One day near Strawberry

For this weekend we have a three day two night trip planned. We are intending to spend the first day in Pine and Strawberry and then stay overnight in Camp Verde and spend the next two days in Sedona and area. After a brief stop in Pine at the Farmers Market we stop in Strawberry at the PieBar to get something for lunch before heading to the trailhead.

The trail that we chose for today is the Pine-Strawberry Trail. There is surprisingly little information about it so we are happy to find a very informative panel at the trailhead and soon we are on our way.

It is spring out and there are flowers everywhere. We really like the Easter Daisies which are quite rare for us but it is also quite fun to see so many flowers in general.

Trail starts quite level and it passes through some beautiful landscape. The only problem in this stretch is that it is quite close to the busy highway so it is quite difficult to hear birds in the forest.

Then it starts to descend towards Pine and to get further away from the highway. The descent part is relatively short and then it levels out with some up and downs when passing washes.

We look also for anything interesting along the way from a nature perspective. We especially like the butterflies, which are quite common here but also notice weird plants like Alpine Cancer-Root.

We also see some birds along the trail with the most exciting ones being a pair of Band-tailed pigeons who are studying us intently before deciding we are not interesting and moving on.

After about two miles we decide to return so we can make it during the day to our Airbnb. Now we are going mostly up but the trail is gentle and we enjoy the hike. While we encountered a few hikers on the way out we do not see anyone when returning, actually we are the only car left in the parking lot.

Next we stop at Rezzonico Family Park for a short exploration. Today we are also taking part in a Verde River Bioblitz so what better way to do that than exploring a park near the Verde River?

It is a small park and from the parking lot it is about two minutes to the river where we notice a female mallard just resting on a flat area. Then we look closer and she is not resting, she is providing shelter to at least four ducklings, really cute.

It is a nice area to walk along the river and we are not the only people having that idea with a few more couples enjoying the walk. The trail is not really maintained, it is more of a use trail and we try to follow it as much as we can.

Soon we are at the confluence of the Verde River and Beaver Creek. Here we see a lot of swallows and a hidden heron takes flight nearby scaring us. The trail is also quite cool through high reeds but really short ending at a house so we backtrack back to the parking area.

Before going to the Airbnb we also want to buy some dinner but most restaurants are closed even those that are supposed to be open. In the end we find a Mexican restaurant that is open and order some food for take-out.

At the Airbnb we encounter a problem we never had before, the door cannot be opened. The code we received works but it is locked a second time and we have no key. The contact options offered initially do not answer so we find a more central number that actually answers. We wait for them to solve it while we eat in the backyard and it is getting dark. In the end we get an answer, there is nothing to be done and we are offered a stay at a hotel of our choice. In the end we decide to return home and get an reimbursement for the Airbnb as it was quite expensive and we don’t want to split our two nights between two different places.

The trip home is uneventful but we arrive quite late at night, back at home unexpectedly. As we already have taken vacation time we have to decide what to do the next days but now we are too tired to think and soon we fall asleep.