North to Prescott, Dead Horse Ranch State Park and Sedona

We've been adventuring the past few days. We took the scenic route north, heading for Dead Horse Ranch State Park. There really isn't a dead horse there, it is an old name of the ranch that eventually became a state park.

The scenic route however turned out to be too difficult to drive to enjoy the scenery. I will say that it was a good test for both me and the RV and we both passed, although with considerable anxiety on my part. Hairpin curves as we climbed from 900 desert feet up to 5500 feet of alpine air.

We stopped here at the top to breathe a bit. It was exhilirating to smell pines and feel the cool air! You can see that these vistas are from the top of the world, at least in this part of Arizona.



We overnighted in Prescott. Dead Horse Ranch State Park is only about 30 miles farther up the road (turns out the 'up' is precisely the word!) but I was so thrilled to see a Costco that we spent the night. Prescott is the old territorial capital of Arizona and has a sense of pride in its history. I hadn't seen cowboys since I left Montana, and here I not only saw a cowboy but he was packin' a pistol as well. Sorry I don't have a picture of the cowboy for you but here's a hilltop behind Prescott.

After we stocked up, I locked myself out of my RV. Yes, I thought I had a foolproof system for preventing that, but . . . what can I say. Thanks to some very nice young people at the Olive Garden and two even younger locksmiths, also nice, it was a brief delay.

What I wasn't aware of as I left Prescott was that the next pass would top out at 7005 feet. Yikes! I wasn't sure I'd be able to breathe at that altitude. It didn't matter though, because I don't think I took a breath until I reached the bottom on the other side.

There were no pull-offs for the view, so no pictures, but trust me, we thought we were going to fall off the mountain top. Coming down was also a challenge, but you know, what goes up must come down, so said -- Isaac Newton?

Four thousand downhill-in-first-gear feet later, we came to the town of Cottonwood and Dead Horse Ranch State Park. I had heard a good report on this state park but unfortunately, my experience wasn't so good and I will not return.

It did though give us an opportunity to zip on up the road (a fairly level one) to Sedona, Arizona, home of the infamous new-age spiritual power vortex of the USA.

I didn't get any shots of the power vortex ;-) but the red sandstone rock cliffs that surround the town are incredibly beautiful.

And I was entranced by green leaves on willows! Anything spring green really catches my eye, especially after the duller and darker greens of the desert.

I had to check them out up close and personal too.

In fact, Sedona was bursting with spring blooms too.

This cactus is just about to pop!

We checked out a bit of the town and found more views of the red rocks at the park

and overhanging the town

and a town character just riding through on a lovely afternoon. Peace to you, too, bro.

On our way home, we detoured to check out Red Rock State Park.


I have no sunset pictures for you tonight, but maybe you can imagine the sunset in the red rock landscape.

Today was a good day.