WorldView Tales of Travel: Sedona, Arizona

Every other Thursday, we will be dedicating our 1^st World View blog post to an amazing travel story from one of our readers. The series is entitled “WorldView Tales of Travel” and will rely on you, the readers, to submit your amazing stories. From backpacking through Europe to crusing through the Caribbean, we want to share and discuss your incredible, ubelievable, unforgettable stories of travel.

1^st World View is not only a place for you to discuss world news, but a place for you to discuss the world at large. Traveling expands the way we each see out own world, no matter where the trips take us.

If you have a unique story to share from your past travels, please email it here: Firstworldview@gmail.com.  Your story might be next! You can also leave us your story on Facebook and become a fan here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/1stWorldView/103973516305099

Our first WorldView Tale of Travel comes to us from Mason who had a close encounter with mother nature on a trip to northern Arizona:

Sedona, Arizona

“About an hour and a half north of Phoenix, Arizona, there are is immense amount of places that you can go to camp, hike, or just get a breath of fresh air and check out some amazing scenery. Personally, I hike in Sedona all the time and it is the most beautiful place I’ve ever been to in America. The most appealing thing about it is that within the small touristy town there are numerous places you can go to check out some of the most adventurous and beautiful trails you will ever hike. Another aspect that makes Sedona perfect is its concentration on easy, moderate, and difficult hiking trails so that no matter whom you are, you can find a place to check out and have an excellent experience.

“Outside of Sedona you can find an equal amount of hiking trails and campsites within the surrounding area. Verde Valley is a site that is perfect for getting away from civilization and just roughing it for a couple of days. Many of the trails branch off from the main road for easy access and you can find places that seem as if they have been untouched by human civilization.

“Once in Verde Valley a friend and I decided to go survivalist camping. We picked a spot right off of the 89A and parked. We began to hike and quickly the trail submerged into a valley that looked as if a long time ago it was submerged in water. There were these huge stone pillars with holes in them all around, as if creating a forest of fossilized fish mountains. When we journeyed further we came across a clearing next to a creek. Because of the lack of large rocks and the flat land, we decided to set up camp.

Sedona, Arizona

“Nightfall came upon us quickly and we hurried our machetes about the landscape looking for dry lumber to bring back to camp for a fire. Unfortunately the first night we were not able to get a fire going before dark, and all of our efforts seemed futile. My friend and I smoked cigarettes and talked in the dark. As the moon emerged and the night instilled its silence upon us there was a feeling of the presence of something else around us. We remained still and quiet and alert, looking wide eyed and blindly in all directions with only the silvery lamplight of the moon to unveil the shadowy figures which lurched in our peripherals.

“Suddenly the scream of agony from a rabbit pierced our ears, coming just feet away from where we were sitting. The rabbit cried until it abruptly stopped, sending chills up and down my already shivering spine. What came next was the general consensus of joy from the shadowed pack of coyotes that were just now becoming visible. They howled loudly in pride at the kill, as if all of them had simultaneously caught a rabbit instead of just one. They began to eat. The sound of bones breaking and the maniacal savagery being inflicted upon the animal filled me with a reality so profound it is hard to describe. I was in the middle of something that happens all the time in a world that was completely foreign.”

Thanks Mason!

If you have had a similar experience with wildlife, have questions for Mason, or simply want to give a reply, please leave us a comment!