Sedona and Perkins

pics by Harlan W. S.
May 23-26, 2008

This was supposed to be a trip to central NV … but with 6” snow at the NV campgrounds, and predictions for 3 days of snow, rain and sleet there, we headed southeast into AZ.

We left Vegas around 2 PM, got stuck in traffic, and some time near 4PM, made a quick side trip to Mt Perkins, AZ. The route starts W of rte 93, between Hoover Dam and Kingman	View N just after CP disappeared over the horizon. This area is actually interestingly different terrain. I bet the views are better without the storm.	View S. It was raining occasionally. CP made the RT in about 41 minutes; I took about 42 (the pit stop was unavoidable).
For a warm-up the next morning, we chugged up Cockscomb.
	Next we visited some Amerind ruins in Boynton canyon – a very rainy time. I left out the last mile of GPS trace, to hide the ruins location. We met Walt and Brad at the Boynton Canyon parking.	Penstemon.
Lupine		Lupine
Wallflower	Desert 4 o’oclock	Glandularia (Verbena)
Hedgehog Cactus	Scenery through raindrops.
	The next morn we quickly chugged up Scheurman Mountain as a warm-up.
	Then we met Walt again for the main trip of the day, a tricky navigation the Summit of Loy Butte.	Flax
	Spiderwort	Spiderwort
	Bloody Net-winged Beetles (Lycus sanguineus)
We saw these ruins on the way down, and took a side trip.		Mariposa Lily (or local variety)
	After a late lunch (and one-too-many beers for me), we climbed Battlement Mesa.	Desert marigold
		Though the climb is short, with just over 500’ vertical gain, Battlement has a true “summit” feel.
	DB sets a belay to help guide CP down to safety.	DB finishes belaying CP down a tough stretch. (hee hee)
My tent that night,	The next day we “climbed” Mt. Wilson by the standard trail. The Ponderosa pines on top were mostly burned by the 2006 fire, but Gambel oak is rapidly infilling. We were back to the car around noon and headed home.
Palmer Penstemon	Silverleaf Nightshade?
Toadflax (exotic)	Larkspur
Wallflower
Prickly Pear	?Buckwheat?	We stopped in Chloride AZ on the way back, to visit the murals painted by Purcell.