Last week, while temps were still quite warm, I backpacked along Tanner Trail with good friend, and fellow Sedonan, Larry Lindahl (writer/photographer of such books as Arizona Highway's Secret Sedona). We drove up from Sedona and headed down the trail at about 1:00 p.m., on Monday Oct., 27th, 2008, camping on the overlook at Cardenas Butte. We met some wonderful folks from Lake Geneva, WI (Dave and Sarah, and their kids Katie and Cruise. Dave & Sarah are owners of a sports store called Clear Water Outdoor). It was fun to spend a little time with other folks along the trail too, as they had also camped at the overlook.

The next day Larry and I hiked down to the Colorado River just above Tanner Rapids to pull water and relax a short time before heading back up to our campsite at the overlook. It was very, very warm for the first hour hiking back up to camp but became more bearable when more shade could be found as we climbed further up. Dave & Sarah and the kids had pulled up stakes and headed back up the trail by our return. We had figured they would, since we had passed Dave in the morning when we were heading down the trail. He had gone down to the river for water at 4:30 a.m. and was just returning (around 8:30 a.m.) with enough water for the whole family. He mentioned they would probably be heading up back up toward the rim at that time.

Larry and I spent the evening gabbing, and I always enjoy his company. The next morning we hiked out, getting back to our vehicle, parked at Lipan Point well before noon. It was a wonderful trip!

Below is a photo I "pushed" a bit, using a watercolor filter in Photoshop. It was taken from our campsite on the Cardenas Butte overlook, where we had outstanding open views of Tanner Canyon, the Colorado River, and the cliffs along the Palisades of the Desert.



Photo by: Brian Lane