Getting lost in West Fork of the Oak Creek at night
Driving up to Flagstaff through the Oak Creek – Travel log no. 23
We left Bob’s house in Phoenix around 10 am. Luckily as a professional photographer he knows the area pretty well so he worked out a route for us up to Page.
First of all we drove off to check out the Wet Beaver Creek. On the way to that creek we stopped by some really huge cactus which are known for the area north of Phoenix.
We drove over some dirt roads to get to the beaver creek. It was a little bit tricky because some roads were blocked of by private properties and little rivers.
Our next stop was Sedona. A cool city in the middle of the mountains. Some say it’s the spiritual center of the world. That’s where we took the title picture. We also met some cool people from Indiana and Göttingen.
While driving north to Flagstaff we took this picture of the Oak Creek.
On the way we stopped by West Fork, a place where our host Bob Miller took beautiful photos.
We decided to walk the 3.3 miles trail even though it was 4 pm already. This ended up being a big mistake even though the trail it self was gorgeous.
The sun started to set and the mountains started to shine in all kind of red, orange and yellow colors.
Finally we reached the end of the trail and the sun was about to set.
The return was a real challenge. In the beginning it was easy to still find the trail, but quicker than expected it was getting pitch dark. We lost the trail a couple of times. It was especially tricky to find back to the natural lodge bridges. Telling stories about the similarity to recent scary movies we watched wouldn’t make the situation any better.
When we were lost again for a while we saw a green light a little bit out in the woods. Finally we thought the ranger came to pick us up. At the spot where we saw the light though wasn’t the ranger, but a man thin and with oily hair and ripped clothes. Very much like one of the villains from a scary movie. We talked to him quickly and went off finally finding the end of the trail. By then it was already 8 pm. So we stayed in Flagstaff and planning on continuing our trip to Page today.
Mental note for today: Never hike parks at night!