Sedona: Amazing Hiking

May 08, 2024

Sedona: Amazing Hiking

After all of the straight line driving, it was fun to test the steering, brakes, and gas all at once on the twisty drive into the Sedona red rock country.

Day 1: Arrival and Sugarloaf Trail

We walked the town and passed on the psychics, minerals, t-shirts, tours, and 4-wheeler rentals. At the visitor center, a retiree from Dowagiac, Michigan (!) gave us insider advice on which trails to see. Chanelle had fun telling him about how her family used to use the Dowagiac Public Library in the summers when they rented an old cabin on Magician Lake. He loved hearing that! Parking is a challenge in a tourist area, and he recommended we get up early because the best trails have only about 40 parking spaces which fill up early.

Our VRBO was three doors from the Sugarloaf Trailhead. It was really nice to be in a HOUSE again after 9 days in hotels! We got to do some cooking (leafy greens! brown rice! chicken! I'm sure our kids are rolling their eyes), and then we walked down to the trail for an evening stroll. Can you believe the red dirt?

Day 2: West Fork Trail

We did NOT manage to get up early, but we still got the second to last parking spot. The trail is stunning. In four miles, there are no less than 13 places where you step nimbly on rocks to cross the stream at the bottom of a canyon with massive rock walls on both sides. Since it's an out-and-back trail, you cross that stream 26 times by the end!

We clocked in at 6.5 hours for the trail (with picture taking, water and food stops) - so you can see how that small parking lot fills and stays full. It also keeps the crowds way down.

It was a nice mixture of breezy and warm temperatures and shady trees and blue skies.

For a while, we walked along with other folks we met along the way on our adventure.

Sometimes the path was steep or rocky or required climbing across boulders, so it was a good adventure.

We got lots of steps in, and rewarded ourselves generously with Fig Newtons and Josh Chardonnay. So classy!

Day 3: Crescent Moon Trail (with Vortex), Chapel of the Holy Cross, and Bell Rock

Sedona culture has a spiritual element, and there are a number of locations where the vortex is strong. We weren't exactly sure what that meant. Did the vortex affect us? Unclear. We thought the scenery at this one was powerful, at the very least. The path runs along a river at a canyon bottom. At busy points, people were playing in the water. At other points, people were communing, and at other ones people were relaxing alone and sunbathing. It was calming and peaceful to see many people just enjoying themselves in nature.

This is where the vortex was:

Sounds peaceful, doesn't it?

At the end of the hike, we couldn't resist the chance to step into the water. As Ray put it, this moment was a mixture of adventure, suspense, terror, and pleasure:

Chapel of the Holy Cross is at the top of a very steep hill on the outskirts of Sedona. Many diverse people come to see the sights, light a candle, and have an opportunity to build a relationship with their creator. We took a seat on a bench in the chapel and had a few minutes of peace to think of God within sight of all of that natural beauty.

Chapel of the Holy Cross is close to a trail that Julia recommended called "Bell Trail Loop," so we thought we should go for it. See the bell shape?

At first the path seemed pretty easy; we were just ambling along a wide dirt or stone lane while looking up at these huge stone peaks. We thought maybe Julia felt we were softies when it came to hiking.

By the end, though, we'd climbed up a winding, poorly marked trail, scrambled up boulders, jumped over cracks, drank all of our water, and rested gratefully when we could find some sparse shade. That was some work! We decided that Julia must think we're very fit. Thanks, Julia! We'll take that as a compliment.

Since we were a lot closer to the tops of the peaks, we turned around and took selfies with all three.