Phantom Ranch, Grand Canyon, Sedona, & the Southwest
By Wayne Ranney The famous red rocks in and around Sedona are, for the most part, the same layers that make up the upper walls of the Grand Canyon. Even the formation names used between the two areas are similar and the reason for this is that it was Dr. Eddie McKee who first recognized …
By Wayne Ranney Next is the Hermit Formation (formerly called Hermit Shale), which contains more amounts of mudstone than sandstone and thus weathers into a broad terrace upon which much of the city of Sedona is constructed. Many of the easy or moderate trails in the Sedona area traverse the eroded expanse of this brick …
By Wayne Ranney Beginning about 15 million years ago, volcanism returned to the Sedona area in the form of basaltic cinder cones, shield volcano’s and lava flows. Volcanism lasted until about 10 million years ago and all of the volcanic rocks seen along Interstate 17 from Sedona to Cave Creek belong to this period of …
By Wayne Ranney Oak Creek Canyon, although not as deeply cut as Grand Canyon, is still a very pleasant place to hike with many trails leaving the canyon floor and accessing the rim on either side of it. One will note that Oak Creek Canyon is asymmetrical in nature with its eastern side about 800 …