Page Springs & Fay Canyon

Hello Everyone,

On Saturday, Dec. 21st we went a few miles up route 89A to Page Springs, Arizona where we explored the Fish Hatchery and its hiking trails. There was a very modern facility on the grounds where Arizona Fish and Wildlife hatch and raise native fish until they can be released into waterways within the state.

There were several hundred mature Brown Trout in an outside pond. If you look closely you can see them just under the surface.

We also went to the other side of Oak Creek to do some exploring and hiking in the Bubbling Ponds Preserve, one of many places migratory birds pass through on their way to Winter Quarters in Mexico.

 There we several types of ducks in residence in nearly all of the ponds and a few other types of waterfowl.

One species, in particular, caught our attention as he searched for his lunch along the edge of the pond around lunch-time.

On Sunday, Dec. 22nd we drove back to Sedona and continued onto the Dry Creek Road to find the trailhead for Fay Canyon.

It was a very nice trail through pine forest, past a dry creek bed and up into the side canyon to see an arch on the cliffside.

The arch required a steep climb up a side trail across a dry creek bed and up a cliffside that had a vertical rise of over 250 feet.

You can just see daylight through the arch in the next photograph.

There were several interesting geological features along the trail that we enjoyed exploring as we hiked along.

Tomorrow we are going to do some more exploring in the area around Cottonwood and Sedona😁.