"We take these risks not to escape life, but to prevent life from escaping us" -

Sterling Canyon is a steep rarely visited canyon in upper Oak Creek northof sissy Sedona and south of Flag.Access is via a rough dirt road for six miles off highway 89A.Los Hombres malos-Dingo Dan-Zo-El Lobo GrandeWe started walking downstream from Sterling tank about 10:00 a.m in a creekbed surrounded by large Ponderosa pines. Six white tailed deer immediatelybounded across our path. Poetry in motion.We followed the creek bed for a couple of miles to a steep drop off.Here we started our day of Canyoneering, dropping close to a 1000 feet toSterling Springs, the permanent water source for Oak Creek.Along the way, there were many pools with frogs and steep red walls goingup for 500 feet. Ponderosa pines were growing right out of the rock! There were some large white and douglas fir, aspen, and bigtooth maple along thebottom of the canyon. Absolutely gorgeous!(Embedded image moved to file: pic07250.jpg)Dingo & El LoboThe descent was mostly a scramble but did have it's share of climbing. Wereturned the way we came and were in our camp chairs enjoying cervezas alas cuatro de la tarde.(Embedded image moved to file: pic27646.jpg)The end of the lineWe had dinner at the Brew Pub in sissy Sedona and arrived home close to tenthat evening.The very popular Men Behaving Badly section:-Dingo Dan for getting us stuck in two feet of mud in his super SUV, andthen sheepishly uttering "Oh Oh"-Two Turkey Hunters for not only accepting beers from us for pulling us outof the mud, but for enthusiastically chugging them at 9:00 A.M. Sundaymorning!-Lorenzo for mouthing a weak yoga type mantra noise when he passed wind.-Dingo Dan for grossing us out, picking up many ugly spiny bones, skulls,and carcasses of wild animals.-Dingo Dan, after an educational day of Spanish lessons, taught by Zo,went home quite satisfied, remembering only "tetas Grande" and "un chingo"I will not dignify with a translation!-El Lobo Grande for screaming at a Pink Jeep Tour outside of sissy Sedona.This act was justified, however:It was after leaving the Microbrewery.The Pink Jeep was hurting my eyes.The driver was telling lies to the greenhorns.The tender feet were unruly, jumping up and down and exclaiming "Look at DARed Rock -- Look at DA Red Rock"They were all high on vortexes.