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Arizona Roadtrip

We wanted to visit one of our best friends in Arizona, so we decided to make a weekend out of it. We flew into Phoenix to meet up with them and then we took their car around for the weekend and checked out some of the nearby neat spots.

The button below is linked to my map that I created with Roadtrippers if you want to see this trip laid out on the website. (There are a few places we didn't get to go to on there, that were on the original plan.)
arizona roadtrip map.PNG

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Day 1: Make Our Way to Sedona, AZ and do a few hikes

  • Left the house by 6AM

  • Montezuma Castle National Monument

    • Entrance fee of $10/adult

    • Always check the hours prior to planning your trip

    • 0.4 mile loop- easy

Montezuma Castle National Monument

Montezuma Castle National Monument

  • Red Rock Scenic Highway

    • About 18 minutes from Montezuma

    • Has a nice shot of the red rocks

  • Birthing Cave

    • Trail Name: Long Canyon Trail

    • Length: 2 miles, out and back trip

    • Parking: We parked along the dirt road right by the trailhead

    • Things to Note:

      • The trail is easy to distinguish, but there is a fork in the road closer to the top and we stayed to the right. It was an easier and more direct path than the left side

      • The best view was in the “belly button”, which you will see when you get up to the cave. It’s a little indentation against the back wall that you can climb up into and sit in. From here you will have the highest viewpoint in the cave. However, even if you don’t go into the belly button, the view inside the cave was extremely beautiful from any point

  • Teal McDonalds

    • We had to stop by this spot, because it's the only McDonald's that has been approved to change the yellow arches to another color, because they felt the yellow would clash with the natural orange beauty of Sedona

  • ​Check Into Hotel (linked below)

Birthing Cave

Birthing Cave

  • Devil’s Bridge for Sunset

    • Trail Name: There are 2 trails: Devil’s Bridge Trail or Vultree Arch. We did the Vultree Arch because it was a more direct path

    • Length: 4 mile, out and back trip

    • Parking:If you have 4-wheel drive you can drive all the way down to the actual trailhead and park there (this will save you 2 miles on the whole trip)

      • I will say that a few people passed us in cars on this road, as we were walking, and it looked extremely awful to drive on. The rocks and pot holes on the dirt road can get pretty bad, so keep that in mind if you are thinking about going this route

      • To park in the parking lot right off of the paved road, you need to have a special permit. If you don’t have 4-wheel drive or a permit, you need to park on the side of the main road (this is what we did)

      • The main road and the permit parking lot aren’t that far a part to try and sneak your car in there without one

    • Things to Note:

      • We did this hike for sunset, but wound up arriving around golden hour. We started about 2 hours before sunset to give us enough time

      • If you do this hike for sunrise OR sunset, it will either already be dark or get dark on your way back to the car. Keep in mind that phone flashlights aren’t of much use and it’s highly recommended to bring a flashlight or a headlamp to easily see where you’re going

      • Also, this is a 4 mile hike total, so it is highly recommended to bring snacks, water and anything else you might need for a longer time away

      • Once you park on the side of the road, you begin walking 1 mile just to get to the trailhead. Once you reach the Devil’s Bridge Trail, it will be 1 additional mile until you get to Devil’s Bridge

      • At the top- there was a small line of people waiting to take pictures in the iconic spot on the bridge. Everyone was very respectful here, allowing each person to have their time on the bridge. They even offered to take turns taking pictures for groups of friends, as long as someone could take their photo as well

      • The hike down is when we saw the sunset and then turned pretty dark on the last mile, so this is where the headlamp would come in handy

  • Dinner at Javelina Cantina​​

Hiking to Devil's Bridge

Hiking to Devil's Bridge

Devil's Bridge

Devil's Bridge

Day 2: Explore more of Sedona & make our way towards Petrified Forest National Park

  • Left Hotel by 5AM to catch the sunrise

  • Cathedral Rock for Sunrise

    • Trail Name: Cathedral Rock Trail

    • Length: 1.2 mile, out and back trip

    • Parking: There is a large parking lot at the base of the trailhead

    • Things to Note:

      • We did this hike for sunrise so we started about an hour before sunrise

      • It was pitch black outside when we started, so I recommend bringing a headlamp (a flashlight will work if you don’t have one, but it’s easier to climb without something in your hands)

      • There are wooden/rock stations that help you decipher the trail the whole way up (this is more needed/helpful when it’s dark out)

      • This was our favorite hike because you’re basically climbing with your hands and feet a lot of the way up (nothing scary or scaling rocks, more so large and weird size steps, but it was so much fun)

      • When you get to the top, the popular/most common spot (as shown in the picture) will be to the right and then around the corner

      • There was NO crowd when we went this early but as we were climbing down, there were a handful of groups that were making their way up

  • Breakfast and Coffee at Pump House Station

Cathedral Rock

Cathedral Rock

  • Twin Arrows Trading Post

    • Route 66 landmark

    • Abandoned Gas Station with graffiti

  • Two Guns

    • Route 66 landmark

      • This is an Arizona ghost town that is said to be cursed

      • The history behind this place is crazy with a lot of revenge and blood shed between the Apache and Navajo tribes

      • Abandoned Skating Rink with graffiti

Twin Arrows Trading Post

Twin Arrows Trading Post

  • Petrified National Park

    • Trail Name: Blue Mesa Trail

    • Length: 1 mile hike, out and back trip

    • Parking: There is a designated parking lot and if the spots are taken, people were parking along the roadside

  • Standing on the Corner

    • Route 66 landmark

    • We bought Route 66 sodas at the corner store in this 4 way crossing

Petrified Forest National Park

Petrified Forest National Park

Standing on the Corner

Standing on the Corner

  • We had to drive back to Flagstaff to meet up with our friends, so on our way back we caught the sunset and did night photography at the two spots we stopped at during the day (it's much easier to scope things out in the day time if you can, so when you go back at night and it's pitch black, you're a little familiar with things):

    • Twin Arrows Trading Post

    • Two Guns

Milky Way at Two Guns

Milky Way at Two Guns

Milky Way at Twin Arrows

Milky Way at Twin Arrows

Day 3: Make our way back to Phoenix

  • We drove all the way to Tonto Natural Bridge State Park, just to find out the trail that we wanted to go on was closed

    • If you are able to go here, we wanted to do the Anna Mae Trail, which is only about 500 feet long and leads to the Pine Creek Trail and Natural Bridge​

  • McDowell Mountain Regional Park

    • We just mainly drove through here on the search for a good cactus picture

  • Dinner and Drinks at Culinary Dropout

Arizona Roadsign

Arizona Roadsign

McDowell Mountain Regional Park

McDowell Mountain Regional Park

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