Between a Rock and a Vortex

SEDONA, Ariz. â€”  I love the anticipation I feel when I arrive after dark somewhere I’ve never been before, and can only imagine what my surroundings will look like in the morning.

After a late night arrival at the new Doubletree Resort in Sedona, however, I awoke to disappointment: Out the window of our Southwestern-themed suite, instead of seeing Sedona’s famous red rocks, mentioned in the ad that had lured us here with its $149 introductory rate, I saw only a parking lot. The newest resort to open in Sedona since the 1980s has comfortable rooms (225 suites with fireplaces), a spa and racquet club, an 18-hole golf course and friendly service, but, as we soon realized, it is on the easternmost edge of Red Rock Country, surrounded by new-home and shopping-mall construction.

As a staging area from which to explore the arts and crafts center of Sedona and its red rock-studded canyons, however, it was fine--an easy half-hour’s drive. Leaving the resort on Saturday morning, I could see why Sedona draws nearly 5 million visitors a year. Crimson- and vermilion-hued buttes, mesas, spires and pinnacles towered over the high desert, the result of 350 million years of prehistoric geologic ferment that involved oceans, volcanoes and a great freshwater lake. The dramatic landscape has starred in countless westerns and today appears prominently in the visions of psychics and New Agers.

When my husband, Paul, and I stopped at one of the town’s numerous New Age shops, we were told that in 1980 a psychic “discovered� that Sedona contains powerful “vortexes.� According to the guidebook I consulted (written by a believer), vortexes are concentrated energy fields caused by the natural magnetism of the area’s iron-rich red rocks. Believers say standing or sitting in one causes heightened psychic experiences and healing, or at least a sense of inner calm.

Instead of getting my aura photographed at the Center for the New Age (on special for $29.95), I set off with Paul to try to experience a vortex.

Our first stop was Bell Rock, the site of one of Sedona’s four best-known vortexes, just off Arizona Highway 179. Parking the car, we walked for a mile along a flat, dusty-red path bordered by bushy juniper trees, spindly pines and prickly pear cactuses to the base of the towering rock, where three young women, tourists from Australia, were writing meditatively in their journals.

Next we drove to what is known as the Airport Vortex, so named because it is near the Sedona airstrip. Here the trail was not well marked, and it involved a steep climb of about a quarter of a mile to the top of a red rock formation.

I felt more a sense of creeping vertigo than of inner calm as I made my way up the precarious route, for there were no railings, and one slip on the loose rocks would have been the last experience, mystical or otherwise, of my life. Breathless from the uphill scramble in the 4,500-foot altitude, I reached the top, where the vista, too, was breathtaking.

We took a break from vortex hunting to drive up Oak Creek Canyon, a winding road that follows babbling Oak Creek through deep gorges. After a picnic lunch, we stopped in “uptown� Sedona, where we found ourselves in a veritable vortex of souvenir shops selling everything from crystals to Navajo jewelry. For atmosphere, I much preferred the nearby shopping area called Tlaquepaque, a collection of art galleries and gift shops done in Spanish Colonial style with tile-walled courtyards, fountains and a lovely little chapel.

Later that afternoon, we drove to Crescent Moon State Park, paid our $3 admission and asked the attendant if this was the correct way to the famous Cathedral Rock vortex. “You’re in the vortex,� she said, as if stating the blindingly obvious, adding that positive energy radiates from the rocks for miles around. She told us that Cathedral Rock is the most photographed red rock formation in the area, the site that convinced her and her husband to move here years ago. “Wait till sunset,� she said mysteriously. “You’ll understand.�

We parked our car near a white limousine that had just delivered a bridal couple who were having their picture taken by the banks of Oak Creek. Behind them rose Cathedral Rock. The spectacular 500-foot-high formation is actually four rocks: two massive rounded towers bookending a pointy spire and an outcropping shaped like a hand raised in benediction. Like an aisle in a cathedral, languid Oak Creek led up to it, sparkling in the late afternoon sunshine. On the banks of the creek, the naked white branches of the cottonwood trees shimmered like candles.

As the sun sank in the west, its rays painted the facing rocks hues of red so magnificent, I understood why the desk clerk at the Doubletree had said that in Sedona, you look east to watch the sunset, not west.

By the time we reached Boynton Canyon, the site of the last of Sedona’s four best-known vortexes, it was too dark to take a hike. We did stroll around Enchantment, one of Sedona’s oldest, priciest and most spectacularly sited resorts, which nestles in this high-walled canyon.

That night, after dinner at Casa Rincon, a recently opened Mexican restaurant with handsome Spanish Colonial decor, extremely friendly service (we found that everywhere in Sedona--maybe it’s the vortexes!) but only mediocre food, we headed back toward the Doubletree Sedona Resort.

On a lark, we pulled over on the deserted road to investigate another aspect of Sedona that draws thousands of tourists each year--UFOs. UFO buffs believe Sedona is prime territory for sightings. Though skeptical, we scanned the night sky in search of something incredible. We found it, all right, but it wasn’t a UFO: Glittering above us, with unforgettable brilliance, were millions upon millions of stars.

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Budget for Two

Air fare, LAX-Phoenix: $176.00

Rental car & gas: 118.00

Doubletree Sedona, 2 nights: 316.02

Picnic lunch: 16.61

Park admission: 3.00

Dinner, Casa Rincon: 36.83

Breakfast: 13.28

FINAL TAB: $679.74

Doubletree Sedona Resort, 90 Ridge Trail Drive, Sedona, AZ 86351; tel. (800) 222-8733 or (520) 284-4040, fax (520) 284-0170.