Sedona is known for its many hiking trails and outdoor activities. So naturally, when planning our trip, I knew we had to do some type of hike through the red rocks. But the lazy girl in me knew that I wouldn't want to hike for very long, so after some research I found the Devil's Bridge. The Devil’s Bridge is the largest natural sandstone arch (54 feet tall) in the Sedona area. After showing Drew a picture, I knew this was the hike we were going to take.
Thankfully the rain eventually stopped as we headed into Sedona. There are 3 different ways to get to the Devil's Bridge depending on the type of vehicle you have.
Depending on your vehicle capabilities, you can go on a short hike or a longer trail to the arch. To get to the closest parking area, you need to have a 4WD vehicle, since the last bit of the road is very washed out with a couple of potholes. Since, we only had a little compact rental, it's safe to say we made the right choice to park and hike.
First option is to park in the lot right before the 4WD trail starts and walk alongside the road, or follow the trail (we ended up following the trail then linking up to the road, then walking along the road on the way back) it's about a 3.6 miles RT.
Second option, is to park at the Chuckwagon Trail head, and hike through the connecting trail to the Devil's Bridge. This trail eventually links up near the parking lot and bumpy road, this trail appeared to be a much more scenic route for those looking for a hike. Round trip, you are looking at around 6 miles of hiking if you opt for this path.
In my opinion the first option is the best, you do have to get there as early as possible, when we arrived, there were about 3 other cars in the parking lot. But by the time we left the parking lot was full, and cars were lined up on Dry Creek Road. But if you love to sleep in, take option 2.
We decided to follow the trail instead of walking along the road. It's a bit longer, but the views are absolutely beautiful. I wish Rylie was able to join us on this trip. She would've had so much fun running around.
The trail itself is pretty easy, basically follow the trail until you have to start climbing a rock staircase that leads up the rocks to the arch. At one point, there is a portion of rocks that require you to practically climb up, it looked pretty scary, but it’s not very challenging. In this case, looks can be deceiving!
Once we finally made it to the bridge Drew went running across without a second thought. He scared the crap out of me, from the angle I was standing it looked it he was at the edge! He sure knows how to keep me on my toes! But when I finally made it over I realized that it was much safer than I thought. Although it looks terrifying to cross the bridge, it is actually about 5 feet across and 45 feet long.
We ended up spending more time at the bridge than we had planned. There was a crowd of people, but everyone was so great about not being on the bridge to let other get their picture.
We ended up spending more time at the bridge than we had planned. There was a crowd of people, but everyone was so great about not being on the bridge to let other get their picture.
The hike back down was much quicker than expected. It was about 10:30a once we started making our way down. The sun was high in the sky and the Arizona heat hit us hard. I know one thing, even though our morning didn't start off as planned, I'm glad we started as early as we did!
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