“Hey there Sedona let me cut you a deal”
We arrived in Sedona on a Thursday evening after more than a week of strong winter weather throughout the region. The drive from Lake Havasu City was relatively smooth and uneventful, save for the drive down route 89A. Aside from being visibly snowy and wet in below freezing nighttime temperatures, 89A was windy to a comedic extent. In fact, the upcoming stretch of road showed by our GPS seemed like a bad prank made by a developer at Google.
Nevertheless, Sedona blessed us with a beautiful warm weather window and some of the best hiking we have had to-date.
Sedona – Day 1
Our symphony of IPhone alarms violently kicked off at 5AM. Side note – maybe some day I will realize the value of a peaceful wakeup routine. We rolled out of bed that morning fueled by two main objectives:
- Summit one of Sedona’s best mountain overlooks in the dark to catch sunrise over the valley. Sunrise hikes are inherently more challenging given you start with little to no light. This complication, paired with a lack of trail familiarity, often makes for a less than relaxing experience (to say the least).
- Brew up a hot cup of green tea courtesy of our Jetboil. Not much more to add than this; a relatively simple goal given success with the first. Yet somehow I always manage to mess this up by forgetting to bring a flame source.
Ultimately we succeeded on both fronts, with summit reached and tea consumed, and an unexpected perk. Surprisingly we had the mountain, and seemingly the entire Sedona valley, all to ourselves.
Brand photos for Jetboil
The warmth from my tea in the brisk Sedona morning inspired me to shoot some impromptu brand photos for Jetboil. Not only did the scene set itself, it also provided its own inspiration. Amusingly, sometimes the best shots are the ones that are not part of the plan. Here are a few shots from the set showing our tea being brewed over the Sedona, AZ valley.
