Welcome to Sedona, Arizona

Let’s get started. There is so much to tell you about this magical place called Sedona!

People come to visit Sedona, Arizona from all over the country, the world! It is a top destination point. Amy and I only learned about this desert paradise within the past year. We saw an article somewhere, I think it was in some travel magazine I had picked up at Barnes and Noble, not sure. I Googled Sedona and found tons of articles and stories online. I started reading. Then I turned my attention over to YouTube, my favorite learn-all, go-to-spot-for-all to find videos about Sedona. I found so many videos on YouTube. I told Amy we have got to go to this place. One of her co-workers had already been and told her it was simply amazing, to-die-for!

This was sometime during 2021. We kept daydreaming about visiting Sedona. Couldn’t wait to plan a trip. When Amy presented the idea of taking two months to travel out west (pending my retirement April 2022) I just knew SEDONA would be on the list! We ended up staying six days there in all during our Van Life Adventures, “MAKING OUR WAY OUR WEST.”

We learned about popular destinations in Sedona like, the Chapel of the Holy Cross, the Devil’s Bridge Hike, the Birthing Cave Hike, Cathedral Rock Hike, and Slide Rock State Park. These seemed to all be FAN FAVORITES and we wanted to see them for ourselves up close and personal! And so we did. We checked off everything on our bucket list. Then we made a brand new SEDONA bucket list for the next time we go to visit. We really only scratched the surface. There is over 400+ miles of hiking. There is 4X4 exploring, Hot Air Balloon Rides, and many, many other hikes to do! The town itself is wonderful too. Don’t let me leave it out. In town you can stop by (or visit their website) the Pink Jeep Tours locations and book an off-road 4X$ excursion. There are so many different packages to choose from and we were told everyone of them leads you into the Red Rocks leaving you with breathless views of this magnificent world.

I refer to it as its own world. It’s not a National Park but it sure seemed like it was. It felt like we had left planet Earth and traveled to this desert wonderland located on some distant planet.

Driving into Sedona

We had just left the Petrified Forest National Park heading for Sedona. We were exhausted yet so excited to reach Sedona to see what all the HUB-BUB was about! The drive in was fantastic I tell you. Sedona is about a two hour drive from Arizona’s larger city, Phoenix. From Flagstaff, AZ to Sedona, AZ was about 30 miles or so give or take. It was a beautiful scenic drive leading us in. We saw that there are many opportunities on the way to Sedona to stop and explore but we decided to keep going, the anticipation was killing us. It would soon be dark and we wanted to find our campground and get set up.

We had forests on both sides of the two lane highway leading us into Sedona. We past so many trees. It was beautiful yet nothing compared to what we were about to see. We started heading upward on an incline in the road. After a few miles the highway 89A narrowed and we started turning. We made a few turns in the road and soon we were engulfed on both sides by Red Rock Mountain tops. Gorgeous. Amy told me several times, “Markis! Keep your eyes on the road!” I had my window down driving with my head hanging out of it, my IPHONE in HAND filming away! A dream come true! It was shocking to say the least. I compare it to the first time we drove into ZION NATIONAL PARK in UTAH. Breathtaking.

There were a couple of sudden traffic stops where they had mobile lights in place. We had to wait our turn for the road was narrowed to one lane traffic in these areas. It was getting dark and we were losing light. NO!!!!! We continued on and the roadway eventually opened up giving us longer straight aways, then some twists and turns, then more straight aways until eventually we reached the beginning of town. Oh Wait! We crossed this tiny little bridge that brought us over this enormous valley and it was so awesome I say! Awesome!

We were tired from all the driving but we were feeling pretty energetic now! As you come into town you see you are surrounded by the Coconino National Forest. The drive in from the Oak Creek Vista was about 13 miles in total. A exhilarating ride. Amy got really excited because on the way into town we passed the entrance to the Slide Rock State Park. This was one of her “Must-Do-Items” on her Sedona list. It is located about 7 miles from uptown Sedona.

The Town of Sedona

Sedona has about 10,000 actual residents but welcome in over 3 million tourists each year. Crazy heh? World Class shopping and dining. Not just South Western Food (although there is plenty of that, yummy!) but foods and dining experiences from all over the world in this one destination. There are spas, retreats, and spiritual healing and the town is surrounded by beautiful Red Rock Hills and Mountainous landscapes.

You can park and walk the shops and stores. You can eat some of the best tasting foods around. You can sip on some delicious wines and have a very swell time! All rhymes too! You can visit the Pink Jeep Tour locations and easily set up an excursion, rent ATVs or 4X4s, and of course my favorite, a LIFE IS GOOD store! Cha-ching! Purchases were made by the TATES there for sure.

The town offers different types of lodging from 5-Star resorts to those that meet your budget whatever that may be. For us we stayed at what we will dub one of our favorite RV Resort / Campgrounds while Making Our Way Out West, the Rancho Sedona RV Park!

The town is located near or very close to all the hiking locations, water rafting, helicopter tours (um…), Pink Jeep Tours, private hikes, restaurants, airport, and so much more! Are you beginning to see why you need to come visit this magical place yet?

Rancho Sedona RV Park

Rancho Sedona is fully shaded by grand Sycamore and Cottonwood trees and is in the heart of town, next to beautiful Oak Creek. The park is within walking distance to galleries, shops and restaurants. Enjoy mountain biking, hiking and trout fishing all year long right from the park. In the summer enjoy swimming in the creek. Rancho Sedona is had spacious sites, clean facilities, laundry, and a cool hiking trail that leads you along the creek.

Our spot was on the end and we had four to five other vans camping nearby. This was one of our favorite camping destinations along our journey out west. Amy did book it far in advance to make sure we could stay. Amy got sick one day and we ended up staying an extra day. We had no problem securing our site for the additional day. We hadn’t done any laundry yet so we made sure to use their facilities. We found them to be nice. We hung out inside as our dirty laundry became clean, spent around $10 in quarters washing and drying two loads. Like I said we hadn’t done any laundry yet, so our laundry bag was quite full! Of course we had overpacked as well so we were tempted not to wear the same sets of clothes all the time (bad move, bring less, wash it, wear it again! LOL!)

We had two of the largest squirrels in the tree located on the side of our campsite. They were enormous and didn’t mind gawking at us every time we cooked food inside the Aloha. They did respect our boundaries however and that was good.

Chapel of the Holy Cross

Only about a 2.5 mile trip from Rancho Sedona we found the road leading up to the Chapel of the Holy Cross. This was a Must-See-Bucket-List item for me! I had seen pictures online and watched videos but the experience was memorizing. There is very limited parking at the base of the Chapel and a small parking lot up top just outside. There is a long line of vehicles waiting for someone to leave to they can snatch up a space. We thought about parking at the bottom but chose not to. If you plan on taking pictures of the Chapel from below and can get a spot at the bottom I think it would be better. We couldn’t find a spot and waited in line. this was early afternoon. The Chapel does still hold services on Sundays and during other events during the week. There is a nice gift shop in the basement portion as well, limited to a certain number of customers at a time, but worth the wait. Amy and I both made purchases for our moms and I got a cross necklace that I liked.

We didn’t have to wait in line as long as expected. Some vehicles made an 8-point u-turn and headed back down. Others parked. When we got up to the top parking lot someone backed out in front of us and we slid the Aloha in the space with EASE. Plenty of room. When we left, I back us out, drove to the circle at the top beside the Chapel and was able to safely without delay turn the van back around and head down the steep slope driveway.

If you visit Sedona you will stop here. I know you will. You must. The Chapel was so powerful. The views around it were something else! And you could get a great glimpse of the town below from up high.

We parked and walked up the hill to the sidewalk leading to the biggest glass doors I’ve seen. They were open and we could see people sitting inside on the wooden pews. We learned that the Chapel is open seven days a week from 9AM to 5PM, closed on Easter and Christmas.

The Chapel of the Holy Cross, sitting high atop the red rocks in Sedona, Arizona, was inspired and commissioned by local rancher and sculptor Marguerite Brunswig Staude. The Chapel was completed in 1956 at a cost of about $300,000. There is a great video you can watch on the Chapel’s website that explains the construction process. Very interesting.

There are a couple of fountains outside located along the sidewalk path up to the Chapel. We stopped to take pictures and also made some other stops along the railing to take in the mighty views. 250 feet high, jutting out a thousand foot rock wall, “solid as the rock of Peter.”

We entered the Chapel and immediately our eyes went to Jesus on the Cross. The architect that went into this statute is amazing. The eyes so lively. The artwork is phenomenal and you can definitely sense the Lord’s presence here strongly! We sat quietly in a pew and took in the sculpture. It was quiet inside and everyone showed respect. I took pictures but they don’t do justice to this artwork I tell you. Wow. All we could say when we left. We waited our turn to go downstairs into the gift shop. It was set up very nicely. We made some purchases and we were on our way.

We opted to walk down the steep hill to the base of the Chapel. I probably took a hundred photos in all (not quite that many, but a lot). I stopped often getting in as many different views of the Chapel as I could. We reached the base, stared up at its brilliance for a brief eternity and then began to walk back up to the van. It took a lot of energy to get back up I’m not going to sugar coat it. It was worth the walk down. You need to visit this place when you come.

Slide Rock State Park

7 miles outside of uptown Sedona we found the entrance to the Slide Rock State Park. A short wait in line to pay to get in was painless. We found a parking space easily. We changed into our swimwear inside the van. We hopped out and locked the Aloha up. I, armed with my Go Pro Max and waterproof bag followed behind Amy into the park. She was walking so fact, so excited. She loves these slides in the mountains. No matter where we go, stay, or visit she always finds some water to slide, splash, and jump into.

This park used to be a very reputable family owned apple orchard. The family decided to sell the property in 1982 but were reluctant to sell to a government unity. A local native, also the Governor knew the family well and worked for almost two years with others to help develop a foundation (made of numerous financial institutions / banks) to help fund the foundation to purchase the lands for 4 million dollars. Eventually the Slide Rock State Park became a state park in Arizona.

Hundreds of thousands visit this park every year. It was so much fun. A short little hike later past some old antique farm equipment we found the staircase leading down. We made our way through the crowd to the top of the slide. It is a slide through the rocks that is a little over 80 feet long. Amy hopped down on her backend in the chilly water and slid down. I followed along top of her filming with my Go Pro Max.

She was able to convince me it was so much fun that I went down with her. Cold. Cold. But lots of fun. I’m a bit heavier so my rear end got stuck a couple of times and then whoosh down I went into the freezing waters!

We watched a line of younger aged kids jumping from a cliff. I said screw it and walked to the ledge, then jumped. It was higher up than I thought. It took me a minute to get down to the water, lol. Splash! Cold. Colder. Lost my breath it was so cold. But it was fun.

A short while later Amy gained up her courage and jumped in as well. She loved it. We toweled off and headed into town for some grub. Great times, great oldies. You need to visit this place, little crowded for me, but had to go!

Devil’s Bridge Hike

Distance: 4.2 Miles (felt more like 6, lol)
Length of Time: 1 to 3 hours
Elevation Gain: 400 to 500 feet
Difficulty: Moderate / a section of steps/rock scrambling before bridge
Location: West Sedona

We parked at the Mescal Trail. If you have a 4X4 you can drive to the actual trailhead. If you don’t, like us then you will park farther away and have to take a longer hike. Builds character, lol.

Bring lots of water. It started out at 93 degrees but at the end it was pushing 98 degrees. We drank every drop of water we brought with us. Luckily I brought some extra with us. There is not a lot of shade and when you find it you want to hide underneath it and rest soaking it up. Maybe because we are a little older but maybe not. LOL.

It was funny because we would walk for a ways, see some people in a shaded area. They were leaving and we would take their spot. Then we would end up passing them at the next shade spot. They would then pass us at the next one and so on and so on. Kind of comical I thought.

We used All Trails, I downloaded the map before we started. Getting better at remembering this. Very important because wi-fi hardly ever works on some of these trails.

At the end of the flat trail we started climbing. This is where the elevation goes a little wacko momentarily. We climbed upward and then up some rock like stairs. We came to a big shade spot under this cliff top. We rested and then a short while later we saw it, the BRIDGE. We had reached the BRIDGE. No one else was there.

This hike is so popular we heard at times you have to wait in long lines just to get your opportunity to cross out on the bridge. We got lucky, no one else around, just Amy and I.

Amy just strolled on out there. The wind was blowing pretty good when we walked out across it. When it was my turn, my heart started racing, beating hard. I did it though, even though i’m scared of heights. I did it. It was so exhilarating. Well worth the hike. Hearts pounding we had to stay goodbye and headed back along the trail. We started passing people on the way back. Some people gave up early and turned around never making it. We had the mindset when we started out that we were definitely finishing this hike after all we put into it. We prevailed.

Birthing Cave Hike

The Birthing Cave was easy to mark out using All Trails. I downloaded the maps prior to take off. We asked a ranger in town at the visitor’s center where it was at and he told us they are no longer allowed to talk about this hike for some reason. He wouldn’t go into any specific details or explain any further. We parked at the Long Canyon Trail parking area.

We got the feeling we weren’t going the right way a couple of times but my trail map assured me we were on the right track. We walked for a while, hardly any shade. Cicadas are so loud and the trail had no shortage of them. Think they are alien bugs sent down to Earth to terrorize our peace and quiet.

Distance: 2 miles round-trip
Total Ascent: 250 feet
Difficulty: Easy until you get to the cave; climbing up into the Birthing Cave is moderate to difficult
Length of Time: 1 to 2 hours
Trailhead: Long Canyon Trailhead
Location: West Sedona

We walked for what seemed like eternity. I'm over exaggerating of course. It was actually a very cool, nice hike. We loved it. I kept thinking a bear was going to come running up on us at any minute for some reason. Believe it or not, they got them, and they got cats, not the kind that you keep as pets either.

For the majority of this hike, you will be walking on a wide, flat, sandy trail. It’s not until the very end when the trail gains any real elevation. We curved around a corner and then another, thought we were lost. Then I spied another trail leading to what I was pretty sure (off in the distance) was what looked like the entrance to the Birthing Cave. We walked through some brush and then the trail got a little heavy with bushes and shrubs.

We started going up. Up. UP. Then we scrambled up the path to the inside trail leading inside the Birthing Cave. We climbed and climbed and then… we were inside.

I walked up and down the sides, very smooth surface and hard to climb up. Amy took some pictures of me and I took some of her. We hung around resting inside enjoying the view of the landscape (Red Rock Mountains) in the distance. A woman, alone, came along shortly thereafter. She said she had taken a wrong turn and it took her an extra forty minutes or so to make the hike to the cave. She said she was married and had a bunch of kids. Her husband was babysitting and she was able to getaway for a hike like this one. Nice lady. Do what you gotta do I guess. Getcha hike on. We made our way back down, traced our All Trails map back to the parking lot and headed to camp. A wonderful hike, we felt great afterwards and had really enjoyed ourselves. Make sure to check it out if visiting Sedona.

Cicadas (Annoying Alien Bugs)

Cathedral Rock Hike

One the most popular and photographed areas / hikes is the Cathedral Rock Hike. They say this is the place to go to watch a sunset. We didn’t get back there unfortunately but I be its spectacular. We did go in the morning and there weren’t really a lot of people on the trail. The parking lot is small. It was full. We found another parking lot a little further down the road. We found a spot and hiked back up to the trailhead. We took our time making our way up the trail. This hike was very scenic. The area is vast and once you get up top you can see everywhere around for miles.

There is a trail that allows you to walk all the way around Cathedral Rock. We did this and had a lot of fun. The trail was mostly flat. I trailed off from time to time. You can take photos of the Rock from all different angles. There are so many different ways you can hike around or up this area. We walked to the backside and then came back to the front. Amy found a tree with shade and hung out there while I slowly made my way up to the top of the trail to get a close up view of Cathedral Rock. My blood pressure sky rocketed at one point but I rested a bit and continued on. At the top I had to climb up this small crevice type trail. The rock was smooth on both sides so it was hard to grab on to anything when climbing, that was a bit of a challenge while trying to hang on to my Sony Camera and not mess it up. But, I “Duddits” in the end. You may have to be a Stephen King fan to get that reference but I did it, “I Duddits!”

I made my way down and connected with Amy and we made our way back to the parking lot. We really enjoyed this hike and when we come back we will definitely come back to this one, and explore it further.

Distance: 1.2 miles round-trip
Total Ascent: 700 feet
Difficulty: Moderate
Length of Time: 1 to 2 hours
Location: South Sedona
Trailhead: Cathedral Rock Trailhead on Back O Beyond Road

Pink Jeep Tours (Rock Climbing 4X4 Style)

Amy booked us on a Pink Jeep Tour. I wasn’t sure what to expect. It sounded pretty awesome. We had heard that they were all pretty awesome no matter which tour you decided to take. We were signed up for Broken Arrow. We drove into town and parked. We walked over to the adventure center and signed in. We waited out back for about thirty minutes and then our driver came out and introduced himself. He was an excellent tour guide. He was very informative and handled the 4X4ing very well in our Jeep. He asked for a volunteer to sit up front, Amy spoke up before I could. She usually gets motion sickness on rides like this but she handled it like a champ and smiled the entire ride.

We buckled up and held on tight for the Broken Arrow Tour. This was Sedona’s most exclusive and thrilling off-road adventure! We climbed over and atop the area’s iconic red rocks, held our breath down steep descents and enjoyed stunning 360-degree views of Southwest wilderness. We got out several times going for walkabouts taking in gorgeous views of the Red Rock mountain tops. The tour guide got out with us and used our cameras to take our pictures with the beautiful backdrops. The tour finale was a vertical descent down a natural staircase of rock, ruts and roots! It was slow going down and our hearts were pounding! So much fun. Wanted to go on more but we didn’t have time this go around. Well worth it for sure!