Enchantment Resort :
Sedona, AZ
A Hiker's Search for Sedona's "Energy" Vortexes
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woman called out not to worry about going guideless because the energy is so overwhelming, a person would have to be abnormally insensitive not to feel anything. Sacred energy of the Earth, come and get me.
ENCHANTMENT RESORT
In the first half-hour of the five-mile hike through Boynton Canyon, our first vortex, we passed Enchantment Resort, which happens to be not only Arizona’s top luxury resort, but one of the top three luxury resorts in America. Set amidst the lush setting of the Coconino National Forest in Arizona’s Secret Mountain Wilderness, this is truly a place of enchantment. However, all we could do was walk past it and on toward the vortex.
Soon we were hiking at the foot of crimson cliffs and eventually into a snowy pine forest. First, we passed crowds of hikers on this popular trail, but the further we went, the fewer hikers we encountered so the more we stopped to chat. Now, near the end of the trail, high up in a spectacular box canyon, we ask our fellow hikers, “So, do you feel anything?” “Yeah, my legs hurt,” someone says. “Yep, sure am thirsty,” says another. Nobody has found the vortex.
BOYNTON CANYON VORTEX
Now back at our van after the hike, we meet a man who gives us a more detailed vortex map than ours, and we discover that Boynton Canyon’s vortex is just 50 yards from the parking lot, conveniently. The map shows the vortex to be on a knoll surrounded by twisted juniper trees. Supposedly the energy of the vortex twists the trees. I’d seen twisted junipers in the southwest before, however, usually in windy places, like on top of this knoll. I sit down in the dusty red dirt up on the knoll to absorb some sacred energy, but all I feel is the midday sun burning my face. I’m a redhead, apparently an insensitive one, and have to watch my skin.
But I’m not deterred. We decide that after exploring downtown, we’ll head back into the hills for sunset. Sedona, despite it being New Age Disneyland, is stunning. New businesses in this rapidly-growing town of 15,000 must have red clay roofs and adhere to adobe architecture in muted shades of browns, greens and taupes. Even the gas stations are adobe. The adobe McDonalds in Sedona advertises, “The Only Teal Green Arches in the World” and they don’t look bad. When the sun sets in a place like Sedona, a place surrounded by red rock mountains, it’s an event of dazzling proportions that people anticipate for hours. The last rays of the day ignite the towering rocks like golden castles until finally they burn up in a glowing cayenne blaze. When it’s over, the mountains darken to violet shadows as if the sun were never there at all. The sky fills with rosy clouds, the air turns cold and the people turn to go home.
AIRPORT VORTEX
We decide to watch the sunset from Airport Vortex (the “masculine” vortex which might knock me over) because it has tremendous views. I scramble up the rocks ahead of Rob, thinking perhaps I’ll ‘feel’ more on my own. It’s a short but steep climb to the top of the vortex and on my way up I pass a middle-aged woman huffing and puffing coming down. “I didn’t feel anything,” she says to her husband. “What a darn waste of time that was.” I keep climbing. When I reach the top, the sun is in the process of painting everything a fierce red and I sit down on the sandstone rock. For a long time I stare out across the dizzying grandeur of the high desert landscape, the mesas, mountains and buttes, the ancient rocky depths below, trying to probe the depths of my inner self, yearning for the earth’s energy to mingle with my own, and a feeling gradually starts to come over me: starvation. I could go for a super burrito right now.
The next day we go to Cathedral Rock, which, with its red rock spires lofting over the flowing Oak Creek, is the most photographed site in Sedona. We hike along the brook through the trees until we find Cathedral Rock Vortex, sit down, and try seriously this time to sense the surges of energy. Under the shade of a juniper ....