Oak Creek Canyon

Leaving the campground on our second day, we completed a trip of 108 miles although we thought that even a week might not be enough to explore the area.  

Distant Drums RV Resort

After filling the truck with $85 worth of diesel, we took Route 260 to Cottonwood, so named for the trees on the banks of the Verde River, once a huge farming community for Jerome’s mining town, past the Tuzigoot ruins once occupied by the Sinagua people and on to Clarkdale, home of the Verde Canyon Railroad.  Upper Red Rock Loop took us to Cathedral Rock, the most photographed and most well known monolith, the one most often depicted on postcards and in paintings.  

Cathedral Rock from a distance

On the north side of Sedona, we took the scenic drive alongside Oak Creek, which winds uphill around switch-back bends to the top of the Canyon.  It took us past Slide Rock State Park, which is a natural swimming hole and looked like great fun.  At the top of the roughly 14 mile long canyon carved by this small creek, we stopped to admire the view and check out the authentic jewellery, rugs and other handmade items sold by Native Americans there.  

dusty GPS view of our road

Oak Creek Canyon Road 

The canyon nestled in part of the enormous 1.8 million acres of the Coconino National Forest is home to many wild animals and birds shown on the display below although we saw none in mid afternoon.