The question of the day, posed by Debbie as she searches vainly through her bag for more parts to her rain shelter, is “just how many engineers does it take to put up a rain shelter?”

As we struggle to get all the necessary pieces together in the right order and stabilize this rather unstable structure, the answer is “apparently one more than we now have.”

Threatening skies and an ominous weather forecast prompt us to action, as we batten down the hatches and prepare for whatever nature decides to throw our way.

What Debbie had earlier described as “this smelly orange thing I’ve had in my trunk for years and had no idea what to do with” would later prove to be a vital part of our campsite.

“Are you sure this is the way it all goes together, Doug?”

Debbie is looking a bit doubtful, as she and Doug try to determine the proper fit of her tent’s rain fly, which will no doubt play a critical role in how dry she sleeps tonight.

We never realized that Doug was such a tree-hugger before. “Better just back off with that bulldozer, buddy! You’re not taking this tree down, unless you take me down with it!”

What the heck are you doing up there anyway, Doug? Looking for squirrels?

Don’t bother – we already have plenty of food for tonight’s dinner.

Should we check with the camp host and see about getting a ladder for you, or should we just go ahead and call 911?

Looking up at the heavy, gray skies overhead, there is no question in our minds that rain is on the way.

“Rain, rain go away …” After a full night of shower activity, with occasional thunder and lightning thrown in for extra measure, this is our group mantra on a wet and chilly Saturday morning in Oak Creek Canyon.

Seven Arizona Trailblazers huddle together under our makeshift rain shelter, attempting to stay as dry as possible between the rain showers that pelt our soggy campsite. Jenni, Lynda, Emie, Doug, Sheila, Michael, and Joe try to make the best of the situation, as we ponder our options for the day.

Kay and her hopefully waterproof digital camera capture the mood of the moment, as the soft orange glow reflecting off a saturated rain cover adds a bit of color to a gray and somber morning.

What to do on a rainy morning in the campground? Sleep? Read? Play cards? Hike in the rain? All are interesting ideas and perfectly logical under the circumstances. No, let’s go shopping! Who the heck said that, anyway?

Good grief!! Shopping?? Is this a hiking club or a shopping club? Sorry, girls, but the very name Arizona Trailblazers is in no way associated with the concept of shopping. Besides, we’ve hiked in the rain before, and no one has melted yet. Needless to say, that argument died a lonely death. With seven women in the group and the shopping temptations of Sedona so enticingly close, we four hapless men are hopelessly out-numbered, out-voted, and out-maneuvered. When the women decide to go shopping, better step aside gents or risk getting trampled. So here we are, hiking our way through the quaint little shops and alleyways of Sedona, dodging raindrops along the way. Apparently, a lot of other folks have the same idea on this wet and wild day, as we join the throngs of shoppers and sightseers on the slippery sidewalks of Sedona.

Rain, rain, go away! Let’s go shopping – some other day.

Low hanging clouds drift through Oak Creek Canyon like a thick fog rolling in from the cold sea, at times completely obscuring the surrounding peaks and ridges. This picture was taken from the outside patio of a busy local coffee shop, where we take refuge from the weather and try to wait out the rain. We ward off the chill and the dampness of the morning with hot coffee, hot chocolate, and warm, friendly conversation.

Ever so slowly, the clouds start to lift, the rains begin to taper off, and warming rays of sunshine finally manage to penetrate the thick cloud cover, as ragged patches of brilliant blue sky open up over Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon to reveal a scene surely as breathtaking and beautiful as the dawn of creation.

Joe, Doug, Sheila, Michael, Jenni, Lynda, Kathy, Debbie, Emie, and Kay, with trip leader Chuck Parsons behind the camera lens, pose for a final group shot under Debbie’s trusty rain shelter, before the three pack up and head back to the land of sunshine and warmth to dry out.

Our first full day of the trip (Saturday), and the group is starting to break up already.

Apparently, two tents have failed the leak test and could not take all of the rain from Friday night and Saturday morning.

Both Debbie and Sheila wake up to a soggy world of puddles and wet belongings inside their tents.

After checking everything out and making some hard decisions, they decide to pack up and leave after our return from Sedona on Saturday afternoon, and Joe is gracious enough to give them a ride back home.

Sunday morning dawns bright and clear in Oak Creek Canyon, with a crisp bite of fall in the air and not even the smallest of clouds overhead. This promises to be a picture-perfect day for hiking the West Fork.

But our group continues to shrink. Debbie, Sheila, and Joe departed for home yesterday afternoon. Michael and Lynda are leaving early to check out Camp Verde Days, while Emie and Kathy are going to hike the Vultee Arch and Devil’s Bridge trails by themselves.

That leaves Doug, Jenni, Kay, and myself to hike the West Fork this morning. So we break down camp, say our goodbyes, and head off in different directions. Four anxious hikers soak in the sun and pose in front of the trailhead sign for the West Fork Trail. Let’s go hiking!

Doug, Kay, and Jenni rest on the remains of the fireplace from the old Mayhew Lodge, a short distance from the trailhead.

This was the site of the original Carl Mayhew cabin, where writer Zane Grey penned the words to his novel, Call of the Canyon, in the 1920s.

The cabin site would later expand into a grand hunting and fishing lodge, attracting many celebrities to the area over the years. Purchased by the U.S. Forest Service in 1969 as a National Historic Site, the lodge burned to the ground in 1980, leaving behind only scattered skeletal remains, including this fireplace and a few crumbling brick walls. An ancient and long-neglected apple orchard nearby defies both time and progress and continues to provide small apples to passing hikers and visitors, especially the four-legged type.

For first-time hikers, visitors, and photographers the West Fork of Oak Creek Canyon can be a bit intimidating and almost overwhelming at times, literally saturating the senses with an astonishing array of some of the most spectacular and breathtaking scenery to be found anywhere in Arizona. Nature’s handiwork and palette of colors knows no boundaries and accepts no limits in this canyon of the Secret Mountain Wilderness.

West Fork Creek flows year-round through a lush and richly varied riparian habitat, ranging from agaves and cactus, to ferns and horsetails, to pine, juniper, and hackberry, then sycamore, cottonwood, mountain ash, and bigtooth maple, and finally tall ponderosa pine and Douglas fir, as one moves further and further up the canyon and the high canyon walls slowly began to close in and then recede into infinity. Soaring cliffs of salmon and cream colored sandstone, interspersed with towering pinnacles, columns, and bluffs of solid rock, seem to reach out and almost touch the cobalt blue skies hanging suspended over the canyon.

One cannot help but come away from this very special and unique place with a new-found appreciation of nature in all her splendor and glory, a greater respect for life and all living things, and perhaps even a spiritual reawakening, as this is truly God’s country at its very finest.