flapped slowly out right in front of me:

A turkey vulture, I think

One late afternoon we noticed some smoke down the road from us. We thought it was just a nearby campfire...but it got thicker and more acrid. A bit concerned, we drove down the road a bit, where we met a Forest Service maintenance guy in a truck who stopped us to ask if we'd seen any suspicious people or activities. We had seen a wild looking guy on a loud motorcycle yelling and gunning his engine, but nothing having to do with fires. The FS guy warned us that someone had set three fires near the Aqua Center in Flagstaff, and they thought the same guy might have set the fire that was burning near us. He also alerted us that Forest Service heavy equipment was digging a fire line only about 300 yards ahead of us. He said we should be fine where we were--as long as the wind didn't change directions. Farther down the road we stopped at the camp of a woman full-timer we'd met earlier. As we spoke with her about the situation, we all decided to leave, since even if the wind didn't change direction, we'd still be breathing smoke--and who knew: maybe the sicko would start more fires...and we might be trapped. As well, Leah had been feeling dizzier, and we thought perhaps a move to a lower elevation might help her feel better. Since Grand Canyon was lower than Flagstaff, we decided to move there.

We quickly packed up, pulled in the slides, hooked up the trailer and headed out...past about 20 or 30 firefighters spraying foam and bulldozers digging fire lines.

PS: A few days later, read an article that said the arsonist had been caught and that he'd started 10 fires near our Marshall Lake campsite.

Stay well...