Prayerful Start, Bumpy Morning and Treacherous Afternoon

Thursday, January 11, 2023

Our accommodations are at the Andante Inn on Andante Drive. On the other end of Andante Drive is the Stupa or Peace Park. This privately owned land houses a stupa, a Buddhist shrine. 

The Peace Park is a place of quiet, tranquility, and meditation. People aren't supposed to carry on conversations in the space. One is supposed to practice quiet and be prayerful.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

I strolled around the park, read about the prayer wheels, and wrote in the prayer request book. 

The morning sun is bright and beautiful amongst this back drop. 

We went on a Pink Jeep Tour of the Broken Arrow Route. It was a super bumpy ride and lots of fun, similar to Indiana Jones at Disneyland, but way more bumpy. I was laughing so much! Our guide knew so much about the geology of the area. Why are the mountains/rocks red? Iron Oxidation, essentially rust. This Red Rock area is humongous and the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and Zion Canyon are part of the plateau of land that eroded and made this incredible area. I'd love to see the canyons, but Daniel said that many people feel this Red Rock area is the most beautiful. I can believe it! 

After lunch, we set off on the Soldiers Pass Trail headed for the Solders Pass Burr Caves. Carina really wanted to go and I didn't. After watching a Youtube video of people hiking it I was convinced it was too scary for me. Too high, too many cliffs, etc. But then, I decided what the heck. If it's too scary/hard, I'll just stop and turn back. So off we went. 

The first thing we saw was an enormous sink hole. 

This picture doesn't quite show how big the sinkhole is and I dared not go too close to the edge. 

As we were walking, I thought: I'm so glad we went on this hike. The hike was walkable, hikeable, challenging and FUN! These pools of water are called the Seven Sacred Pools. It had just rained the night before so there's water in them! 

Note: We waled 2/3 miles to the Sacred Pools and I remembered that we didn't pay for a parking permit. So we hiked 20 minutes back out to the parking lot and looked for the machine. I asked other hikers about the parking pass and they said this lot didn't need one. 

That was so surprising to me cause we've needed them at the other lots! Oh well. 

After This is the first cave that I could walk to, actually climb to. I'm so glad we decided to go on this trail, with a lot of Carina's encouragement. She said things like: 

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger! 
You got this, Auntie Rosina! 

Getting to the caves was challenging for sure. As another fellow hiker said, it's pretty treacherous!

I'd use those words too! Slipper rocks, steep areas, cactus all around. But we did it!

Throughout these days, I keep singing in my head: 

Our God is an awesome God. He reigns from heaven above. 

I couldn't climb up this set of rocks and thus didn't go into the second cave. I could already tell just by trying to climb up these rocks that the cave was very cold. Such a difference in temperature!

So glad Carina got to accomplish this hike! and me too!

 Views from the cave area. Still awesome on day 3 in Sedona!

Walking back to the parking lot seemed easier and familiar. 

                                         

Ended the evening at Gerardo's Italian Restaurant. Handmade pasta and pizza. We were so hungry and tired. We had planned a night of stargazing, but went to bed instead!