Sedona – Escaping Chicago Winters

Why We Picked Sedona

Chicago winters can get kind of brutal at times. January and February always seem to drag on for us. For the past few years we try to go somewhere warm and sunny. Sedona has been on our radar for a few years now, and this year we finally decided to make it happen. We took a four day trip to Sedona in March.

Day 1 – Travel Day

We flew into Phoenix, rented a car and drove to Sedona which is about a 2 hour drive. We arrived in Sedona around 4:30pm and checked into our Airbnb. After unpacking, we headed to a grocery store that was .5 miles away to pick up sandwhich supplies and snacks. We didn’t want to waste the entire day traveling, so we planned to see the sunset at Airport Mesa before we found somewhere to eat. Airport Mesa is a small regional airport in Sedona, which also happens to have a hiking trial around the entire airport. We read that this spot was the best place to catch a beautiful sunset. The viewing area also happens to be one of Sedona’s four main energy vortexes.

If you are driver (which you likely will be), there is a small free parking lot right below the vortex. However, this lot fills up quickly. There is a larger parking lot further up the road, which cost us $2 to park out. Grab a water for $1 at the front entrance.

This would be our 1st hike. We tossed on our new hiking shoes and walked the half mile trail to get to the vortex. The trail is very easy and beginner friendly. We enjoyed seeing cactus and taking in the views of Sedona. Once we got to the vortex location, we had to climb up the small flat top mesa. There we had a 360 panorama view of the city. Coming from the south, I will say it felt like I was on another planet. The area wasn’t too crowded. We were able to enjoy a very beautiful sunset with about 20 other people. We forgot our headlamps in the car, so after the sun vanished over the horizon, we hopped back on the trail to reach the car before nightfall. We grabbed dinner at a nice Mexican restaurant and headed back to our Airbnb to get some rest.

Day 2 – Devils Bridge and Boynton Canyon.

For the two full days we were going to be in Sedona, we decided to do 2 trials each day. One on the shorter side and one of the longer side. For the first day we decided on the Devils Bridge and Boynton Canyon to Subway trails.

Devils Bridge

If you search anything about Sedona trails this one will likely be one of the top trails you see, and for good reason. The trail ends with a spectacular view and an opportunity for amazing social media pictures (we did it for the gram).

First off, we should talk about parking. Most of the parking lots at the trailheads in Sedona require you to purchase a RedRock Pass, or an America the Beautiful Interagency Pass. if you have one of those. You can purchase the RedRock Pass in town, or at certain trailheads. We read there was a location at the Mescal Trailhead, but were unable to locate it. So we purchased a digital pass online, through our phone. You provide your license plate number and there is nothing to display. This worked for us with no issue.

Some people choose to start this trail at the Dry Creek Road parking lot, or if you have a 4×4 you can drive to the Dry Creek Road Trailhead and start from there. From our research, we decided to start at the Mascal Trailhead. Trust me, it’s the more scenic way to go. We decided to get to the trail early, because we heard that they block off the parking lot at 7:00am when the shuttle busses start (shuttles are free). This was on a Thursday, and we never saw the lots close when we came back. Just be advised. We started the trail around 6:45am and were greeted with a group of yellow hot air ballons lifting off in the distance to our right. This trail was about 4 miles round trip and it was a lot of fun. You start out and are instantly transported into the desert. The path is well marked and wasn’t crowded that early in the morning. You will walk through what feels like a maze of bushes and trees and over red sand/rock for about a mile while enjoying Sedona’s landscape. All the rock formations are stunning to behold. At around a mile, you will arrive at the Devils Bridge Trailhead. From here it’s just 1 mile to the actual bridge. The trail starts off very similar the way the Mascal trail ends. The trial becomes wider and is actually the remains of an old access road. After this I would say the intensity steps up 1 level. As you continue, the trail narrows and you will hike up several sets of steep, rocky steps and may even need to scramble in certain areas. You will climb up a very vertical sets up stairs and arrive at a nice viewing spot. You arrive at a semi circular, flat spot that lined with all kinds of small rocks that other hikers have stacked on top of each other. It felt very artsy and added to the experience. If you get to here, then you are nearly finished. I will say that we are total beginners, but in pretty good shape. There are areas at the end, that I believe could be challenging for some people, but there was a lot of people of different fitness levels that were making it to the end, so don’t let it intimidate you. Walking up the rest of the rock, you will finally arrive at the Devils Bridge, a natural sandstone arch. Here you will find a lot of people hanging out and taking pictures. We heard the line can take up to an hour to get a picture on the bridge. Luckily, with us being there fairly early, we only had to wait for a couple of groups to take pictures. Here we had to step out of our comfort zone and ask someone to take a picture of us standing on the bridge. We packed snacks and decided to eat our peanut butter and honey sandwiches here before we made the 2 miles trip back down to our car.

Boynton Canyon

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