We weren’t in a hurry to get out and head for Sedona this morning, but we were still up and about at a decent hour. We had some coffee in the room and decided to go to the greasy spoon across the street for breakfast.

I had an omelette – ham and cheese – yum! The coffee was mostly terrible, but whatever. 

When we were done eating, we ran back across the street and finished packing up our stuff. We’d decided to head straight to Sedona and find a place to camp, and then go do something if we had time in the afternoon. 

The drive down was beautiful! It cut through Oak Creek Canyon, which was spectacular with the golden leaves still on the trees and the red rocks peeking through in between. Not a long drive, mileage wise, but all those twists and turns made it take a bit. 

We went straight to the place I’d found for dispersed camping and drove down the road. The first parking lot was pretty close to the road, and pretty full. The second was a little ways back, tiny, and REALLY full. We decided to go one more before giving up and trying the other sode of the street. 

Success! There was a nice big spot with a tree for some shade and plenty of open space for our tent and our stuff. We set up camp and decided to go for a little hike. 

We went to Cathedral Rock. AllTrails said it was mostly up, but at 1.3 miles round trip, we figured it couldn’t be that bad. It wasn’t. SO much fun! It was really nice, easy trail that became straight up slickrock. So scrambly and so much fun! The view from the top was spectacular also. I mean, everywhere you look, it’s ridiculously, mind-blowingly beautiful. That seems to be a theme with me this year….. 

We went to the grocery store after that (or maybe we’d gone before hiking – I can’t remember now) and went back to camp, where we sat around for a little bit and read books before dinner. 

As soon as the first tiny chill hit the air, we started dinner. Flatbread pizza. With broccoli. Yum!  

We went into the car afterwards for a bit and read books just so we didn’t lay down SO damned early – but by about 6:30 we gave up and went into the tent for the night. Think I was asleep before 8:00…. 

The next morning, I woke up before sunrise, as is my custom for some annoying reason… But – I grabbed a timelapse of sunrise at least. While drinking coffee. Because, priorities. 

After a while, Matt got up, and we had some bagels for breakfast.  We headed out before too long so we could get a parking spot. Apparently trailhead parking here fills up fast.

The trailhead for Devil’s Bridge wasn’t terribly full by the time we got there, and we started on our hike. It wasn’t too hard, even if the last half mile or so was straight up – the stairmasters abound here in Sedona. 

The bridge itself looked like nothing until you got right next to it, then it was cool! You could actually walk out onto it. It looks really scary from the side, until you get up to it and realize it really pretty wide. Matt walked out, we got some pictures, then I walked out, then he came back out and we got all the obligatory pictures. 

We went back to the car, changed clothes, and grabbed some food. The trailhead for the other hike (something called the Birthing Cave) we wanted to do was about half a mile up the road, and there was a connecting trail, so we just took it from there. 

We hiked for a bit, and then the obligatory stair master up to the cave. It was sorta anticlimactic. I really thought you got up to an edge and this gorgeous view would be on the other side of it or something, and it wasn’t. It was just… A cave. Until you turned around and saw the opening that the “Birthing” cave was named for. It totally looks like- well. You get the idea. 

After that hike, we at a bit, went to the grocery again, and headed back to camp.

We had a chill afternoon at camp and then had dinner stupid early, pizza again. Needed to use up the leftover naan and pizza sauce. It was just as good. 

Then a little while in the car, and into the tent for the night. 

The next day was another fairly early morning, another sunrise time lapse… More coffee waiting for the sun to come up. 

We had quick oatmeal for breakfast and headed to today’s trailhead. We wanted to get out not too late, we were doing a biger hike today. We were doing the Hangover Loop. 

I think we started walking around 9:00 am, which was nice. The trail meandered through some scrub brush and some washes for a bit.  

Eventually, we turned onto the Hangover Trail proper, and the stairmaster began. It wasn’t until we got towards the top of the butte-thing that it started in earnest, though. 

We gained a little saddle, and the trail turned left and onto some slickrock. It went around the side of a cliff (well, it’s slickrock, so not an actual cliff, but plenty steep below), and it was off cambre as hell, too. We came around a corner at one point, and the paint marks on the rock went straight up. And up. And up, and up, and up. It was nuts. 

Eventually, we got to a place where you just couldn’t go up any more. That’s when the trail started traversing the cliff line. Well, sorta. There was a small line of trees and bushes precariously perched on the side of this slickrock cliff, and the trail went between the trees and the cliff wall… So interesting and SO cool! The trail really did “hang over” the cliff face. 

We finally made it back to the next saddle, and up and over. More scampering over slickrock finally brought us to the Cow Pie Trail. Again, aptly named. The big brown mounds of rock looked, like, well… Cow pies. 

Once we got through that section, we came upon the road. By this point, we were beat. We decided to just take the road back to the car, which ended up being slightly shorter. Or so we told ourselves…

It was over eight miles of pretty solid hiking today. Lemme tell ya, I am NOT recovered from my race – not physically OR mentally. 

Then we went to Sedona Brewing Company for some food and beer. Lo and behold, we ran into a guy I know who’s a customer from work, here with his wife and some friends for his 40th birthday. Small freaking world. Oh, the beer was good too. 

We made our way back to camp after that and read books in the sun. It’s so nice that it’s warm outside. 

At some point we figured we didn’t need dinner, but we munched on crap and then eventually fired up the LavaBox… And made s’mores! It had been a LONG time! Yum!

We watched sunset with the s’mores in our hands and enjoyed the fire a little longer… And now I’m laying in the tent, 6:38 pm, typing this. I’m going to read for a bit and hopefully stay awake past 7:30, but I’m not too hopeful…..