amber and rory are warriors. i, on the other hand, am somewhat of a wuss and also not good at remembering to sunscreen my face with my 70 spf facial sunscreen. (yes, i managed to cover the rest of my body. don’t ask how i forgot the face.)

so we hiked soldier pass trail – or the first half mile of it – and amber and rory took turns holding my hand as i attempted to scale the minimal slopes with my knee bandage and non-sensible shoes. we were passed multiple times by the couple with the baby in the infant-pack.

soldier pass trail in sedona

we took some pretty fantastic photos of ourselves, in case you wondered what “troopers” looked like while hiking sedona:

(i think this might be the debut of my sewing on here. i designed/sewed this dress in anticipation of “summer,” not “hiking.” it’s a bit hot for “hiking.” it’s also made from the most beautiful hand-woven indian ikat.)

amber

not rory

there were two Fantastic Things Worth Mentioning on the grueling half mile we trekked – an enormous sink-hole (which was announced by an echoing “holy shit!!” from rory,) and something called the “seven sacred pools.”  they were rather algae-filled and low on water, but still magnificent.  they can also apparently be reached by tour jeep.  i’m not the biggest wuss.

objects in photos are much deeper than they appear

sinkhole enthusiasm

gnarly tree, dude.