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Welcome to the "Bell House Rock" - Sedona Arizona. Bell Rock on the left, Courthouse Butte on the right.
I thought my second trip to Grand Canyon is no different than the first but when I took the East entrance as opposed to the more popular and much shorter South route drive from Los Angeles, I felt more awe seeing the magnificent “freak” of nature of cascading rocks towering the mighty Colorado River.

Considered one of the wonders of the world like the Niagara Falls and Underground River in Palawan, Philippines, I couldn’t stop admiring and loving nature even more. I was able to stop at Desert View Watchtower, Lipan Point, and Grandview Point, all offering highest viewpoints of the Grand Canyon’s South Rim along the 23-mile scenic drive. I would have loved to stop at Yaki Point but because private cars are not allowed and I don’t have much time to get off and take a short hike or perhaps take the free shuttle bus, I had to skip this one.

I would really suggest to anyone to take the East entrance as it offers a much more enjoyable experience sans the crowded tourists and traffic jams usually dominating the South entrance.

After enjoying Grand Canyon, one should not miss heading south to Sedona. Known as the "Red Rock Country", seeing those commanding red rocks in the horizon brought mixed feelings to me. I’m really excited to see this place for the first time and hike their many trails. But I am little intimated to conquer one of those humongous red rocks. I am a novice hiker much less a climber and so doing it alone going to the top of the saddle sounds like a suicide. But that didn’t stop me to get up very early in the morning before sunrise and hit the trail head in pitch dark to Cathedral Rock so I secure a parking spot as I know this trail head parking will be very busy at the first stroke of sunlight.

Well, for almost an hour I was sitting in my car waiting for a glimpse of sunlight....with no other souls around.

As I was sitting in freezing temperature trying to read my newspaper, I wasn’t able to properly use my winter gloves because I just realize the store where I bought the pair from forgot to remove the electronic theft-resistant wire connecting the left and right hand glove. I ended up alternately wearing one glove at a time. When one hand starts to get numb, I removed the glove I was wearing and put the other one. It’s really worth the freezing wait as other enthusiast and adventurers starts arriving.

For the next hour or so, I was very cautiously ascending the rock, securing both my feet and my precious camera making sure I won’t tumble down the rather steep incline. I didn’t want my obituary be written so soon :-)

Going down the rocks, I found it easier to just slide my "behind" down. It only took me half an hour to reach the bottom.

I must admit I was scared at first but when the adrenalin rush in, I didn’t look back and reached the very top, or at least the highest point where one wouldn’t need rope and equipment to reach. Watching the sun rises while sitting on top was just amazing and spectacular.

I was speechless! The pictures may speak for themselves.

 Please click here to view a slideshow of the pictures I took and here to watch a short video of my climb.

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