Sterling Pass (Trail 46) and Vultee Arch

            A few of my co-workers from Sedona Rouge invited me to go on a hike with them on Tuesday.  When this morning rolled around I got a text from the organizer stating that our hike was canceled due to a chance of rain.  This is what it looked like outside:

            Having been cheated out of my hike I decided to lone-wolf it and go on my own Adventure.  But where would I go?  Well, I remembered a conversation that I had with one of our regular guests at the resort.  This gentleman was an avid hiker and knew the area extremely well despite not being a local.  He told me about this trail called Sterling Pass, which was just north of Manzanita Campground.  I really wish I could tell you his name, because it’s a very fun German name that I thoroughly enjoy saying with an accent.  But for the sake of privacy we shall refer to him as Herr Zimmerman (why? Because it too is a cool German name!). 

            So I head out!  Driving east on the 89A from the Resort I passed the two main round-a-bouts and passed through uptown (the tourist trap).  From uptown the drive is about 15 minutes north along the 89A as it becomes a small two lane highway the weaves through trees and boulders the size of buses.  My trail is on the side of the highway and “you could drive past it a hundred times and miss it” in the words of Herr Zimmerman.  There is a small area for about two or three cars to park in front of the trail or you could park at Manzanita Campground.  I suggest you pull over on the side of the road so you don’t have to walk along the highway and so you don’t have to pay the ridiculous $18. 

            Here is the beginning of the trail.

            It was only about thirty minutes into the hike and I was already breathing heavy and sweating profusely.  There is a quick elevation gain on the street side of Sterling Pass.  Les Stroud would have been very disappointed in me; I waited too long to take off my jacket.  In the wilderness and especially survivor situations you must do whatever you can avoid sweating.  Even if that means taking off your shirt and showing off your amazingly sculpted abs.  Think I’m joking; well think about this, why do we sweat?  It’s so our body can use that liquid to better transfer heat out of us.  Liquid is a great transferor of heat.  So when you sweat up your shirt and a cold gust of wind comes along get ready to suffer.  How do you suppose you’ll dry your shirt?  You certainly don’t have a dryer machine.  Anyway, the point is, don’t sweat if you can help it.  Where was I?

            Do not be discouraged fellow Adventurers; though there is a quick elevation gain it is plenty worth it.  The trail switchbacks along the mountainside and there are some very interesting rock formations along the way.  At one point I came across this formation that jutted out from the side of the mountain and had a sheer drop on the other side.  It’s a little difficult to explain so here are some pictures (which don’t really do it justice either):

            About forty minutes into the hike I reach the top of the pass where it begins to go down the other side of the mountain.  I found myself a little disappointed.  Traditionally I have always been a fan of hiking to the top, conquering that mountain and then coming back down.  I guess I just like having goals (i.e. the top of the mountain).  So I keep going down the other side since I certainly wasn’t going to stop after a mere 40 minutes.

            This side had a different feel to it.  There seemed to be a much thicker canopy of trees.  Many of the trees were changing colors into reds, yellows and oranges so I took some pictures (perhaps my three least favorite colors):

            There were also a lot of trees that looked like they had survived a fire and many had also fallen over.  I’m not sure what the story is here. 

            When you spend enough time alone and have an imagination like I do you begin to think up strange things.  On my way down the switchbacks I heard a noise that I did not recognize.  It sounded like a rapid succession of loud taps on a tree.  Almost like a clicking sound up in the canopy.  Perhaps you’re thinking the same thing as me?  Predators in the trees! 

            It wasn’t long after this that I came across another human.  When I first spotted him farther down the switchbacks it would have been too difficult to communicate.  So instead of awkwardly shouting down the mountain I picked up the pace a little.  I eventually came up on him and asked if he had done this trail before.  He said no and told me he was not from around here.  I asked him where was he was from and he told me Germany (I now know where I get my spirit of Adventure, it must reside in my German blood).  He also informed me that he was attempting to reach Vultee Arch.  I’m glad he told me this because now I had a goal too!  I walked on ahead of him and was determined to find this Vultee Arch landmark. 

            At the foot of the mountain it hit me.  I realized what that clicking noise must have been.  After see so many burnt and fallen trees I realized it must have been the sound of trees squeaking in the wind.  Anyways, I soon came up behind a sign.  It was facing away from me.   Upon inspection the sign read <- Vultee Arch, -> Sterling Pass (which was where I had come from).  So I took the trail to Vultee Arch.

            Although the trail was a little difficult to spot at times it was wasn’t too much farther to reach the Arch.  And what a magnificent sight it was!   

            I’m so glad that my German friend had told me about the Arch.  This gave me a goal and it was a really cool landmark.  There was a fifty-fifty chance that I would have gone straight at the fork and missed it altogether.  I waited around a little bit to catch my breath and let him catch up with me.  I knew he wasn’t far behind. 

            He eventually did, and we sat next to the Arch and talked a little more about other hikes in the area and introduced ourselves.  I didn’t quite understand his name but he just told me to call him Ralph.  After a few minutes I told him to be safe and I departed once again.  I was now on my way back up Sterling Pass to get back to my car.  On my way back I ran into a few more people.  I was glad to see people pushing themselves. 

            This was a great hike and in total took me about three hours.  Thank you Herr Zimmerman for the suggestion.  I’m glad that it didn’t rain because Sterling Pass crosses over what looks like a dried up river bed numerous times and that would have made the hike a little more challenging.  I would give this a 5 out of 10 on the Adventure scale, since it was difficult but was still a trail.  

Weiter Abenteuer meine Freunde!