Road Trip Co to AZ 2018 - Day #3 Sedona
Sedona, AZ
Many cool things about this location. Mainly the location is the biggest highlight. The rocks, landscape, you kinda go speechless trying to describe it, but it is really a beautiful place to visit. I had several place and popular hikes I wanted to do. Majority of the popular hikes are short and easy to do. So we got two of them done in no time at all.
Adventure #1 - Devils Bridge
First hike of the day is Devils Bridge. Fairly easy hike and easy to find, because there are a lot of people hiking and taking photos. Most of the people are currently behind me or to my left and right kinda in stadium seating and taking turns having their friends go out there and take photos of them.... like me below:
The one thing they don't tell you about the hike is that yes there is a trail head and then there is a 'over flow parking'. Technically the 'over flow parking' is where the trailhead starts. The road is a rocky dirt road that is meant for trucks and jeeps with tires for that type of terrain. It's easy to walk and only about a mile (point something) to the train head. Most poeple walk to the trailhead from the over flow parking area. So don't feel like you are in the minority (you aren't).
The total distance is 4.4 miles from the car and back and 587 ft of elevation gain.
The next hike was going to be a longer hike, but I needed to give my foot a rest (recovering from a foot injury from 2017). So I went to see some pictroglifs and another cliff dwelling. Starting to notice a trend with my 2018 road trip?
Adventure #2
Visit the Palatki Heritage Site is where you can go see cliff dwellings up close (like touch it its that close) and also see pictographs in a cliff/cave as well. You have to pay to park, but if you have a national Park Pass you are golden. To see both sites you should probably call in advance to reserve a spot during busy seasons. We were there midweek during off season so we waited maybe 10 minutes and had a tour with just 3 of us including the tour guide. The walk to the cliff dwelling is like 1/4 of a mile
Photo to the left: above the brick wall can see writings in charcoal
Due to unpaved roads (mild and easy to drive on) to get to this location the cave paintings are being covered up by dust. But they told us to take photos of sections and when we get back home to adjust levels, contrast, etc... and more paintings will be present then what we can see with the human eye.
Adventure #3 - Boynton Canyon
A bit chilly to do this hike in the winter and towards the end of the day, but not bad at all. As the notes said about the trail to bring layers, because the last 1/3 or 2/3rds of the trail is really down in the canyon and gets cold. It was extra chilly for us, because there was snow, ice and the sun was setting. However the trail was really fun, gorgeous terrain and the scenery kept changing.
Details about Boynton Canyon Hike:
- hike is an out and back with a total of 6.1 miles
- took us about 3 hours and that is with my foot slowing us way way down. Also towards the end there is a lot of up hill hiking, plus we dealt with snow and ice on the trail which again slowed us down.
- 787 ft of eleveation gain
- more details
