There are good things about airlines messing up your travel - sometimes you get free flight vouchers. That is how I ended up in northern Arizona for a week.
I’ve been wanting to travel to the Southwest for quite some time. Since the early 2010s, Santa Fe has been on my mind, but Sedona, AZ was always a close second.
There’s something about this part of the country I feel drawn to, if only because my little Midwestern heart can’t possibly conceive of the giant red rock formations, deep canyons, and magnificent sandstone buttes unless in person.
Or, perhaps, it’s because I grew up with a grandmother showing me beautiful Native American jewelry and artifacts she’d collected over the years, leading me to believe we had some sort of deeply sacred, indigenous blood running through our veins. We do not. Thanks 23andMe.
Either way, I’ve come to love exploring new landscapes, breathing in new air, touching new surfaces, and standing in awe at the diversity this one planet can contain. I feel small when I go to new places in the best way possible.
For this trip, we rented a modest guest room in someone’s hillside estate in the Verde Valley - which Josh affectionately came to refer to as “The Salsa Verde Valley” for the entire trip. The room was quaint and cozy. Each morning, golden sun poured through tiny stained glass windows illuminating the bedroom and reminding me to be appreciative of the experience at hand, despite dealing with the intense Arizona allergies everyone failed to warn me about. A sweet black cat with dirty ears roamed the property alongside thousands of little red ants. I watched them each morning cuddled into the bistro table as the sun finished its ascent over the valley.
The room itself offered few amenities. Because of this, Josh and I became quite familiar with the local cuisine. We ate out literally every single meal. It was terrible. And wonderful.
Not one for crowds, we chose to stay about 15 minutes outside of Sedona in a small town called Clarkdale. Clarkdale is nestled between Cottonwood to the south and Jerome to the north. Both of these towns proved to be perfect wandering grounds for late night meals and drinks after long days of hiking.
Jerome in particular became an unexpected highlight of the trip. It’s built into a cliffside and the views are outstanding. Our first night in the area we ventured up the steep roads and found ourselves in a bar chatting it up with a man whose name I don’t remember but do know worked as a private forest fire pilot and at one time chartered sailboats all across the Caribbean.
He filled us in on the history of the town, making sure to point out that “In the 70s the hippies took over the place until the Feds ran them out.” Apparently, this town has a stark history of generally unsavory behavior and lawlessness. It’s also haunted. And I swear you can feel the truth in that when you walk the streets at night.
Speaking of, Jerome (and surrounding areas) are Dark Sky communities, meaning the stargazing was spectacular. There are also ample UFO tours…we did not partake.
Cottonwood, to the south, has a less colorful history but still was well worth visiting. With the exception of only one restaurant, the food was great, and we found a local bar to return to each night called the Jackalope. They let us play Mario Kart.
When we’d leave our home base, most of our time would be spent driving to or near Sedona in search of hiking. If I could have done nothing else the entire trip except drive to and from the surrounding areas of Sedona, through the Oak Creek Canyon, and up to the Flagstaff area, the trip would have still been worth it. The views were stunning, unfathomable, really. It feels dumb to use words to try and describe them, and the pictures suck, too.
I was pleasantly surprised that Arizona had so much diversity in its landscape. In one day I traveled from 100+ degree heat and giant cacti clusters through river valleys, creeks, canyons, the most insane rock formations I’ve ever seen to forests, mountains, and snow. As we drove up and down 89A we laughed at all the “Scenic Lookout Ahead” signs because the entire geographical region was just that. It made me realize just how flat the Midwest really is.
Sedona + Surrounding Areas
I knew little of Sedona prior to arriving. From what I gathered, I assumed it would be beautiful, spiritual, and dusty. All true.
What I did not anticipate was how busy it would be. The downtown (Uptown) area reminded me of the Wisconsin Dells on a Saturday in July, but with worse parking. I hate saying that, but it’s true. As a person who regards metaphysical things with a certain level of respect and awe, I also felt a little saddened at the repetitive commercialization of spirituality up and down the main streets. But hey, who am I to judge? I can’t possibly ascertain what a shop owner’s intentions are or are not, and frankly if I felt uncomfortable all I had to do was pop out of the shop, look up, and quite quickly remind myself of how magical this moment is and how unbothered I need to be about anything else.
I can say, however, that the art galleries and jewelry shops were chock full of pieces from local artists and craftsmen. Whether on the main strip, the Tlaquepaque, or a random stand on the side of the road - all are worth exploring.
Hiking
Luckily, it’s effortless to escape the noise and tuck into one of the 250+ scenic hiking trails surrounding the area. Most of the trails we explored were throughout the Coconino National Forest. The Forest Service site refers to this area as:
“The land of diverse vistas…from the famous red rocks of Sedona to Ponderosa pine forests, from southwestern desert to alpine tundra, the Coconino National Forest is one of the most diverse and unforgettable destinations in the country.”
That’s a perfect summary.
Because of that, I struggled prepping for this trip because I knew how many places were available to explore, and I knew there wouldn’t be enough time to do/see them all. I had to choose, and I don’t like choosing if I don’t have all of the information…and how can one possibly amass all of the pertinent information on 250+ trails in a 10 day span from deciding to go on vacation to actually leaving for said vacation? It’s not possible.
Meanwhile, Josh abhors excessive planning and finds it terribly confining (i.e., vacation ruining). So, for the most part, I resisted my Type A tendencies and did not print out the “loose” itinerary I couldn’t help but secretly create and did my best not to lose it when we weren’t up and at it at 7am, because honestly, the mountain wasn’t going anywhere, and I needed a lesson in remembering to chill.
I’m not sure I’d say I “surrendered to the experience,” but I was less controlling than usual, and because of that we were able to wake up and wander into whatever the day presented without much friction.
On that: I’m not going to give a breakdown of every hike we did because I am not a travel blogger and don’t want to be, but I will share some highlights and takeaways.
The desert is hot. Obviously, I knew this. But, wow. I was grossly under-prepared (mentally) for how difficult hiking in the midday Arizona sun would be. Shade does not exist. This is not hiking in the Rockies.
It’s also cold. Drive an hour north and you’re hiking in snow. We didn’t have the right gear to do any of the Flagstaff / San Francisco Peaks hikes, but we drove quite far into the old eroded volcanic field and spent an entire day exploring what we could at the base of the small mountain range.
Elevation. I don’t know why I forgot to consider this, but Jerome has an elevation comparable to Denver, and Flagstaff is over 6,900 feet. While the elevation gains on our hikes weren’t overly impressive, for someone used to an elevation of 751 feet, I think I underestimated the effect it would have on my cardiovascular strength during hikes. At least during the first couple days.
Or, maybe, I’m out of shape. Josh and I weren’t sore throughout the trip, and we made pretty good time up and down the trails, but we struggled to breathe! We both left AZ with a renewed goal to get into better shape so we can continue doing the things we love for decades more.
Vortexes (Vortices?). Sedona has four major vortex areas: Airport Mesa, Cathedral Rock, Bell Rock, and Boynton Canyon. According to a Sedona tourism site, “A vortex refers to a unique geological and spiritual phenonmenon…[it] is believed to be a swirling center of energy that can produce a range of physical, emotional, and spiritual effects.” There are only a handful in the world, and Sedona has the most centralized in one geographic area. This is a huge influence and draw for the Sedona spiritual community and is partly responsible for Sedona being known worldwide as a deeply healing, sacred site. It is quite common to see people meditating, doing yoga, partaking in shamanic journeying, plant medicine, or other deep healing activities at these places. We hiked 3 out of 4 vortex sites. Of the ones we visited, Boynton Canyon was my favorite. It is said to be a site of balanced masculine and feminine energy, and while that may be true, I enjoyed it for the palpable calm, grounding sensation I experienced.
Heights. I learned I was afraid of heights back in 2018 when I was climbing in Estes Park. Apparently, I haven’t gotten over that. Most hikes we did were safe - as safe as climbing high rocks can be - but there were a couple difficult and steep scrambles I had to talk myself through. On Cathedral Rock in particular, I sat down and gave up two times. I didn’t feel good, we hadn’t planned to do that hike, I ate too big of a lunch, it was hot, I was on my period, blah, blah. But one thing I can appreciate about Josh is that he absolutely will not stand for my bullshit. He literally made me get up and kept going on and on about how this was “growth.” I was annoyed because the hike was easy, compared to others I’ve done, but even so my body was just not cooperating. Eventually, my attitude improved and I was able to finish the scramble, clinging to the side of the canyon, scared, but proud nonetheless.
Random hikes are the best hikes. We did some of Sedona’s most popular hikes (they’re popular for a reason - so stunning!), but we also did a bunch of random hikes we found on All Trails. My favorite hike of the entire trip was off of Brins Mesa. I felt like I was one with the sky. We also drove along 89A through the Oak Creek Canyon almost daily and constantly found little spots to turn off, get out, and go explore an unfussy trail or creek access point. Arizona is full of secret swimming holes and unexpectedly finding those water spots was another highlight of my trip!
Enjoy this photo dump:
Outside of hiking, driving around, visiting random towns, and eating, we also made a point to locate various historical ruins and Native American cultural sites throughout the area.
The prominence of these people - past and present - truly makes Sedona what it is and if you ever have a chance to go, it’s important and humbling to partake in the history of the land. We were able to visit the Montezuma Castle ruins and the outskirts of other Cliff Dwelling sites (Honanki, Palatki), but if I were to go back I’d dedicate much more time to learning, exploring, and experiencing this piece of Sedona’s history.
In Summary
Taking off for a week to a place I’ve never been with someone who’s up for just about anything is just about my favorite thing to do.
I wasn’t sure what to expect for this trip and was careful not to place too many expectations on it, but what I can say after returning is that the scenery alone is healing. I close my eyes and I can still see the jagged rock formations against the horizon. I can feel the dry air on my skin. I can remember the textures of all the different rocks I touched. The entire time, I felt infinitely grateful for and grounded to Mother Earth, something that this busy, heady mind of mine sometimes struggles to do.
I can’t say I had any sort of transcendental spiritual experience - no more than any other day at least - but perhaps the lesson for me this trip was to loosen my grip on life, settle into the tangible gift of each moment, and be reminded of the sacredness all around me, even in the mundane.