Twelve Trailblazers have decided to hike in the Sedona area today. We will be doing two hikes, one on the Bell trail beside Wet Beaver Creek and the other at the V Bar V ranch. The Bell trail is an easy trail to follow. It runs just above Wet Beaver Creek. The problem with that is there is very little shade, so this July hike was warm. At the end of the hike is a nice oasis with a pool.

The trail has a very nice view of the red rocks that make up Wet Beaver Canyon and the green trees beside the creek below. At the turnaround spot we have a snack break. This is also a good spot to take a nap.

It is now time to head back to the cars and the next adventure. This part of the hike is 3 miles in and 3 miles out with almost no elevation change.

We drive a short distance to the V Bar V ranch, which has been turned into a historic site.

This site has one of the largest pictograph rock panels in Arizona.

The rancher who owned the area protected the panels and told his ranch hands not to damage them. Each of the panels has many drawings on them.

Some of the art you can see what animal the drawing is of, others your guess is as good as mine.

There are storks, rabbets, millipedes, humans and many others. One of the reasons we did this hike on this date was to see the sun dagger. The sun dagger is a dagger of sun light pointing into a spiral drawn on the rock. It only gets to the very center of the spiral on the summer solstice at solar noon. This let the local Indians know when the solstice occurred. The dagger cuts the spiral farther out as you get farther from the solstice.

This site has about a mile of trails to wander about on.