May 11th, 2023
I’ll be doing some catchup posts over the next couple of days. Making a 10 day run to Europe to celebrate Katie’s wedding to Caleb Remnant got me off my writing track.

I’m so lucky to have found a couple of hiking buddies while we were near Sedona. Jessica and I took on Soldier Pass one beautiful morning.
The trail starts in the middle of a beautiful, very high end neighborhood. We parked in the shuttle parking lot, but were too impatient to wait for the next ride, so we walked a bit to the trailhead.
Soldier Pass starts off pretty easy. We crossed a wash to get to the Devil’s Kitchen sinkhole. We then hiked another quarter mile or so to the Seven Sacred Pools.
Several sources said that Devil’s Kitchen sinkhole was created over time as the land dropped into a cavern below. It was first reported int he 1880s, and its walls have collapsed several times since then. Devil’s Kitchen sinkhole is about 40 feet deep.
The Seven Sacred Pools was


I have seen prettier pictures of Seven Sacred Pools. They were underwhelming when we were there. The pools were pretty dried out and what water was there was murky. I’m sure it’s beautiful after a recent rain.


We came across some beautiful examples of desert flowers.



Made it to the cave. You can see a hiker above me. We climbed in just to my left as I’m standing at the mouth of the cave. It was a scramble!

The views from inside the caves made the struggle to get up there well worth it!







