Mescal Trail Rave Run - right this minute

Photo from Runner's World - not me running

One of my sister shows at E.W. Scripps is called “Right This Minute.”  While the show has nothing to do with me, except that their social media person and I are planning to share ideas sometime soon, the name of the show is kind of how I live my life.

Yup, I’m the “Right This Minute” girl – especially now that I have a car.

 Last night, I was looking through the January issue of Runner’s World and saw this amazing photo.  It’s their Rave Run of the month. Gorgeous, right? And check out the caption “Snow-capped cacti and the red hue from the nearby sandstone mesa make for a fleeting yet dramatic spectacle as daylight hits the Mescal Trail.”

Now normal people would look at this, think it’s nice and turn the page. Me? I’m not normal. There is no page turning for this chick. Remember…”I’m the “Right This Minute Girl.”

In seconds, I’m on Google thinking, “Cacti? I just moved to Arizona – the land of Cacti. Where is this heavenly place with snow-capped stuff?”

A couple Google searches later, I find it. It’s in Sedona.

For those of you who haven’t been to Phoenix, that’s a little less than 2 hours away.  I sketch out the route to the trail in case my GPS fails me, dig out my gloves and warm running hat, fill my camel pack with water, and set my alarm for 5:30 a.m.

My goal is to be in Sedona by 7:30 the next morning. Forget just looking at the Mescal Trail in the magazine, I was going to check it out in person.

MORE PHOTOS OF THE MESCAL TRAIL

If you are planning to go, there is a hard way and an easy way to get to the trail. The easy way is to go to Sedona and look for Dead Man’s pass. The hard way is to follow the instructions I found on the internet that say: “From the "Y", proceed west on State Route 89A three miles and make a right turn on Dry Creek Road. Follow Dry Creek Road to the end (about 3 miles). Turn right on Long Canyon Road and proceed 0.6 miles to the parking on the left." I took the hard way.

I found the parking area okay, but there were no signs for the Mescal Trail. Thinking I was lost, I parked and started walking the trail to Dead Man’s Pass for the fun of it. At 7:30 a.m. I was the only person in the parking lot and the trail was covered with frost -- exactly like the magazine promised.

About a half mile along Dead Man’s Pass I saw a little sign leading up a hill that read, “Mescal Trail.” Happy day! I accidentally found it.

Compared to the “Dead Man’s Pass” trail, the Mescal route was much less traveled – but there was a vague path. Following the 2.6 mile path, all I heard was my crunching shoes on the frost.

Total peace and quiet (except for me). And so worth the drive – right this minute.