Day 2 - Red Rocks to Sedona

Day two brought us to a more expected locale: a crag. As soon as I floated the idea of Vegas & Sedona, Nate immediately began planning for Red Rocks Canyon. According to one of our books, it's one of the must-climb destinations. It did not disappoint.

The hike in was much more of a meandering scramble, very reminiscent of one of our very favorite hikes ever, the Fiery Furnace at Arches Nat'l Park. The rock formations are chonky and striated, with shades from crimson to cream, living up to its Red Rocks name. We all had a lot of fun simply trying to get to the main attraction.

The boys had a great time taking on a handful of routes. The weather was superb and even though it was crowded, the folks were all in good spirits. We could have stayed hours more, but Sedona was on our mind, so we packed up and hit the road around lunchtime.

On the way to Sedona we swung by Hoover Dam. I thought we would be walking out to an observation deck, when in fact it took us to a bridge right next to the Interstate. It was crowded, cars were screaming by us at 80mph and I was up way too high for any measure of comfort. We snapped some pics and got off that bridge as fast as possible and got back on the road.

Our drive to Sedona was uneventful and we made it in time for a late dinner with the Weltys! We're so fortunate to have such good friends in amazing destinations. We ate, caught up and made plans to reunite for more climbing on Wednesday. We arrived in the dark and could only vaguely make out shapes in the distance. It will be a treat to see what the sunlight reveals in the morning.Read more