Hiking is one of the exciting and rewarding things to do in Sedona. I have decided to keep an online log of my hikes. This may be useful for others. I have just started this hiking section and it is still crude and under development.
Sedona has a massive network of hiking trails. Many of these are also open to horses and mountain bikes. When appropriate I will mention restaurants close to the hiking area – ‘restaurant pairing’ if you will. These are restaurants I like but there are plenty of other good restaurants in Sedona.
The trails I am showing here are ones that I have done, taken photographs, and collected data. Hiking with this in mind (a new approach for me) has added a whole new dimension to my hiking, and I look forward to sharing these experiences. I may include photos from of ruins that are off the beaten track. I will NOT include instructions or maps to these ruins to aid in preserving their somewhat pristine nature. Please respect native American ruins! They are protected by law with significant fines. Do not remove anything from the ruins.
I will attempt to group these hiking trails loosely by area.
Be Prepared
Be sure to take plenty of water and sun protection. Less clothing coverage is not necessarily a good way to stay cool and hydrated. Watch your step! Cactus and agave can be painful and the very occasional snake is worth seeing before you step on it. In my 10 years of hiking in this area, I have only seen 3 snakes and only 2 of those were dangerous and those were encountered off the trail while bushwhacking. If hiking off trails be considerate of the environment and know that periodically someone will find themselves lost or on challenging rocks from which they need to be rescued. In other words, stay on the marked trails unless you are prepared and well versed in backcountry travel and navigation. On some of our exploratory adventures, we carry ropes and rappel gear, which on occasion has turned out to be extremely helpful.
Hiking Resources
The Hike House in Sedona offers great advice on hiking trails. They have a good selection of hiking gear for sale and their website has a trail finder and some helpful advice. Hiking gear is also available from Canyon Outfitters in Sedona and there is a large selection of gear at REI in Flagstaff.
AllTrails.com offers an extensive database of hiking trails. An annual membership (they also offers a lifetime membership) gives complete access and many useful features. This includes computer access and they offer both Apple and Android versions of their app. Many trails in this area are already mapped out and rated along with a link to navigate to the parking lot using Google maps. Most significant trails are shown on their maps and using these you can map out your own route and save it. I use this for planning. The maps shown for the hikes are from this software. It is possible to use this app for navigation but the statistics are not as complete and there does not seem to be a way to store the maps on your device.
For navigating on the trail I use Backcountry Navigator. I have the Sedona area topo maps (these maps are free) loaded into Backcountry Navigator on my Samsung Note 8 smartphone, so I can easily navigate without a data signal. The app keeps a whole array of statistics on your hike and allows you to save a track generated on your hike. However, the topo map does not show trails. I download a GPX file from AllTrails and then load this into Backcountry Navigator. This system works well for me. Currently, this app is NOT available for IOS systems.
Hiking Areas Near Sedona
Adobe Jack Area
Mescal Mountain Area
Red Rock Loop Area
