A Submarine, A Chicken and a Big Hole

Big Daddy and I slept in today, all the way to 6:00 am. One step outside and we were glad we were getting a later start due to low temps and wind. It was actually pretty nippy. If you are following along, our plan was to hike the Broken Arrow trail today. We got to the trail head around 7:45. It is a 4.5 mile hike, including a side jaunt to the submarine (more about that later).

The Broken Arrow trail visits areas that are included the Pink Jeep tour we took during our first trip to Sedona. I thought at the time it would be more fun to hike and it is absolutey true. Now, I did tell BD that it would be a pretty level hike with just small elevation changes after the Doe Mountain climb yesterday. It wasn't long into the hike when we realized there would be more significant elevation changes than anticipated. I will say though at least they weren't narrow open trails hugging the mountain. Oh, you could still misstep and plunge to your death but a lot less likely.

Trailhead and First View

What may look like dirt is really huge slabs of rock, often called slick rock which is funny because it isn't at all slick, even when wet.

About a half mile in, we came upon the big sink hole. Gratefully it was fenced off as it was 60 feet deep. The sinkhole occurred when underground caverns collapsed. 

So the submarine is actually a very large rock formation that looks somewhat like a submarine from a distance. This was a little side trip off the main trail and before we knew it we saw signs saying we were entering a wilderness area. Not sure we were in the right place but we ended up scaling the back side and then on top of the submarine which was very fun. Here's BD on top and then a view from Chicken Point (more about that later).

From the submarine we walked the jeep road up to Chicken Point. It earned the name for thrill-seeking jeep drivers who once dared to drive close to the edge of the point. Jeeps are no longer permitted on the Point. The first picture is the top and in the second you can see how the surface is worn smooth from the jeeps. Scary stuff.

We've marveled at the plant life since arrival in AZ and asked a local about the plant in the picture below. The spines are as stiff as a board with very sharp edges. A local told us it is strong enough to impale a person if you fell on it. They get huge. 

This last shot was taken when we got near the car 2.5 hours later. (Mom I thought you in particular would like this "Kodak" picture and we didn't even have to hold up any branches. LOL!)

We highly recommend this trail. Tomorrow we head out to Mesquite Nevada, approximately 5.5 hour drive.