We arrived in Sedona on the evening of the third day of our trip. Thankfully, the weather had turned from gray clouds and rain, to blue skies with white puffy clouds (if any), sunshine, and mornings in the low 40s that turned into days with a high around 60. It was gorgeous! And the scenery was too.
On the fourth day of our hiking vacation, we had one particular destination in mind: Subway Cave. We'd originally planned to hike Cathedral Rock, but the trails there were still closed due to flooding. So we went with a main attraction with a trail that was muddy, but not underwater or washed out.
To get to Subway Cave, you first start on the Boynton Canyon vista trail.
You hike a ways, and then you start looking for a spur trail that is identifiable not by signs or trail markers, but by a "large alligator juniper tree". When you're from Michigan, where there is no such thing as an alligator juniper tree, you hope for the best and keep your eyes peeled. We finally found it. Really large, and had bark that looked like alligator skin.
We took the trail that lead off to the right, and picked our way through a wooded area, over a mostly dry stream bed, and then up, up, up. (We learned, during this trip, that most caves weren't in the ground, they required climbing/hiking up to and were in the rock cliffs.)
A view of Subway Cave from the outside.
Some of the trail was rock scramble, and some was walking along narrow rock ledges. DH tripped over a smallish yucca plant while climbing one of those rock ledges, and for a brief second, I thought he and I both were going over the edge to never be seen alive again! Thankfully although he bumped into me, I wasn't knocked backwards off my feet, and he faceplanted into the ledge rather than falling off of it. Another new catch phrase coined during this trip: Beware the yucca!
Up in Subway Cave, looking out the way we came.
In one portion of Subway Cave.
We didn't go into the main part, as it had a very narrow entrance and we're too big around to feel like we'd get through safely. There's only so much flexibility and balance in 50+ year old bodies, and big bellies combined with leaning around jutting rock walls while trying to balance and walk four to five feet on a 6-8" ledge over absolutely nothing just didn't sound like something we would be successful at that day.
When we were 'done' at Subway Cave, we climbed down and went back to the Boynton Canyon Trail. We followed that to the very end, which included many small stream crossings. Most of which were done by very carefully crossing on stones that weren't submerged; many spots were ankle deep, and sometimes we had no choice but to step on rocks that were underwater an inch or two.
It was getting late in the afternoon by the time we reached the end of the trail, the vista. We sat on a large rock outcropping and ate a snack while enjoying the view before heading back to the trailhead. I think that was a little bit over six miles of hiking that day.
Boynton Canyon vista left
Boynton Canyon vista right
The fifth morning, we were up early, as we wanted to hike to Devil's Bridge before it got too crowded. This was a very popular hike, and all accounts said you could expect to wait at least a half an hour to actually get up on it if you weren't there first thing in the morning (like, at the trailhead by about 7 a.m.)
The trail was one of the most trafficked that we'd been on, and for many parts of it you had to wait in line for your turn to go up (or down) some of the steep narrow sections that were rock scrambles. Boy, were we extra glad we'd done Camelback Mountain on our second day, as without that successful experience on a steep technical trail we would never have pushed on all the way to the Devil's Bridge. This was some hard, hard stuff. But oh, so cool to make it to the top, where you actually looked down at the Devil's Bridge, and could go down the trail a bit to walk out on it.
The Devil's Bridge, a natural arch way, way, up in the air.
Confession: we didn't actually walk on it. There was a line with a wait of at least 20 minutes when we got to the end of the trail at the bridge, and neither of us wanted to hand our phone to a stranger that long in order to get a picture. Nor did we want to spend probably an hour taking up space there if we went one at a time on the bridge while the other took our picture. It took long enough, and lots of maneuvering just to get a couple pictures of it between when one group or person was on it and another.
It was really cool though, and while it was kind of an excruciating hike to get to it, we were glad we did. And we didn't stop there. We decided to hike part of the Chuckwagon Trail to get back to where we'd parked. It was a different trail than we'd accessed the Devil's Bridge Trail on, and it was less crowded. Which was sometimes disconcerting, as some intersections weren't marked and we were basically guessing which trail was which and hoping we would end up at our vehicle sooner rather than much, much later.
different aspects of the Chuckwagon Trail
After eating the lunch we'd left in our vehicle. we drove around looking for another interesting trail that wasn't more than about three miles long. We ended up deciding to hike to the Birthing Cave even though the most direct trailhead for that was currently flooded and you had to park near another trailhead and then do some roundabout hiking to get to the trail for the Birthing Cave. Thankfully hikers are a pretty helpful bunch, and we were able to get directions from people we met along the trail. It made our hike a good hour longer than it could have been, but it was another neat hike with a rewarding destination and not too many terrifying rock scramble sections.
View from one side of the Birthing Cave.
Someone's dog looking down the rock scramble that was the only way up to or down from the cave.
That day ended up being about 10 miles, and an equal number of hours, of hiking.
The next day was our final one in Sedona, and our itinerary had us driving back to Phoenix for dinner, and sleep, before flying home the next day. We decided to not do more than three hours of hiking, so looked for a trail that wasn't too long or too challenging, to fit into that time span. We ended up choosing to do the Teacup Trail to Coffeepot Rock, and throw in the spur that has you summiting Sugarloaf Mountain.
It was a great choice, as there was hardly anyone else hiking it that morning. Which was really good, as the parking area only had space for about ten vehicles. We got the second to last open space. And when we came out, after hiking, the lot was full with a line of cars on the street at least a dozen cars long, waiting for a parking space to open up.
view from summit of Sugarloaf
(opposite direction) view of Sedona from summit of Sugarloaf
Coffeepot Rock
All in all, it was the best vacation DH and I have taken in a while. Just what we needed to recharge. There's so much hiking to do, especially in Sedona, that we can see ourselves coming back many times and still not hiking everything there is. We can also see ourselves bringing the grandkids (at about ages 7 & up) there sometime in the future for a hiking vacation they would really find fun too. DH even wants to do Camelback Mountain again.
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