5.17 Bear Mountain, Sedona

Bear Mountain, bare of bears, particularly the brown bears without wishing to denigrate black bears or in fact, any other colors of this specie.

Destination--Bear mountain (Notice editor has a new red pen)

One of our earlier starts--a different Sedona look

Not Bryce--Sedona has its own hoodoos (Click on pictures for perspective)

After a Shabbos, during which our minds were stimulated by an incredible Torah portion and our bodies rested after a strenuous week, we set off on this climb of over 2,000 feet. It has an emotional aspect for us. We undertook the hike once before in December 2009. We remember it well for two reasons.

It is a truly spectacular hike enabling a person to see all the mountains, monoliths, valleys and town from a single spot. Without doubt, it is one of our finest hikes. On the ‘spotty’ trail, we covered red rocks, slate, sandstone, small and great, gray rocks, slabs, checkerboard rocks—the types of material were endless. There are three false peaks before one reaches the genuine summit. With each step, the views are breathtaking. As you might have gathered, we love to scramble up and over rocks so we frequently leave the trail to ‘fool’ around on them. One should understand the last sentence in context; nevertheless, it is an interesting thought.

Searching on 3rd false peak for rocks on which to 'fool around' or showing off. Editor knows

Bear Mountain, tucked away, if a mountain of this size can be hidden, is in a slightly out of the way part of Sedona, behind another monolith. In fact, until we returned to the last half-mile, we had only come across a man, his dog and a small snake. We’d say that points to quite a good job of the camouflage department.

In the early stages, editor pushes hard--1000 feet gain per mile

Man, these early starts--catching a few winks

We mentioned there was another reason for the emotional aspect. After we completed the hike in 2009, we suffered pain in our hip for six days. (Of course, this had been going on for many years while we tried our own remedies.) That is when we made the decision to hand over the reins to the ‘good doctor’ and trade in the bone for some titanium. Our original equipment was defective and we presumed the warranty had expired. When we set out today, we had this in mind. After hours in the heat, a steep climb and return to the trailhead over four hours later, the only pain around appeared to be the one in our editor’s neck. B’H with gratitude as always to Dr. Norman K.

A view from 2nd false peak. We thought we were there.

Now those are solid walls

In the early part of the hike, a Labrador greeted us as it peeped over a rock we were climbing. This is not usual but Jenni remarked that the same thing happened twenty months earlier at the top of the Bear. As we approached the dog’s master, we recognized Ron, the same person we had met at that time. Is that a coincidence or what? Only one other person on the mountain today, a strange town, an infrequently used trail, our second time on it and we meet the same person as before. What a “kyk-weer” (a replay). We have many of these interesting occurrences during our adventures. We feel truly blessed as each day brings something new, usually interesting as well as a great sweat.

We mentioned checkerboard--similar to Zion

Cheers,

Jenni and Jeffrey

Jenni checks out the legal disclaimer and approves

The most difficult part of the hike. The wheelchair aspect has us beat. Az is not for 'sissies'. At least in the wild, we don't need ropes for relief. Could it be a way of encouraging us to fertilise the wilderness. Confused for a change.