Report

We spent Valentine’s Day weekend hiking around Sedona, Arizona for the first time. My overall impression is that it’s a really stunning area, but quite busy because of it. You have to wake up really early to get parking spots at trailheads, and it’s insanely expensive to stay in Sedona– which is why we stayed an hour away in Flagstaff and drove up Oak Creek Canyon everyday to go hiking in Sedona. I don’t necessarily recommend this, especially if you want to do sunrise hikes, but Flagstaff is a good Plan B if you’re on a budget.

My favorite trail we did was Boynton Canyon to the Subway Cave. My least favorite was Seven Sacred Pools (a bit underwhelming compared to how it looks on social media). The best sunset trail/photo spot was Secret Slickrock. The trail that surprised me the most with how much I enjoyed it was Devil’s Bridge, just because it’s so popular that I was prepared to be annoyed with crowds, but we went at sunrise and only waited a minute or two to take our photos- and the view really was stunning. And I met people from my hometown in Ohio on the arch, so we did an O-H-I-O photo together– made my morning!

We got some yummy donuts at Sedonuts in town, the best was the berry filled glazed donut. We also enjoyed eating at Cafe Rio in Flagstaff, since New Mexico doesn’t have it. Overall, a jam packed weekend of hiking our buns off!

Photos