Hounds
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Flagstaff/Sedona, Arizona
June 26 -- June 28
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Some clouds cast their shadows on the mountains north of Flagstaff.
We arrived at Flagstaff in the middle of the afternoon on the 26th. After setting up camp, we turned on Deanna`s iBook and determined that we were able to get a strong signal from the campground`s wireless Internet system, so we paid a nominal fee to get access to it. Earlier that day, Deanna had heard on National Public Radio that torrential rains were causing major problems back home in Maryland, so we read several reports and viewed some videos of the damage on CNN.com. I found a National Weather Service page that had rainfall totals from around the area and learned that Bowie had received almost three inches of rain: nowhere near the ten inches that one town in our county was inundated with, but enough to wonder if we might find some slight flooding near the back of the house when we returned. After dinner, we spent the rest of the evening surfing the web and looking at our pictures from the Grand Canyon before turning in for the night.
The sky was overcast the next morning, and the local weather service said there was a good chance of rain and even thunderstorms during the afternoon. All of the places we had planned to visit in Flagstaff were closed because of the extreme fire danger brought about by the dry weather, but a single afternoon of rain wasn`t going to change that. We couldn`t go down into Oak Creek Canyon in Sedona either: the highway into Oak Creek Canyon, 89A, was closed due to a forest fire that was not yet under control. In light of all this, we decided to use the day to get some things done. So Deanna left with the van to run a few errands, and I did some more work on this website in the camper with the hounds.
An hour or so later, I heard the rumble of thunder and soon it began to rain. I continued to work on the website as the rain tap-danced on the hard roof of the camper. A few minutes later, it occurred to me that the rain sounded a lot louder than it usually did. I looked outside and discovered that what I was hearing was not rain hitting the roof, but pebble-sized pellets of hail.
It hailed on and off for a few hours while I worked. All of the hounds, except Carrie, who is always unsettled during thunderstorms, were oblivious to it. It was apparently a fairly localized hailstorm, as Deanna didn`t encounter any hail during her errands. The rest of the days was completely uneventful.
The sky was clear the next morning, so we decided to take the dogs for a hike in Buffalo Park, a place recommended to Deanna by the visitor center staff the day before during her errand run. Buffalo Park is a wide open field dotted with volcanic rocks, bushes, and the occasional tree at the north end of town, with a nice view of the surrounding mountains. We started walking on the two-mile trail loop, stopping occasionally to take a picture or two. It ended up being a much shorter hike than that: the view, although nice, wasn't going to change as we went further on the trail, and there was no shelter from the sun. We didn't want to wear out Frazzle on the first walk of the day, so we returned to the van after about a three-quarter mile walk.
We returned to camp and simply hung out for the rest of the morning and the early afternoon. At 3 o`clock, we arrived at a local veterinary clinic. Deanna had been so concerned about making sure she packed all the supplements and medications for Frazzle, she had forgotten to pack the heartworm and flea/tick medication the hounds needed to take on the first of the month, and the only way to get the medication from the local vet was to actually have the hounds examined. The vet examined each of the hounds in turn and determined that they were all in good shape, so we got the prescriptions we needed.
A view of the red rocks of Sedona.
With the hounds loaded up in the van again, we drove down Interstate 17 towards Sedona. We figured that even if we couldn't get into Oak Creek Canyon, we could at least reach Sedona from the south via Route 179. Listening to the radio on the way down, we heard (to our amusement) that 89A had been reopened earlier that afternoon (earlier than expected), so it turned out that we could have gone down through Oak Creek Canyon.
We drove into Sedona, taking in the red rock formations along the roadway. Deanna found a visitor information center that was still open and asked them where there was a good place to take four dogs to see the sunset. They recommended the overlook near the Sedona airport on the western side of town. We drove up the winding Airport Road to the parking lot for the overlook, unloaded the hounds, and settled on a good viewing spot. We put some comforters from the van down on the pavement for the hounds to lay on, and after a few minutes they were all down and relaxed. We spent the next two hours watching the rock formations change in hue as the sun went down and answering questions from fellow onlookers about the hounds.
After sunset, we got back in the van and headed out of town via 89A north. As we drove through Oak Creek Canyon, we saw several signs in front of local businesses thanking the firefighters and numerous traffic barriers along the roadside, but we never saw any sign of the fire or any fire damage. We climbed out of the valley and headed back to Flagstaff, slowing down only once for a huge elk crossing the road. We picked up dinner on the way back to camp, fed the hounds their dinner, then turned in for the night. The next day we broke camp and headed to our next destination, Mono Lake east of Yosemite Park.
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