The Devil in Devil's Bridge

DEVIL’S BRIDGE

Hikers on the way to Devil's Bridge

Hiking has many benefits.  Beyond the healthy perks of physical activity, being in the outdoors boosts mental well being, fosters an appreciation for nature and builds a sense of stewardship for our public lands. It’s also a great way to meet people with similar interests.

Pilgrimage on the Chuckwagon trail to Devils' Bridge

And with recent reports on the negative impacts of loneliness, it would seem hitting the trails would be a win-win.  The trick is to pick trails that attract crowds of people more in the game for the social aspects than for an isolated backcountry experience. Enter Devil’s Bridge--one of the busiest hiking destinations in Arizona.

Mescal trail crosses Dry Creek

The iconic Sedona trail that leads to a scenic natural sandstone arch has been a big draw for ages. Its popularity is bolstered by several factors--easy access, relatively short distance with only moderate difficulty, and a huge ooh-ahh punch at the end.  

Trails to Devil's Bridge are well signed

Thousands make the pilgrimage each year to queue up for a photo atop the 50-foot-high arching formation in Red Rock Secret Mountain Wilderness in Coconino National Forest just a few miles from Uptown Sedona.  

Mescal Mountain (center) from Chuckwagon

Based on personal experience, many of the visitors have limited time and or experience and want to get the most bang per hiking mile.  A survey of license plates in the trailhead parking area belays the nationwide fame of Devil’s Bridge.

Doe Mountain and juniper snag

Montana, Utah, Massachusetts, Iowa, Texas, Illinois, South Carolina, California, California, California.  People on the trail are generally courteous, eager to talk and more than happy to snap a photo of you and your group.  Some have inspiring stores. Others just want to know the names of surrounding rock formations (Mescal Mountain, Doe Mountain, Bear Mountain and Cockscomb on this hike).  Either way, striking up a conversation is effortless.

Devil's Bridge is in a wilderness area

Anybody who has read my blog over the years, knows I prefer more off-the-wall, less crowded trails over the hyper popular kind. So, what the heck was I doing there on a recent weekend after avoiding it for 18 years?  Entertaining winter visitors with a gnawing need to check this off their bucket list.  

Mountain vista on Chuckwagon trail

Since my guests were fit but not really hikers, we took the short route beginning at the Mescal trailhead one of the four best ways to access the trail including the free Sedona Shuttle service.  

Cockscomb (L) and Doe Mountain

We arrived at 7:30 a.m. and scored one of the last open parking spaces.  Trail traffic along the first well-signed mile which follows the Mescal and Chuckwagon trails was constant, often coming in fits and spurts of small groups.  Bottlenecks begin where the route gets steeper, ascending uphill on rough cut sandstone staircases. About 0.2-miles before the bridge where the route crosses into the wilderness area, traffic slows to a near standstill as hikers meet a fork with one leg heading to the space below the arch and the other to the final stairs to the top. 

Crowd-free Devil's Bridge--18 years ago.

On weekends, we’re talking an elbow-to-elbow scenario of chatty, awestruck hikers.  It’s not the ideal experience for some, but anybody who ventures here ought to know that and shouldn’t expect solitude.  Having been there and done that, I decided to opt out of the line that was  tantamount to those at major theme parks but without the turnstiles. I waited in a cypress-shaded alcove with a nice family visiting from Europe while my friends earned their check mark, some fabulous photos, and a couple of new friends.

 

LENGTH:

From the Mescal Trailhead:  4 miles roundtrip

From the Dry Creek Vista Trailhead: 5.8 miles round trip

From Devils Bridge Trailhead:  1.8 miles roundtrip

RATING: moderate

ELEVATION: 4,500 – 4,910 feet

 

GETTING THERE:

 

SEDONA SHUTTLE--preferred method!

Service to Mescal and Dry Creek trailheads.

https://sedonashuttle.com/

 

DEVIL’S BRIDGE TRAILHEAD:

From the State Route 179/89A traffic circle in Sedona, go 3.2 miles west (toward Cottonwood) on SR 89A  to Dry Creek Road. Turn right and continue 2 miles to the turn off for Forest Road 152 on the right. Follow FR152 past the Dry Creek Vista trailhead for about a mile to the signed Devils Bridge parking area. The road beyond Dry Creek Vista is very rough. A high clearance/4x4 vehicle is required. There are no facilities or fees.

 

DRY CREEK VISTA TRAILHEAD:

From the State Route 179/89A traffic circle in Sedona, go 3.2 miles west (toward Cottonwood) on SR 89A  to Dry Creek Road. Turn right and continue 2 miles to the turn off for Forest Road 152/Dry Creek trailhead on the right and continue a short distance to the parking area. There’s a restroom at the trailhead. No fees.

 

MESCAL DAY USE TRAILHEAD:

From the State Route179 /US89A traffic circle in Sedona, go 3 miles west on 89A (left, toward Cottonwood) to Dry Creek Road (Forest Road 152C), turn right and continue 2.9 miles to Long Canyon Road (Forest Road 152D), turn right and go 0.2 mile to the trailhead on the left. There’s a restroom at the trailhead. No fees.

 

INFO & MAP:

Coconino National Forest

https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/coconino/recarea/?recid=55292

CANYON OF FOOLS

CANYON OF FOOLS

Deep within the Canyon of Fools

Canyon of Fools might be the weirdest hike in Sedona.  Located in the Mescal Mountain cluster of trails northwest of town, the keynote feature of the route is a gnarly, half-mile walk through a red-earth labyrinth. Unlike other Red Rock Country hikes, this one ditches open air, ooo-ahhh vistas in favor a cloistered trudge through a dirt tunnel.  The adventure begins within a few yards of the trailhead off Boynton Pass Road where the trail ducks into a serpentine gulch that morphs from a roomy corridor into a claustrophobic, high-walled canyon with tree roots protruding in arthritic tangles.

Roots protrude from the canyon walls

Mescal Mountain

The rough-cut passage twists among flaking shelves of sandstone and side canyons sculpted into bizarre forms by running water and erosion.

Yucca fruit

You’d earn the title of fool by trying to hike here during a rainstorm for you’d surely be swept away in a torrent of mud and debris. The creepily distorted gulch is softened with a cap of wildflowers, grasses and familiar cypress-juniper woodlands. At several spots, mounds of decomposed sediments spill out like syrupy rivers of russet oatmeal, dividing the trail into easy and more difficult paths that loop around the debris and reconnect on the backside.  Once through the half-mile canyon section, the trail gradually opens into more conventional high desert terrain where it meets the Yucca Trail junction. The massive landform directly ahead is Mescal Mountain.  This is your first opportunity to consult a map to plan your return route as several trails that wend around the mountain’s base can be used to make loop hikes. With the canyon portion of the trek behind you, head left and continue hiking over slick rock and edgy paths to where the route ends at Deadman’s Pass Trail. For an out-and-back trek, this is your turnaround point. Otherwise, keep trekking north into Red Rock Secret Canyon Wilderness and Boynton Canyon or swing right for a scenic walk over an exposed mesa before picking up a connecting path to to loop back to the trailhead.

Cockscomb formation seen from Canyon of Fools Trail

Club-flower (Purple Birdbeak) blooms Aug-Oct

LENGTH: 2.25 miles one way

RATING: easy

ELEVATION: 4440' - 4640'

GETTING THERE:

From the State Route 179/89A traffic circle in Sedona, go 3.2 miles west (left)  on SR 89A to Dry Creek Road. Go 2.8 miles on Dry Creek Road, veer left at the Long Canyon Road junction and continue 0.5-mile on Boynton Pass Road to the parking turnout on the right. A Red Rock Pass is not required at this trailhead.

INFO & MAP: Coconino National Forest

http://www.sedonaredrocktrails.org/ROGS/Canyon_of_Fools_Yucca.pdf

MESCAL TRAIL

MESCAL-LONG CANYON-DEAD MANS PASS TRAIL LOOP

Sedona

A relatively new addition to the sanctioned stock of Sedona hiking trails, this one originated as a mountain bike route. As with many wheel-wrangled paths, the Mescal Trail is big on challenging terrain and vertigo-inducing exposure.  Beginning at roughly a mile into the trek, the gaping, U-shaped bend on the flanks of Mescal Mountain known as "the bowl" comes into view. Here, the trail seems to disappear into the russet sandstone making the traverse of the cliffs appear impossible. Within a few yards, a wood sign marks a brief section where the trail splits---one side is "difficult", the other "extreme". Pick your poison. Although these ratings pertain mostly to bike technicality, I chose to err on the conservative side by taking the "difficult" arm and found that, except for some slick rock and edgy narrows, it wasn't too tough. The path soon becomes clear and after another mile-and-change of semi-queasy ledge hiking, the route rounds the mountain to meet Dead Mans Pass Trail at the border of Red Rock Secret Mountain Wilderness and Boynton Canyon.  Straight ahead is the Kachina Woman vortex site---a popular spiritual retreat and platform for musicians who fill the canyons with soulful strains of Native American flute or didgeridoos. Mescal Trail ends here, however, a map at the junction shows how to use Dead Mans Pass and Long Canyon Trails for an optional loop back to the trailhead.

LENGTH: 4.8-mile loop

RATING: easy-moderate

ELEVATION:  4239' - 4723'

FEE: a Red Rock Pass is required. $5 daily fee per vehicle.

http://www.redrockcountry.org/passes-and-permits/index.shtml

GETTING THERE:

From the US89A/AZ179 traffic circle in Sedona, go 3 miles west on 89A (left, toward Cottonwood) to Dry Creek Road (FR 152C), turn

right and continue 2.9 miles to Long Canyon Road (FR 152D), turn right and go 0.2 mile to the trailhead on the right. Trail begins across the road. This route can also be accessed via the Long Canyon trailhead 0.3 mile farther up FR152D.

MESCAL-LONG CANYON-DEADMANS PASS TRAIL LOOP:

Follow Mescal Trail 2.3 miles to Deadmans Pass Trail, turn right (NE) and hike 0.9 mile to Long Canyon Trail. Turn right (S) and hike 1.6 miles back to the trailhead.

INFO: Red Rock Ranger District, Coconino National Forest, 928-203-2900
MORE PHOTOS:
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