Munds RV Park Resort, Munds Park, Arizona
My son, if your heart is wise, then my heart will be glad; my inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right. ~ Proverbs 23:15-16
“There’s a mouse
In our house!”
Said the louse
To his spouse
Well, of course Blaine’s no louse, but I can’t make a great rhyme out of ‘Blaine and Terri’, so just go with it. 😊 We really did have a mouse in our house. He was discovered yesterday and eliminated today. Blaine took a picture of his successful hunt, but I refused to let him mount it on the wall. So with head bowed and slumped shoulders, he took it outside for some critter to discover. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. Oh. And I’m not publishing the picture either. It’s too cute. Not the death trap, the mouse. Shoulda stayed outside where he belonged . . . .
Now. On to better things.
We tested our physical abilities today, as we climbed 2,637’ over the course of 5.5 miles, to the top of Wilson Mountain (elevation 7,184’). And then we went back down, which in some ways was more difficult than climbing up. 😊
It’s the tallest mountain around Sedona, Arizona, and is named after Richard Wilson. He was a bear hunter who was killed by a grizzly in 1885. His body was found in Wilson Canyon, which is also named after him.
As the story goes, in 1885, Richard “Bear” Wilson was excited by the tracks of a monstrous “grizzly” bear near present-day Sedona, and was planning to hunt the animal as soon as his bear gun got back from the shop. But when Wilson saw the bear, he couldn’t resist and went after it with only his small caliber rifle, shooting it multiple times. Throwing all caution into the wind he followed the wounded behemoth up a small box canyon. This was not fortuitous. The mama bear charged him and he attempted to shelter in a tree but she pulled him out. Wilson fought with his knife and wounded her further, as evidenced by the large trail of blood later found leading away from the scene. His knife was nowhere to be found and it was presumably lodged in the animal. In the end, she removed part of Wilson’s face, and left him to die face down in the muck.
Years later, Fred Thompson, Oak Creek Canyon homesteader and Wilson’s one-time employer, found the remains of a huge bear on top of the mountain, ostensibly the same one. The consensus is that Wilson mortally wounded the bear, so they named her final resting place in his honor.
Here’s another, more detailed version found in a book by Tom Dongo:
In 1885, Thompson went to Prescott on a business trip. He had asked Richard Wilson, an old Arkansas bear hunter Thompson had hired to work his farm, to look in on his family while he was away. Nine days later, Wilson had still not showed up to look in on Thompson’s wife and two small children. In those days, this was call for serious alarm. As it turned out, Wilson had been on his way to check on Thompson’s family and had come across the tracks of a huge grizzly bear. Having only an untrained dog and his small-bore squirrel gun with him (his big bear gun was being repaired), he took off after the bear anyway. Old Wilson’s body was found facedown in a creek in what is now Wilson Canyon. Searchers had heard Wilson’s dog barking and howling plaintively. By piecing everything together, they figured that old Wilson had wounded the bear and gone after it. The bear then ambushed Wilson. Wilson tried to climb up a tall cypress tree, but the huge bear got Wilson by the boot and pulled him back down. Wilson was buried on the spot where he died. Wilson Mountain, the big mountain to the left as you are going up Oak Creek Canyon out of Sedona, is named for Richard Wilson. Several years after Wilson died, hunters found (near the top of Wilson Canyon to the north) the bones of what was said to be one of the biggest grizzlies ever known in Arizona.
But I imagine in the summer, when the snow’s melted, it wouldn’t hold quite the same fascination. : )
Before we start the hike, here’s a little something for those of you missing sports.
We raced up the mountain, and I carried the lead most of the way, until Blaine passed me on a straightaway near the top. However, I managed to exit a pit stop faster to regain the lead, held it, and thus reached the summit first!
Who knows? Maybe there’ll be more bad sports analogies before this COVID-19 stuff is over. But lucky for you, not today.
After hiking this trail, we can attest to the fact that the description on the Coconino National Forest website that says the views begin the moment you leave your car, are correct! Every step was filled with beauty to rival anything we’ve witnessed so far. And we’re sooo very grateful for the opportunity to be able to witness this grand portion of God’s creation!
I just make sure I lean towards the mountain and stop walking if I look up from the trail. : )
We found a place to sit just off-trail.
It was a tough trail, and there were plenty of switchbacks, but there was also a plateau about halfway that lasted for quite a while, which provided a nice break. There were also plenty of water hazards (as in rain runoff) to cross or walk alongside today. And lest you’re thinking raging rivers or streams, what we encountered was just enough to get our boots wet if we’d decided to slog through the waters and/or mud.
We came from North Wilson, we’re headed to Wilson Mountain, so I guess we’re going straight. : )
We were about halfway along, when we sighted Schnebly Hill Road (the one that took us to Cowpies and Hangover the other day). And at that time, my husband’s humor emerged in grand form as he stood there and mimicked Tom Hanks in the movie,“Castaway”, by calling out to the two mountains (rather than a hand-printed soccer ball), “Wilson!” “Schnebly!” “Wilson!” “Schnebly!” He still cracks me up, even after all these years! Lol! And he does a pretty fair impression of Tom Hanks. 😊
Moving on – ever upward –
We eventually crested the top and began gawking in awe at Oak Creek Canyon!
My.
Goodness!!!
so we just took lots of pictures.
They’re waaaaay down below us now!
Part of that time though was stopping to take pictures. : )
Pictures – aka – stop and catch a breath or two. : )
And then we settled on the perfect place to eat our lunch! The pictures don’t come anywhere near close to replicating the actual view! Not only for lunch, but for most of the views today. How blessed we are!
Where we were wasn’t suitable because most of the rocks were narrow and angled.
Rich & Martha must love this view!!
Gotta let the family know we’re safe and share the view with Rich and Martha. : )
All too soon it was time to move on.
Not sure what it is, but it reminds me of coral. : )
But we didn’t head back down just yet!
We still had another overlook to check out! This time, it was views of Sedona – and I’m not talking just the city. I’m talking all those places we’ve visited the past two weeks!
Too bad clouds were moving in . . .
Oh, my!
It took us 3 1/2 hours to get back down from the top, but that also included our stop at the Sedona overlook. So it took about the same amount of time each way.
What a day this was! Thank You, Father! You didn’t have to provide us all this splendor for us to enjoy, and yet You did! You didn’t have to provide us with eyes that distinguish colors and shapes and depth, and yet You did! Simply for our pleasure! What a loving Father You are!