Crescent Moon Ranch (Sedona): In Search of Great Views of Cathedral Rock.
Visited on Tuesday, October 8, 2013; reviewed October 27, 2013 See this review on Trip Advisor.
After a day of touring the natural wonders in the Sedona area, our final planned stop was the Crescent Moon Recreation Area and Red Rock Crossing. The GPS on my phone took us right to the entrance. Nine bucks for entry to this park, but I was thinking the views would be worth it. Yes and no.
Our initial views of Cathedral Rock were across the open field adjacent to the parking area. The old structures makes a nice foreground for the magnificent red rocks. We continued on down to Oak Creek, and while the views were lovely, I never did find the exact shot, the right angle that I was imagining. Perhaps we needed to be on the other side of the creek, or at least out in the creek to get the angle and maybe the reflection of the rocks in the water. I was able to pull photos of Red Rock Crossing up on the phone, so we were in the right vicinity at least. Oh well, we’ll take what we can get this afternoon and maybe try getting the view from the other side (down the Verde School Road) later this week.
We walked the trail along the creek a ways and stumbled on an area with hundreds of cairns scattered all about the place. Ah, this is Buddha Beach. This is a vortex site and folks will come here to meditate…and I guess build cairns and other rock designs (there was a large peace sign made of river rocks in addition to all the cairns). Interesting place. We did not add to the cairn collection.
On the return walk we tried a couple other places along the creek for photos, but still did not have the angle that I was thinking we should get. I did see one photographer set up in the middle of the creek, about a third of the way out from the far bank. Yeah, that’s probably the place to be. Well, if I don’t get that shot this trip, then that is just another reason to return to the red rock country (like I need another reason to return). The water was running a bit high, so the rocks of Red Rock Crossing must have been submerged. Next trip I’ll wear something to wade in and get out in the creek
Well the park closes at dusk, and it was getting dusky, so we loaded up and headed off in the search for food. While I did not get the exact photo I was looking for, we still had a nice time. The views are lovely.
After a day of touring the natural wonders in the Sedona area, our final planned stop was the Crescent Moon Recreation Area and Red Rock Crossing. The GPS on my phone took us right to the entrance. Nine bucks for entry to this park, but I was thinking the views would be worth it. Yes and no.
Our initial views of Cathedral Rock were across the open field adjacent to the parking area. The old structures makes a nice foreground for the magnificent red rocks. We continued on down to Oak Creek, and while the views were lovely, I never did find the exact shot, the right angle that I was imagining. Perhaps we needed to be on the other side of the creek, or at least out in the creek to get the angle and maybe the reflection of the rocks in the water. I was able to pull photos of Red Rock Crossing up on the phone, so we were in the right vicinity at least. Oh well, we’ll take what we can get this afternoon and maybe try getting the view from the other side (down the Verde School Road) later this week.
We walked the trail along the creek a ways and stumbled on an area with hundreds of cairns scattered all about the place. Ah, this is Buddha Beach. This is a vortex site and folks will come here to meditate…and I guess build cairns and other rock designs (there was a large peace sign made of river rocks in addition to all the cairns). Interesting place. We did not add to the cairn collection.
On the return walk we tried a couple other places along the creek for photos, but still did not have the angle that I was thinking we should get. I did see one photographer set up in the middle of the creek, about a third of the way out from the far bank. Yeah, that’s probably the place to be. Well, if I don’t get that shot this trip, then that is just another reason to return to the red rock country (like I need another reason to return). The water was running a bit high, so the rocks of Red Rock Crossing must have been submerged. Next trip I’ll wear something to wade in and get out in the creek
Well the park closes at dusk, and it was getting dusky, so we loaded up and headed off in the search for food. While I did not get the exact photo I was looking for, we still had a nice time. The views are lovely.