Coconino National Forest & Sedona
April 15, 2020
After boondocking in the Sonoran Desert, we were ready to head further north toward Sedona. Sedona is a beautiful little city with surrounding, massive red rocks jutting up from the ground. It is a hiker’s paradise with hundreds of trails of varying difficulty.
Cathedral Rock
Our first adventure in Sedona was Cathedral Rock Trail. It is a short 1.2 mile hike with spectacular views throughout, but especially at the end. Midway through begins a somewhat steep climb up the red rock for a total 740ft elevation gain. At this point I started incorporating basset-deadlifts into my workout regimen. Bruno has surprising ups for his short, little legs, but he required my assistance quite a lot on this hike.
We gave it the good ol’ college try but eventually came to a rock that we couldn’t quite heave the dogs over. This was not a trail built for basset hounds.
At this point we found a little ledge and decided it’d be a good time for lunch with a view. The dogs and I decided we’d hang there while Sean climbed the rest of the way to the top.
We were OK with being left behind because we had a pretty spectacular view.
Meanwhile, Sean made it the rest of the way to the top of Cathedral Rock and was rewarded with amazing 360 red rock scenery.
Interactive photo – click and drag to look around:
Boynton Canyon
The next hike I had been wanting to do in the area was Boynton Canyon Trail. It’s a 6.1 mile, dog-friendly hike through Coconino Forest to a red rock canyon.
Most of the hike is pleasantly shaded by the forest trees, but the last spurt is another [milder this time] rock climb up to the canyon. When we finally made it up, Bruno found his own little personal cave to rest in.
At first we thought we couldn’t go any further because there were rocks to our left that looked impassable, so we enjoyed our little sliver of the canyon for a while.
Then we realized there was a trickier climb on the left-hand side to wider views of the rest of Boynton Canyon.
Soldier Pass
The Soldier Pass Trail is 4.5 miles out-and-back and one of our favorites in the area. Very early on in the hike, you come across the Devil’s Kitchen Sinkhole which is an active sinkhole created by the collapse of an underground cave. It is currently 150-ft wide and 50-ft deep and has a large tree growing in its center.
Every couple of minutes on this hike, you come across a new breathtaking view.
Interactive photo – click and drag to look around:
At the end of the trail, we doubled back to a different area with small caves nestled into the sides of the red rock cliffs. This was another challenge for the dogs but well worth it, looking out from the caves at the top.
And that’s just a fraction of the hiking there is to do around here! Remember how I said last time that we were looking for a place to settle down for a bit longer? Well we decided this is the place to do it! There are just so many dog-friendly hikes relatively close to us.
Our very loose hypothetical plan for our trip is way off track; we had planned to follow good weather throughout the year and hit the major highlights on my list. This would’ve likely put us in California by now, but lots of the highlights are closed and we’re steering clear of California for the time being.
So instead we’ve booked an RV site in Rimrock, AZ (close to Sedona) for a month. A nightly rate here would’ve been ~$40/night. The monthly rate comes out to around $15/night, so even if we decide we actually want to move on in a couple of weeks, we will still come out ahead.
The weather is beautiful here, and the scenery equally so. Lately we’ve been taking a couple of days around the RV: refreshing ourselves on an online Python coding course we took awhile back, blogging, working out, socializing in virtual happy hours, etc. Then we spend a day hiking (usually on weekdays when people are working from home so we have the trails mostly to ourselves) and exploring a new spot. Rinse. Repeat. We’d be happy as larks living this way forever.
On Easter, Lexi and the basset bunny Bruno had an Easter bone hunt and the humans made barbecue ribs.
That’s all for now. Until next time, all you cool cats & kittens!
Lol Carole!
Looks like a great place to park it for a bit!
Fantastic! I love Sedona. It’s beautiful. Last time we went, we wen thg swimming at slide rock park. The kids jumped off the cliff! It took them both a few times of walking to the edge and away before they went. So fun! I hate the drive down to Sedona from Flagstaff. The hairpins twists and turns freak me out! I’m guessing you didn’t do that in the RV?
Basset deadlifts! LOL Spectacular pictures–loved the 360 shot and the close up of you and Bruno! <3
Love all these beautiful pics!!!