Walking the Land: Cockscomb Trail-Marty Reinstra and Eileen Nauman-Part II

Hi Everyone,

Come and rejoin us on our six mile round trip hike down the Cockscomb Trail in Sedona, Arizona. We were getting close to the end of the trail and look what we saw!

Here is why the trail is named “Cockscomb”–you can see the butte in the distance at the end of the three mile trail–it looks like’s a rooster’s beak/head with the comb on top.

This is locally known as “Sheep’s Fat” bush. I don’t know it’s real botanical name. However, the white fuzz is thousands of seeds. The Navajo people have sheep and these sheep eat these seeds throughout the winter and stay ‘fat’ as a result. It’s a lovely bush with the sunlight backlighting it.

And here’s another picture of the Sheep’s Fat bush. Marty said it reminded her of the ‘burning bush’ that Moses saw in the desert. I agreed with her. In fact, this whole area around this bush was rather incredible and sacred energy. The bush was simply mirroring the area.

And here’s the area near the Sheep’s Fat bush…. Marty and I agree it had a very sacred, high energy–she noted even the grass which is yellow-white, was growing taller and stronger in the area and that was true.

This is my favorite photo. Once we reached the end of the trail, it was three miles back. About half way back, Marty said, “Look, the moon is rising.” And so I took a few shots. I think it’s a good photo. It certainly was a silent statement of the joy we had on this six mile hike.

We were almost back to the parking lot and it was getting hot. Marty got out of her gear and low and behold, she had a beautiful rattlesnake t-shirt on! I really liked it a lot, since I love snakes so much.

And the last photo I shot was this prickly pear cactus that had been burned with frosty nights in the Sedona area. As I explained to Marty, the cactus are green but anything below 32F will turn their green flesh to purple. Most of them survive, but if there is too much frost, too often, it will kill a cactus. This one looked so pretty despite the frostbite–pretty purple color. It was a healthy cactus and I’m sure it will recoup and the next time I walk this trail, it will be a nice green color.

We hope you’ve enjoyed coming with us on our hike from last Saturday on February 16th! Our next hike, providing there are no crisis in either of our lives, is on Feb. 28th when we pack up our drawing pads, our pastel chalks and go out for a ‘sketching hike.’ I love to paint/draw but don’t get much time to do it, and Marty loves to do it too–and doesn’t for the same reason. So, we’ve made a pact that we’re gonna sketch and hike–or else! In Spirit…Eileen