One of the most famous and photographed red rock formations in Sedona is the Cathedral at Red Rock Crossing. CC has had her heart set on capturing at least one or two good photos of it before we left Sedona.
The ' borrowed' photograph above is representative the favorite setting for photographing this majestic setting. We downloaded this one off of the internet to show scene we were looking for. The problem is no one we talked to seemed to know exactly where these photos were taken or how to get to that place. We could see the formation from highway 89 near our resort an surmised from the orientation it the photographs were taken some where along oak creek canyon near the base of the rock. So in our spare time we started exploring the side roads in that direction. Along the way we found some interesting vistas.
This is a late afternoon photograph of the Sedona Valley looking east from Red Rock Crossing Road - very close to Highway 89.
Above : Red Rock Crossing Road begins at Highway 89A and heads eastward and downhill. Eventually it turns into a graded dirt road, which wanders through some small family farms, until it dead ends at Oak Creek. Below: We found some rock carvings at the same place. Petroglyphs???
Backtracking several miles we found the Cresent Moon Ranch Recreational Area which is under the Management of the USF Coconino National Forest Recreational Area. The sign at the entrance said that for a $10/day fee guests can can picnic at the adjacent day use area and fish, swim and wade in the crystal clear waters of Oak Creek or hike and photograph of the nearby formations.
This is also the site of the one of the areas original settlers' farm.
Below: the Restored Water Mill today sans water
CC knew she was getting close to her target when she spotted the oft photographed scene below, ( It turns out the building is a cabin the forestry service will let you rent overnight. Cool, right.)
We hurried on to the Creek before we lost the light. Then, Eureka! CC finally located the location she had been looking for, but unfortunately she couldn't quite get the shot she wanted.
It turns out the 'classic' photograph is taken from a sandbar in the middle of Oak Creek where the creek forms a shallow swimming hole. In the heat of summer, the swimming hole in the foreground is filled with day use visitors trying to cool off. Apparently the photographers either come when school is in session, or rent the cabin so they can stay after hours, or hop the gates after the recreational area closes to get the photos. They also use must use waders and tripods to keep themselves and their equipment dry. We didn't have those options open to us. So we continued following the stream to see if there was another vantage point.
The shot above and below were taken upstream from the swimming hole. Pretty sure they will do for reference photos, and CC can always use artistic license to paint shallow water and reflections in the foreground.
Mick Jagger — 'You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find, you get what you need.'
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