February 15,2022

Prologue

I don’t know how to begin, except to say that one of the main reasons I came to Sedona- besides all the beauty and hiking opportunities-👍😊 was to scale Cathedral Rock. 12 years ago a friend and I made it to the top and I was blown away! It’s beauty brought tears to my eyes . My friend began to sing America the Beautiful. VERY apropos! It was unexpected emotions! It just happened. …And that was before we heard about the Vortex and it’s prevalence in the Sedona hills.

Fast forward to 4 years ago and I made the trek to the top of Cathedral Rock again- and the feelings were there again! 😊 2 years ago I was back to Sedona. Back to Cathedral Rock. This time, when I came to the halfway point and a steep scramble, I looked at it and knew I couldn’t do it. ☹️😱 I couldn’t do it! I was fearful of falling and knew I didn’t have the strength. A sad realization. So I stayed at the level I was at ( still significant) and enjoyed the day. But I didn’t experience the special feeling I had in the past. 🙁. I wondered…was I no longer able to do climbs like this? Was that part of my life now over? 😭

So here I am now. I hiked some steep hikes in Utah in November, and some in Arizona, but no scrambles. Since I’ve been back after the holidays, I have hiked in Sedona and scrambled a couple times with effort, but also with success. I have been biding my time with CRock. Doing other hikes, getting my legs & body stronger. Yesterday, in preparation for a hike at CR, I took the day off, doing laundry at the RV park and walking back and forth to the facility A LOT. 🙄 ( Nearly 3,000 steps just for that) So!

TODAY IS THE DAY! 🤞🙏 HIKE CATHEDRAL ROCK. 🤞

Terminology

Before going further, I thought it would be beneficial to define the terminology I will be using that may not be familiar to everyone who reads this. 🙂

“Cairns” Picture square wire fencing, forming an upright barrel shape and filled with stones. That is a cairn. They are used throughout all sand or rocky areas as trail markers. Very common in Utah, Arizona and New Mexico.

I’ll use “hiking” to describe walking .. .whether along a relatively flat surface, a gentle slope or walking up steps of stone or any sort. “Climbing” will mean maneuvering up steep slopes or rocky areas. ” Scramble” will mean going up very steep areas that require the use of your hands for balance or to actually grip and pull or hold onto something. This hike has a LOT of areas to scramble through in order to make it to the top!

Here is a screenshot of a short description of the hike.

My grandson , Noah, figured the .7 miles from the trailhead to the top at a 750′ elevation change equals .2 feet of rise per foot. Mathew googled it to find out that it’s an average of a 20% grade. Both good ways to describe it. However, most of the grade is once you get to the base of the rocks and start actually climbing! Much steeper.

Today’s Hike !

There are 2 small parking areas at the trailhead to this popular hike. A total of probably 40 cars, which isn’t much!! It’s a 35 minute drive, so I arrived around 8:30 a.m. and found 6 spots open. 👍. Before 9:00 a.m. the last spots were taken. I cannot imagine this during the summer! Over the weekend this dead end but residential road was actually closed off for awhile as the lots were full. I had checked out the trailhead and parking area earlier in the week and it was totally filled up. Not only that, they were parking on the road itself. But guess what.., police cars blocked in those cars on both ends, had parking stickers on their vehicles and were waiting for them to return! 😯 So I guess that’s why they went to restricted road access altogether. There are other trailheads, but much further away from the hill itself.

The Beginning of the Hike.

The beginning of the hike starts with a sand/gravel texture, but starts sloping up immediately. No time to warm into it ! 😯

The path varies in altitude and more rocks begin to appear to step on or over.

I’ve reached the stone base! Now the climbing will begin. Rock surfaces from here on it. ( Different rock formation visible behind me)

Beginning to gain some height. Layers of rock to climb as steps. Hiking boots/shoes absolutely necessary. Their grip on rocks that are fairly smooth is amazing! You really cannot afford any slippage. At all.

This is not an exaggeration of the steepness when you had to scramble.

This lady was complaining that her shoes were slipping. She had to scramble on her knees as well and didn’t get much higher. Not safe !!

Isn’t this just a beautiful view?? The height would tickle my stomach at times. I usually kept my focus on the climb 😬

This is my nemesis. This scramble is the only way up! You can see a person standing at the top. Once you’re committed, you’ve got to climb. There are, however, areas you can scramble out to on the side to rest.

This is part way up. You can see the people resting. It is at 4,000′ so you can get winded sooner, plus the demands of the scramble on your legs and thighs!

This is what greets you at the top of the scramble! You aren’t done yet!! More climbing and scrambling awaits!

Taking a break and having part of my snack. I usually bring cut up cheese, crackers, grapes and peanuts & M&Ms. This time I added a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Two bottles of water. Needed it all before I went back down 👍

The last push! More scrambling !! 😬

FINALLY! THE TOP!! GORGEOUS!!

I didn’t remember it being so narrow. 🤔

The view on the other side of the mountain! Just goes on and on. 😊

Over the mountain and to the center. Look at that teal grass and trees. It was striking.

Celebratory photo op spot!! Taking our turns on the ledge, taking photos for each other. All different languages and accents. Fun.

Behind me are more spires that are on the backside of the mountain. I know there is a hiker -made trail along the side to get to those spires.

Found it! Heading towards the spires.

SHOOT! I did NOT remember another scramble !!! Knowing I had to come back down, I wasn’t sure if I should try it. 🤔 Didn’t want to overdo it when I had a LONG way to go back down. And I hate going down! Gravity assisted sliding. 😬

But, I decided to go for it. Much smaller scramble, but still took concentration and strategy. Then I was standing between the spires!! With one spire dead center.

It was awesome to look up at these solid, red and huge spires right next to me !!

I also noticed all the marks on the spires. All the way up. I imagined strong winds, wind driven rain, or even hail over time made those etchings. A lot of horizontal ones. Not sure about the vertical. 🤔 I’m pretty sure rock climbing is not allowed here, as these are considered spiritual places.

I wanted to grab a pic of the ledge that I walked out on for a photo. It was pretty cool. One kind of arrow spot. I just didn’t look down 👍

Then, finally it was time to go. I had started my climb , with breaks and conversations, and reached the top at 11:15 a.m.. I stayed about an hour. It was shaded and cool, so I decided to go lower to sit in the sun and get more calories in before going further . But I wanted that wash scramble behind me, first! 👍 I knew it was going to be just as challenging going down.

Going down. Enjoying the view.

Looking back up, getting further down.

My right knee was killing me on the way down and to the truck. I was glad I had my aspirin along, but I guess I didn’t take enough.

. My body felt physically totally used! A mix of a good feeling and very tired After getting something to eat at home, I put on my shorts and went into the small but “bath water warm ” hot tub. It was perfect! I just kept relaxing and moving my legs in there and that helped tremendously!. It was a little cool out , so I kept my warmer clothes on otherwise, As you can see! 😂

Vortex

The question remains, did I feel the emotions that are described as a vortex? Oh I certainly did! And what makes it genuine, is I was not even thinking of it at the time! I had just come out at the top of that long steep scramble. I was disappointed to see so much climbing still ahead of me. I took a few steps and the emotions, the aura, whatever…, hit me. I just had such a strong wave of wonderful emotions that I got tears in my eyes. I felt totally at peace with almost a Loving feeling. I didn’t want it to end, but after a little while, it did. ( No, it wasn’t endorphins from exertion. I’m familiar with that. It was quite different,) It’s something you have to experience in order to believe in, perhaps.

Cathedral Rock (and Bell Rock, already hiked and coming soon!) are known for its vortex and I was surprised at the number of people who asked me WHERE it was. My answer to them, based on my experiences and beliefs, is that it is not a particular PLACE although the magnetic energy in some places may be felt more strongly by more people more than in other places… But rather it is wherever you FEEL it. Enjoy the hike, don’t look for it and it will find you. I firmly believe that. They honestly always appreciated it, thanked me and I think felt relieved and relaxed.

I really think the literature that tries to tell you right where it is located does a disservice to everybody. It’s not something you can find or touch or hold. It’s spiritual. 🤗. It’s Sedona.