Driving Nowhere

Driving nowhere to find something can always be thrilling. Because you take a leap of faith about which highway to take, where to turn off, and when to stop. This is a story of when I stumbled onto Pumphouse Wash, randomly found between Sedona and Flagstaff, Arizona.

After dropping off my youngest son at Northern Arizona University in late August, I decided to take Hwy. 89A from Flagstaff to Sedona to break up the monotony of freeway driving. I desperately wanted to find the fields of “sunflowers” that were being featured on social media, and figured if I turned off on a random road along the way, I would find them!

So after a few miles, I turned onto a forest service road and proceeded down the bumpy dirt lane into the trees. Suddenly I came upon a gorgeous creek running across the road! I stopped the car to take some photos. I could hear people laughing in the distance, and although I had passed some primitive campsites, it sounded like they were in water.

I decided to strap on my Camelbak, load up the camera gear, and proceeded down a random trail I saw in the woods.

The trail lead me to a breathtaking canyon full of deep pools of water that reflected the colorful rock formations which surrounded it. The contrast of the green plants and trees with the red rocks made it hard to stop taking photos to just explore. But eventually I tore myself away from the gorgeous scenery to make my way down the creek’s path. Rest assured, I didn’t escape the beauty of the cool water running along the rippled rock formations.

I continued following the creek southward, hearing more voices along the way. I found families who were swimming and enjoying the trickling waterfalls. Children were crawdad fishing in the deeper pools. Although the atmosphere was busy with little ones enjoying their aquatic treasures, the creek in the woods provided a calm backdrop.

Finally I reached the end of the trail and a beautiful ending to my adventure…

The view was breathtaking and a perfect way to end the day. Although I found my fields of sunflowers on the way back to the highway.