Before our break was over and we would dive headfirst into another semester of school, my friends and I decided to escape for a daytrip up to Sedona.
We left as early as we could muster (granted we are college females so that was about 8:30am) and drove up to Sedona. Despite the fact that it was early January, it was in the upper sixties, so we decided to roll the windows down and listen to our music on full volume.
If you have never been to Sedona, you can liken it to the movie “Cars”. Sandstone spans the entire valley, vibrantly red against the cloudless blue sky. The town itself is small, with only about 11,000 inhabitants, but there are millions of tourists that come every year, hoping to enter the “vortex” (Read Gabi’s blog to get a better understanding of what that is) and align some chakras. Honestly, I don’t understand the “vortex” but we were asked to help locate it by some fellow tourist so evidently our camera bag totting bodies seemed to know what we were doing.
A friend of mine was meeting us along the main shopping strip (near the Pink Jeep Tours) for some lunch but since we were ahead of schedule, we stopped to hike Bell Rock. It was an awesome hike but very short from where we parked. You’re able to climb quite high in a short amount of time and once you get high enough, you have a beautiful view of Cathedral Rock and all of Sedona down below. It is definitely a hike you should do in some good shoes since some of the hills require you to use your hands to balance/pull yourself up, but the short exercise is definitely worth the view. Altogether it took us about thirty minutes to get from the parking lot to the upper third of Bell Rock and back. You could get higher than where we stopped on the mountain but I didn’t trust myself to not fall off the side, and I had food waiting for me 😉.
We ate a quick meal at the Canyon Breeze Restaurant which has a beautiful view of some of the red rocks and then we drove over to Devil’s Bridge.
The hike roundtrip is about 4 miles with a large part of it consisting of walking down a dirt road. Once you get to the actual trailhead, the hike gets much prettier and it only takes you about twenty minutes to get to the bridge itself. Although the Bell Rock hike was significantly shorter, I thought it was a little more vigorous than Devil’s Bridge. Keep in mind that our trip to Sedona was right after I came back from ten days in Wisconsin. Aka ten days of building up some insulation for the -30C weather that I had to brave myself against every time I walked outside.
Once you’re at the top, the view looks down on a beautiful valley. It faces east, so there are some problems with shadows depending on what time of the day you go. By the time we were there, it was about 3:30 and part of the valley was already in shadows. It was a bit overcast that day so the pictures didn’t turn out poorly but if you’re wanting to go for the prime photo opportunities, consider going in the morning or midday. There are plenty of millennials milling around at the top who will be more than qualified to take your picture. I got a few pictures looking over the cliff (reckless, yes; stupid, extremely) and sent them to my mother (who has a terrible fear of heights), and I can quite confidently say that she was not nearly as amused as myself. But hey, I’m still alive aren’t I?
Sedona houses some incredible shops showcasing incredible artwork, delicious food, and lots of goodies pertaining to spirituality and one’s connection with the “vortex”. It is an incredible place to visit and I don’t think you can ever fully describe the beauty of Sedona unless you visit it for yourself! If you enjoy hiking, swimming, meditation, or simply a good time Sedona is a place you must visit!
Peyton
