Sedona & Flagstaff ---- Snow Trip

If you didn't catch it from my last few post, Arizona just got blasted with snow. I had been planning a trip up to Flagstaff since the day I saw snow on the forecast. I changed around my normal weekend routine last week and we saved Sunday for Flagstaff.

Sunday came and we knew we were going to the snow but couldn't decide where. We were trying to decide if we still wanted to go to Flagstaff after all the snow came in so low or if we wanted to stay closer. Natalie wanted to stay closer, I was having second thoughts about going to the Mogollon Rim (which normally has more snow), and we couldn't decide. So when we left the house we hit I-17 and weren't quite sure where to go. We could see snow on the hills all around us that morning, something rare in Anthem. Once we got just 20 minutes up the highway the snow was everywhere on both sides of us. I have never seen so much snow around here.

When we got to the Cottonwood exit Natalie told me to exit. So we drove through Cottonwood but didn't see any good sledding hills. So we decided to drive through Sedona. Sedona had quite a bit of snow but nowhere to play in it. We drove to the airport buttes to grab a few pictures before heading further north. The parking there is on a hill that declines on the driver's side. So we parked, helped push out a guy who was stuck,took our pictures, then back to the truck to head out. 

Well as I was backing out on the snow that had been melted, compacted, and refrozen into ice, my back-end slid. I went from 2 feet away from the car below us to 1 foot. I tried to dig out and try again but I was now only 6 inches away. So I spent the next 20 minutes trying to dig out even more, front and back, all the way under the tires, and waited for the owners of that car to return. When they got back I dug them out and asked them to pull forward to give me space. I ended up digging them out then pushing them out before I left. My fun didn't end there though. The people below them were sliding too and apparently I'm the only one that brings a shovel. The car below them had no one in it but it was sliding as well. So I dug them out until the palm of my hand was bleeding them told them to finish digging. I was able to push them out then when I got back to my truck backing up was easy. I have no idea if the car below them keep sliding but that experience has made me rethink ever trying to park like that on ice again. My right hand was so raw from the digging I had to put Vaseline on it and keep it covered with a latex glove for two days. 

After a 45 minute digging delay we were back on 89A. Only problem was once we got out of town there was a sign that 89A was closed. So we turned around and had to go all the way back down 179 then back up I-17 to Flagstaff. Our first order of business was lunch. The kids were hungry, we were hungry, and I felt like I earned myself a beer. We had lunch at a pizza joint we have been to before that has some good local beer before heading out to play in the snow.  Leaving NiMarcos we got stuck behind more people getting stuck in the parking lot. It makes me appreciate not living in the snow. Fun to visit but it sucks driving in that craziness and everything is a muddy mess once the plows come in.

I did Adri's hair that morning. She got a compliment from some lady in NiMarcos about it.

From Anthem Way in Anthem. Two days ago everything was covered in snow. The day before the hills were still covered. This is what is left. The mountains behind Gavilan Peak (The big one on the left) aren't usually all that visible until they get some snow on them.

From the Table Mesa area. Table Mesa is so redundant.

By Red Rock and Crescent Moon Ranch in Sedona.

Idiots like this make me think we don't have enough natural selection. Some cars had a foot high pile on their hoods as well with half their windshields blocked. After I took this picture a bus turned in that intersection and a foot high sheet of snow went flying off it.

From the airport buttes in Sedona.

These trees are probably ten feet high. This wasn't a powdery snow It was wet, heavy, and all bunched up.

Downtown Sedona.

Driving back down 179.

Back on I-17 heading to Flagstaff.

@ NiMarcos

I couldn't resist. A grown woman going out for pizza dressed like an alpaca. When she was done eating she put on her alpaca hood and started playing in the dirty parking lot snow.

One of our favorite places to play in the snow.

School's closed.

Icicles to the ground.

Zach doesn't know how to walk in the snow.

Sledding time.

These people also had a big inflatable swan which popped on them.

I can't stand the way trashy people leave their broken plastic sleds all over the place. Leaving their pool worked out for us though.

After playing in Flagstaff we decided to head back towards home and look for more spots. We finally stopped at a location I'm not sharing where the snow was waist to chest high. Both kids got stuck going under this fence. There was a cattle guard under it and the snow didn't get packed under the guard. It all piled up on top and set a booby trap.

The snow here was very powdery and I couldn't form a snowman. So instead I made a volcano. Zach decided he's the hulk and just wanted to "Bistroy" it. I think I made the volcano four times for him.

We got to this place at 4:30 and it was 32 degrees. When we left at 5:10 it was 26 degrees, so cold my gloves and pants were sticking to the metal gate. I had to get in the truck with snow frozen to my pants and let it melt off as I drove.

Daisy Mountain Snow Hike

Normally I wait until the weekend to hike Daisy Mountain. However with snow on the forecast I wanted to be up the mountain before it stopped. There are pros and cons to this approach. During the snow the visibility of anything from the top of the mountain is minimal, but there's still snow, and lots of it.

I don't remember exactly when I got up on February 22nd. Maybe 5:30, after less than a couple hours of sleep, no more than 45 minutes at a time. I know that I got to the trail head at 6:15 and realized I forgot my flashlight. I waited a few minutes but decided to start hiking 45 minutes before sunrise. For the most part I was prepared. I had enough clothes for my upper body, however I should have brought some thermals because it was a little chilly waist down.

The trail started out with a light dusting. By the time I was somewhere around 2,400-2,600 feet above sea level things started to change really quick. I had hiked this mountain probably at least 50 times but I had no idea where I was several times. The clouds were coming in thick, it was near white out conditions, and the snow was so wet and heavy that it weighed down palo verdes right over the trail. 

I ended up getting lost climbing up the south peak and had to do some rock climbing to get up. I had people asking me why I didn't have a compass. Hysterical! I wasn't that kind of lost. I knew my direction but had no idea where the trail was. I had a couple small slips between the south and north peaks and got lost in the clouds. When I got to the north peak the flag was frozen stiff. Natalie texted me telling me she was at the trail head taking pictures, after dropping Adri off for school. Under normal circumstances I could flash a mirror and she could see me from the trail head. However on this day she could only see half the mountain and I could only see 40 yards in front of me.

As I headed down I got really lost and ended up on the wrong side of the mountain. It didn't matter, all I had to do was get under the clouds and I could find my way from there. I wasn't any easy hike.  I had to tap my foot around before stepping to see if there was cactus, slippery rock, or solid ground beneath the snow. I had four falls going down this mountain but was able to catch myself and land with a little dignity. About half way down I ran into a kid that lives around us. I don't know him but I did talk to him. I was a couple hundred yards from him when I spotted him and made my way back to the trail. I was finally out of the blinding snow and it was a fairly easy hike back from there. I did see some genius running in his shorts. He told me it's not that cold. Yeah it's not, til you break your ankle and die of hypothermia waiting for help. People's stupidity never cease to amaze me.

I've had a lot of fun hikes up Daisy Mountain but this was by far the best. There's just something about seeing snow falling on cactus and turn the desert into something that is unrecognizable. Not many people get out and really live their lives and see this stuff. My motto is, if the weather is bad,it's good hiking weather.

Daisy Mountain just before 6 AM on February 22nd. You can't see the peak in this picture.

Just below where the snow really started to get thick. It was pretty cool seeing a bunch of white roofs throughout Anthem.

I'm guessing I was around 2,400 - 2,600 ft here and it was starting to get thick. From here on it was at least ankle deep to almost knee deep.

Just before the first summit.

The golden poppies were not as excited about the snow as I was.

Coming up on the first summit.

A snow covered cholla cactus.

Frozen palo verdes.

Climbing up the south peak.

Climbing up the south peak. I had no idea where I was and started rock climbing.

Starting to get really thick here.

This is the south peak. In front of me is a pile of rocks covered in snow.

Snow covered ocotillo.

This was a really wet and heavy snow. The palo verdes were bending over and blocking the trail making it impossible to know where to walk.

Between the north and south peaks.

This palo verde is about ten feet tall.

The Daisy Mountain flag.

More frozen palo verdes.

This octotillo got a whole lot of ice and snow.

Getting lost going down the north side.