ALONG THE WAY

backroad THIRTEEN TECHNICOLOR MILES Link SEDONA and FLAGSTAFF the Old-fashioned Way

AT FIRST GLANCE, THE RUGGED 13 MILES of Schnebly Hill Road look like a casual 90-minute drive through Sedona's brilliantly colored landscape. But really, the riveting views give a silent lesson in time as the road switchbacks up a mountain along a fault through 80 million years of sedimentary strata. Sedona's early settlers struggled to cut a trail through this rocky wonderland. With dogged persistence, picks and an occasional blast of black powder, they carved a rugged wagon road out of the steep canyon to join the route leading north to Flagstaff, the nearest source of supplies. Today, the primitive passage that is Schnebly Hill Road (Forest Service Road 153) begins just off State Route 179 in central Sedona.

The first mile deceives the unwary with its smoothly paved surface, but we knew better and drove a high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicle. Just before the pavement ends at Mile 2, we pulled into the trailhead parking lot for Marg Draw and Huckaby trails. Even if you don't want a comfortable short hike or don't need the rest rooms, use the handy automated kiosk to buy a Red Rock Pass. The Forest Service now requires the $5 pass for any recreational-use parking in Red Rock Country. Don't worry about exact change - the kiosk takes coins, oneand five-dollar bills, MasterCard and Visa. The pass safely on our dash, we pulled back on the road. Where the pavement ended and the dirt began, I thought I saw broken slabs of asphalt extending for a few more yards, but it was really the roadbed's underlying dark rock. Right away we were glad for our high clearance-and for a few sturdy lengths of rope-when we helped pull out a sedan stuck in the soft dirt along the side. This is not a road for any low-slung vehicle, and because the Forest Service has discontinued maintenance, it will likely get rougher. Along the next 5 miles, the rocky dirt route twisted upward 1,800 feet to Schnebly Hill Vista. At every narrow turnout, we took the opportunity to marvel at the unfolding landscape. Schnebly Hill Vista, at 6,000 feet, overlooks the Verde Valley and views of Sedona, Steamboat Rock at the mouth of Oak Creek and the mineral-rich Mingus Mountain rising to the southwest. More than 330 million years ago in what would be central Arizona, these rocks were just a thickening layer of sand on the floor of an immense ocean. Time crept on. The ocean receded, leaving swamps and coastal deltas in