Sedona is a city that straddles the county line between Coconino and Yavapai counties in the northern Verde Valley region of the U.S. state of Arizona.
Sedona was named after Sedona Arabella Miller Schnebly, which is the wife of Theodore Carlton Schnebly, the city’s first postmaster.
Cathedral Rock
Cathedral Rock is a natural sandstone butte on the Sedona skyline. It is also one of the most-photographed sights in Arizona.
Cathedral Rock is located in the Coconino National Forest in Yavapai County. The summit elevation of Cathedral Rock is 4,967 feet.
Geologically, the rock is carved from the Permian Schnebly Hill formation, a redbed sandstone formed from coastal sand dunes near the shoreline of the ancient Pedregosa Sea.
There are a lot of ripple marks prominent along the lower Cathedral Rock trail, and a black basalt dike may be seen in the first saddle.
Chapel of the Holy Cross
The Chapel of the Holy Cross is a Roman Catholic chapel built into the buttes of Sedona, Arizona.
The Chapel of the Holy Cross is under the episcopal see of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix. It is ministry is conducted by St. John Vianney Parish, Sedona.
The Chapel of the Holy Cross was inspired and commissioned by local rancher and sculptor Marguerite Brunswig Staude.
In 1957, The American Institute of Architects gave the Chapel its Award of Honor.
Arizonans voted the Chapel to be one of the Seven Man-Made Wonders of Arizona, in 2007.
The chapel has a 90 ft tall iron cross on the southwestern wall. The cross holds both the altar and Corpus on the interior.
Bell Rock
Bell Rock is a butte just north of the Village of Oak Creek, Arizona, south of Sedona in Yavapai County. It’s composed of horizontally bedded sedimentary rock of the Permian Supai Formation.
Bell Rock is 4,919 feet and it provides a beautiful panoramic view of Sedona. It’s a popular landmark and tourist attraction.
People come here to hike, walk and admire the view.
Palatki Heritage Site
The Palatki Heritage Site is an archaeological site and park located in the Coconino National Forest, near Sedona, in Arizona. Palatki means ‘red house’ in the Hopi language.
The Palatki site has a set of ancient cliff dwellings in the red sandstone cliffs. It was built from 1100 to 1400 CE by the Sinagua people of the Ancestral Puebloans.
Palatki consists of two separate pueblos. It is believed that two-family or kin groups may have lived here, one in each pueblo.
Also, archaeologists said that the circular shield-like pictographs above the eastern pueblo are kin or clan symbol.
The Palatki Heritage Site has two trails in the park. One of them to view the Sinagua cliff dwellings, the second one to view the pictographs and petroglyphs.
Red Rock-Secret Mountain Wilderness
The Red Rock-Secret Mountain Wilderness is a wilderness area located within the Coconino National Forest in the U.S. state of Arizona. It has 47,195-acres.
Here can be seen many winds and water sculpted pinnacles, windows, arches, and slot canyons, and the red-rock cliffs of the Mogollon Rim.
In the east is Sycamore Canyon Wilderness, the high mesas of Secret Mountain and Wilson Mountain jut out into the lower country, and canyons as deep as 1,500 feet drain into Oak Creek and the Verde River.
Also, much Prehistoric rock art and abandoned cliff dwellings can be found in the wilderness.
The place has a beautiful and wide variety of vegetation and wildlife, including elk, mule deer, white-tailed deer, javelina, coyote, rabbit, mountain lion, and black bear.
People come here to relax while exploring the wilderness, do horseback riding, swim, and hike.
What place would you like to visit?
Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedona,_Arizona
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_Rock
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapel_of_the_Holy_Cross_(Sedona,_Arizona)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Rock_(Arizona)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatki_Heritage_Site
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Rock-Secret_Mountain_Wilderness