Saturday
Saturday was such an odd day! I left in the morning to drive to Flagstaff to pick up my new 200-600mm lens to shoot more wildlife. It’s about an hour drive, I got there a bit early, waiting for the email that it was ready to be picked up. The email never came… I ended up having a day of sitting around in Flagstaff, kind of hung over waiting for this lens to ship. Ended up driving back around 5:00 empty handed :(
Once I got back to Sedona I met up with my friends Ashley (and her dog Shasta) & Adi for a hike. Totally changed my day and had a wonderful sunset hike up Little Horse to Chicken Corners. It was sweet! We explored a little off trial & scrambled up some rocks for sunset, it was beautiful.
After the hike I went back to camp-home & met up with Kayla & her friend Michelle, who also built out a ProMaster last year. Michelle travels with her cat, Gracie. We were all pretty wiped out from our days, so we called it a night pretty early.
Sunday
Sunday was such an awesome day! We got up & out of camp pretty late in the morning after making coffee & a small breakfast to meet up with a few friends for a hike. We had decided to hike Bear Mountain (5 miles with a TON of elevation gain, really rewarding hike but not a stroll). Our group was Adi & Sara, who I had met in Breckenridge (a friend of a friend), Ashley & Shasta, and then Michelle, Kayla and I.
The hike was a ton of fun, it’s pretty steep, but the weather was so perfect. It was great to be out with friends & chatting about all kinds of stuff on a hike. This was definitely one of the more beautiful hikes too, getting above a lot of the rock formations & buttes. Too cool! Shasta kept up great, and we all had a nice time at the summit talking about burgers & future plans.
After the hike I was pretty wiped out, we went back into town (10 minutes away, like everything in Sedona) and got a smoothie from Local Juicers. The smoothies were AMAZING after our hike, perfectly thick & full of greens & proteins.
After our smoothie break I picked a climb out on Mountain Project & we headed to The Fun Ship in the Stupa Crag. We got on a nice 5.7+ called Fun with Social Distancing, probably a newer route… But a great lead & a great climb! I lead it and set a top rope for Michelle & Kayla to cruise up. I stayed up at the top & took some photos, hauling up the big 200-600mm lens for fun (and just in case some wildlife came by…)
Everyone crushed it!! Michelle borrowed my camera and snapped some photos of me too, which is always fun.
Monday
Monday! Spent the day working at Creekside & the library, and then got an email from BestBuy that my lens had come in!! So excited about having the gear to get more into wildlife photography & spend some more time with animals.
I drove back up to Flagstaff & picked it up. I brought it back to camp to unbox, & found out it has a small chip in the glass…. going to have to exchange it for a new one… ugh. Time to figure that out! (I ended up keeping it, but with a $400 discount).
I did get a few test shots out of it though… and it’s an incredible lens. Seriously amazing. While I was out playing with the lens, Kayla & Michelle got a nice yoga practice in at camp.
Tuesday
Tuesday after work I went to take a shower, and then got to camp early. I did a little hike through an open range cow area & found some cows! Got some fun photos & played with the new 200-600mm lens a bit more. On my hike around camp I also found a huge red tailed hawk!! So awesome to be able to get close with the 600mm. Love it.
After everyone got back to camp we made popcorn & a fire and hung out for a bit. It got a tad chilly, so it was an early to bed type situation. My friend Anne from the climbing gym in Chicago also got in on Tuesday night. She’ll be hanging out with us for the rest of the week & weekend. I made some avocado toast with Bourbon Berry Jam & rosemary goat cheese with a fried egg on top… sooooo tasty. Woah!
Wednesday
After work on Wednesday we all decided to go climbing again, Anne was really looking forward to her first outdoor climb of the season! So awesome, I figured we’d head back to The Fun Ship to climb the other 5.7 and 5.8s in the area. Keep it casual & fun for everyone.
Before we got to the crag Anne & I went to the Stupa, a kind of budhist temple/monument? Very peaceful spot full of prayer flags & good intentions. Really enjoyed the quiet while looking around the area.
Anne & I walked back to the trailhead for the climbing (and randomly ran into Ashley & Shasta again 😂) to meet up with Kayla & Michelle. We headed off again to hike up to the base of the climb. I figured we could warm up on Fun with Social Distancing (5.7+), and then maybe find another route. Anne was down to lead it, so she borrowed a few draws and was off! Totally crushed it, looked like she really enjoyed the route.
After she lead it I top roped it with my camera bag stuffed full of lenses… it was really awkward climbing with a 20lb bag 😂. I anchored in at the top & hung out there to snap photos of everyone climbing. It was awesome!
Thursday
After work Thursday I went and popped the top off the side of a small dirt road on the way to the Crescent Moon picnic area. I set up the tripod inside & unzipped half of a flap of the camper to make a little bird photography blind. I sat inside with the 200-600mm and waited for birds to land on a specific tree to snap some photos, I got a few that I really liked! It was fun hanging out inside & being quiet, waiting for wildlife to get comfortable & come by.
We met up with Adi & Sara for a sunset picnic over by the Red Rock Crossing area. Adi made us a batch of Chaquillas, essentially margaritas with one extra ingredient, a bottle of Champagne. They were sooo good! Definitely saving the recipe:
Chaquilla:
1 bottle champagne
1 cup silver tequila
.5 cup orange liquer (less if you like it less sweet )
.5 cup fresh lime juice
Serve with lime or orange wedges and salt rim
We stayed until it was dark & ate a ton of snacks & hung out next to the river on our picnic blankets. It was great to say goodbye to our friends from Sedona before moving on Moab.
Friday
Friday I left Sedona around 10AM to head to Flagstaff. I needed to stop by BestBuy to either return my lens or get some kind of a discount due to the small chip on the front element. I ended up getting $400 back, and essentially returned it, and then bought it back at an “open box” price. So it all works out! The chip is small, and due to the massive focal length, it really doesn’t make a difference in the image quality.
I spent the rest of the day wrapping up my work at the Fire Creek Coffee location in Flagstaff.
After work I drove the 5 hours or so to Moab, where I’ll probably be for the next month or so! Very excited to revisit & see my friends in Moab from last summer. 🙏🏼