Sedona is for spleens

This past weekend, we also went to Sedona to see the beautiful red rock formations. The city is named after the postmaster's wife, Sedona Schnebly, population around 12,000.

Sedona, AZ at the golden hour (sunset) --
look how the rocks come alive!

But even when the rocks are dull, they're beautiful.
Here, monsoon clouds peak over this sandstone formation.

A tree branch arches off.

Another rock formation stark against the bruised sky.

The Devil's Bridge, a great trail in Sedona.

I saw this yesterday -- the Taylor fire, about 10,000 acres have burned and about 110 people are fighting to put it out. Forest officials are not yet sure what caused it.

A helicopter drops water onto the Taylor fire from a reservoir in Sedona. More information on the Taylor Fire at the Coconino National Forest website -->

These photos were from two separate days in Sedona -- this past Sunday and, the cloudy photos, about a month ago. More tree photos from Sedona -->

sedona hike: paperbark maple and engraver beetle trails

Paperbark maple

Views up the limb of a paperbark maple along the Devil's Arch trail in Sedona, Arizona. These trees were brought here from Western China in the early 1900s. The reddish peeling bark along its graceful, twisted limbs is one of its most striking features.

Paperbark maple

Another view up the paperbark maple's knotted trunk. The peeling bark feels like delicate cinnamon paper slivers.

Bark beetle trails

The circuit-board-like etchings in this tree trunk are insect trails. I'm not positive but I think they're from the bark beetle (also known as the engraver beetle), a small beetle no bigger than the size of a peppercorn, which embeds itself between the bark and wood of a tree and eats its way along the wood.