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SEDONA'S HIDDEN PLACES

A PORTFOLIO BY DAVID H. SMITH Sedona. Born of a vast eroded tableland. Alternately swept by the silicate dunes of an ancient Permian desert then buried by the coral sands of a great inland sea. Deposits of fiery ocher and alabaster white etched through millennia by Oak Creek and its tributaries. A breathtaking panorama composed of red sandstone buttes and spires, soaring cliffs, and towering mesas. Sedona. Visited by almost four million people annually. Familiar to many millions more from hundreds of movies and thousands upon thousands of published photographs. Scenes, like Red Rock Crossing (see back cover), so recognizable that they become visual icons, part of a collective Western subconscious. But these scenes, extraordinary though they may be, only hint at wonders not revealed. Some want to see farther. They want to know what lies beyond the obvious. What hidden places, some small, some grand, beckon to those who stray from the known and into the heart of the rocks. Photographer David Smith took this challenge and journeyed with his camera to places not secret but hidden From the casual visitor. Places less known - into the very center of Cathedral Rocks, to Palatki Ruins, into the Red Rock-Secret Mountain Wilderness . . . to Sedona's Hidden Places.

(PRECEDING PANEL, PAGE 24) Concealed in Red Canyon, Palatki Ruins, a Sinaguan dwelling built circa A.D. 1150-1300, catches the last warm rays of the setting sun.

(PRECEDING PANEL, PAGE 25) A wind-sculpted sandstone overhang dominates a view of Bear Mountain in the Red Rock-Secret Mountain Wilderness.

(OPPOSITE PAGE) Sunset creates a fiery glow in the gallery of Cathedral Rocks. (ABOVE) Ocotillos dot the slopes at the base of Mescal Mountain in Boynton Canyon.

(PRECEDING PANEL, PAGES 28 AND 29) Sunrise illuminates the red rocks of the Munds Mountain Wilderness in this view from the Broken Arrow Trail.

(OPPOSITE PAGE) A prickly pear cactus with spines aglow provides a spiky counterpoint to the wind-softened angles of the red sandstone "Cockscomb."

(ABOVE) Swirling cirrus clouds and a solitary agave in bloom decorate this view on the western edge of the Red Rock-Secret Mountain Wilderness.