aridity

With temperatures of 108, there was never going to be much chance of me hiking, today - although I saw people not only hiking, but biking ...  So after waiting to have my patched tire completely replaced, I did a bit of exploring of downtown Sedona - which seemed either Cheap Tacky Touristy or Pricey Tacky Touristy, and despite the extreme beauty of the surroundings, to be avoided - although I did spot these extraordinary cactus cupcakes.  Quite the coolest place that I might want to be, it seemed to me, was inside my car - so I took myself off on a self-guided C19th history tour of Northern Arizona, including Camp Verde (established in 1865 to "help protect settlers" - i.e. persecute the Yavapai and Tonto Apache who lived there), and - below - Mormon Lake, which commemorates (you've guessed it) Mormon settlers in the 1870s, who set up a sawmill, a dairy, a tannery - and then moved on.  This is the largest natural lake in Northern Arizona, a stopping off point for migrating birds.  Wait, what?  This would be the largest natural lake ... if it had any water in it.  It's not only 108 degrees, but bone dry.