while i was hiking in sedona this past weekend, i parked at a parking lot that serviced two trails, with one on each side of the dirt road. one trail was doe mountain: a moderate trail with a 550ft elevation gain. the other was bear mountain: a more difficult trail with an elevation gain of 1800ft. at first, i was a little unsure which trail i had walked up to, but a quick look at my trail map and the sign at the beginning of the trail showed that i was at the head of the bear mountain trial. an elderly couple was also at the trail head. they appeared to be wondering which trail was which. i was about to inform the couple that they were at the bear mountain trail when a lady pushed past the all of us. seeing as she seemed to know where she was going, the elderly couple asked her which trail was bear mountain and which was doe mountain. she prominently declared: "this is doe mountain, the trail across the road is bear mountain."
puzzled, i looked at my map. then i looked at the sign at the trail head marked 'bear mountain' and said "no, this is bear mountain. the other trial is doe mountain."
"says who??" she retorted.
"says the sign you're standing next to" was my reply.
"what sign?!?!?!" she exclaimed as she stared confusedly at the 'no camping' sign. she searched a little longer and found the 'bear mountain' sign planted right next to 'no camping' sign. "oh..." she said, "well the ranger told me to cross the road to get to doe mountain, and i'd rather trust the ranger who has hiked this area for years rather than some stupid sign!" and with that, she bounded on the trail with nary a look backwards.
the elderly couple wisely chose to take my advice and went across the road for their hiking adventures while i headed on my hike up bear mountain. interestingly enough, on my way up, i did not see her come down the trail, which meant that she went off the trail--maybe on purpose, or maybe she just got lost. perhaps she felt she'd rather trust her own route finding abilities rather than some stupid trail or cairns.