We just got back yesterday afternoon from a week's vacation in Arizona where we had a wonderful time.
The weather was perfect. The views were stunning. The running was phenomenal...
We were in Prescott, AZ (where Steph's parents moved to last summer). I did a little searching and the City of Prescott has an
incredible trail system - something I have never seen before.
Because Prescott (pronounced "
pres-kit") is at 6000 feet above sea level, it was a little more challenging to run at first (not to mention all the hills).
We arrived on Saturday and the 3 hour time difference didn't seem to be a huge factor initially, but I chose not to get out for a run that day - just kind of relax. After all, it was a 4 hour plane ride that left at 6am Indy time, so we were up EARLY to get to the airport.
And, by the way, the new airport is amazing - truly something to be proud of. Lilli was great on the plane - no crying, just kept herself busy with coloring and waving to other passengers. She slept during take off and landing, but was up during most of the flight.
Steph's parents picked us up at the airport in Phoenix and then we drove back to Prescott - about 2 hours North of Phoenix. We drove through town on the way to their house - a quaint small town - you could really tell it had a history and sensed the "old west" in the original storefronts of the buildings. We took naps after lunch and then ventured out that evening to check out the town.
During the day when the sun is out it was very comfortable, but once the sun goes down - it gets cold fast. At night the temps dipped into the 30's, but during the day it was in the 70's - perfect weather. It was also very dry there - humidity levels were around 40%, which is well below normal/average humidity.
The Second day I decided to just run in the neighborhood - still getting acclimated to the thinner air. Of course the neighborhood is built on the side of a hill, so there was nothing but hills to run on, if I ran up, I had to run down and if I ran down, surely had to run back up at some point. So an easy 5 mile run turned into an extreme hill workout. I had never had my lungs burn so badly in my life. I had to stop every 1-1/2 miles walk, and took water about every 1/2 mile because it was so dry. The cool thing was, my sweat actually evaporated instead of just clinging to me like it does here in Indy. The bad thing was, it was easy to get dehydrated, so I was drinking a lot of water out there.
The next day we headed out early to Sedona, so no running, but I did run Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Tuesday I got to a couple of trails that went around Willow Lake. They were nicely groomed dirt trails that were mainly in open fields. While it was nice scenery (and really, there was no bad scenery to speak of), the trail lacked what I had hoped to be running. Wednesday had me running in the neighborhood again - I didn't have a car to get to a different trail, so I chose a different path and made it a shorter run. It was meant to give my legs a bit of rest as they were still a little sore from the hills on the first day, but there were still some inclines to run. My final day out there, I chose a new trail. This time I was not disappointed. It was what I had imagined the trails out there to be. I wish my run hadn't ended. I started at a park that had a trail that went around Watson Lake. It took me up a ridge to a spectacular view, then down the other side along the shore, through a grove of trees and then it connected to the Peavine Trail. The Peavine is a rails to trails path, but it isn't paved, just dirt and crushed stone. It picks up where the first trail left off by going around the other side of Watson Lake through the Granite Dells (which are huge granite outcroppings). The views just got better. I was in pure trail running heaven! It got even better when I found a spur that took me right along the shore and up and down and through huge granite outcroppings. This was the type of trail I had only dreamt of. I was hoping left to right to avoid the rocks and cacti, I was weaving up and over the rocks. There were times the dirt trail just seemed to stop at an outcropping only to be picked up again of the other side. The trail seemed to be constantly changing, so I had to pay a lot of attention to my footing, so I took it slower than usual. Plus, I wanted to be sure to take in the views. I followed this lake shore spur all the way to a cove, then scaled up a bank and back onto the Peavine Trail. I took it further North for another mile then had to turn around to get back. I had already lost track of time. I only totaled 6.5 miles for that run, but it was the most incredible trail run I have EVER experienced! If only I had picked that trail first... well, maybe next time.
The overall trip was great. I was able to get away from work (for the most part) and enjoy our free time. Lilli loved it out there, but she's an outdoor girl and was happy to be able to be outside. The time difference messed with both Lilli and I. I was getting up at 2 am every morning (5 am in Indy) because my internal clock was used to that. Lilli also got up at her usual Indy time. Stpeh was lucky to be able to adjust to the time, though I think I woke her up a couple fo times.
We really enjoyed our time out there, and would I love to go back if only to run more trails and hike more too, but I don't think it is a place we could live - at least not at this point in our life. I'll keep it open for the future, but for now we're glad to be back home again.
P.S. I'll post some photos soon...
Here are the Granite Dells (or part of them at least). I was fortunate enough to be able to run through these.
Here I am hiking up towards Thumb Butte.
Here is a view from Sedona. The rocks and ground are very red here. Views are quite spectacular.
Here is a view from Jerome, AZ. It was an old copper mining town built on the side of a mountain. Pretty much abandoned. Now it is home to some wonderful art galleries, shops and restaurants.
Another view on the way to Sedona while driving through the mountains.
