John Wise

Well, here we are witnessing incredible southwestern beauty, but it has sat on a hard drive for ten years, languishing as its bits grew dusty. In my race to excavate things lost and buried from our world of experiences, I grab these memories from our past and bring them forward onto my blog, where they have a better chance of seeing the light of day or beaming their light into our eyeballs at some random time in the future. I’m writing this on February 26, 2022, with absolutely no notes to stoke the memory about particular details, but no matter, as better that something’s here instead of nothing.

At first glance at these old photos, I couldn’t figure out the logic of heading up to Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon, although seeing the landscape covered in snow is a serious great reason how’d we fit this in before the train ride on the Verde Canyon Railroad in Clarkdale?

I figured it out by visiting their website, which shows that here in the winter, the train doesn’t depart until 1:00 in the afternoon. That set things up perfectly to drive a little further north for some snowy tourism in our Red Rock Canyon area.

True that my mother-in-law visits Arizona from Germany at this time of year to avoid the bitter cold of Frankfurt, not that it’s all that bitter there, but escaping the grey days is a luxury. Seeing snow in this area of Arizona is also a luxury because that certainly doesn’t occur every year.

Not long after our train left the depot we were passing this old Sinagua Indian Ruin and were already traveling into the past.

If Jutta had thought we’d be in the warm comfort of one of the cars with seats and hot coffee, she was wrong, as it’s from out here in the open air that the sights appear closer.

Random splashes of sunlight all morning are giving us hope that the overcast gray skies might open wider, lending more dramatic views to the already incredible landscape.

We’ll only be out here about 3.5 hours but could easily see enjoying a multi-day scenic meander across any part of America if only our rail lines didn’t have to compete with commercial traffic and land in big cities.

Intimate and slow, just the way we enjoy life.

Bundled up from head to toe, Jutta was hanging tough with us outside in the cattle car.

Haven’t I seen these types of rock layers in the Grand Canyon before?

Approaching our turnaround point.

The old rail stop in Perkinsville, Arizona, is effectively the end of the line for us, except we are not being dropped off here to find our way back; the train will reverse and return us to Clarkdale.

It may not be as grand as the giant canyon north of here, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth the visit. Everyone who lives in Arizona should take this scenic half-day trek into a corner of Arizona where no paved roads go.

Our route hugs the Verde River for the majority of our time out here.

No matter if water isn’t always flowing in the river bed, the canyon we are traveling through is always beautiful.

More of that beloved sun, which, when it spills onto the landscape, changes the entire view of things so that the way back seemed like an entirely different place.

Then, seeing this stuff, how’d I miss the ruins of some mining operation that has been shored up so the train can continue its run?

The train ride is done, and we are hungry so what better to do than take the short 10-minute drive over to the old mining town of Jerome for some hot food?

And here we are at the Quince Grill & Cantina for a Mexican-inspired dinner and enough alcohol that Jutta would be out front after our meal singing an old German song. Another great day out on the trail of adventure.