The Devil's Bridge Hike - Sedona Arizona
When I began planning out my road trip to Colorado, I knew there was one hike I wanted to do in Arizona, the Devil's Bridge. Since we ended up staying at the Lost Dutchman campground for an extra night, we didn't get to Sedona until late and went straight to camp with a plan of a sunrise hike.
We woke up the next day at 4:30am, packed up camp, and headed to the trail. I had the trail marked as a 1.8 miles but as we got to our turnoff we realized the road to get to the trailhead was a pretty steep downhill road covered in sand and boulders. This was only for the toughest of all-terrain, high-clearance vehicles and with a small hole beginning in one of my tires, if we got a flat at the bottom we wouldn’t be able to get out. So we parked at the top of the paved lot and decided to take the Chuckwagon trail that would meet up with the Devil’s Bridge Trail. This added an additional 4 miles, making our total hike 5.8 miles and a little more strenuous than we expected.
The Chuckwagon trail was a fairly flat, sandy trail that eventually followed the rough road to the Devil’s Bridge trailhead. As the sun popped over the giant red rock mountains, it was beautiful! The mountains reminded me a lot of Zion National Park but the red sand trail was something new and amazing.
When we reached the Devil’s Bridge trail, the real fun began! This trail is marked as moderate to strenuous and now I know why! It’s basically a giant staircase to the top. Millie was having a blast jumping from boulder to boulder, I however, took a bit longer to climb up! Right before the final stretch there was a beautiful overlook of the red rock canyon that takes your breathe away.
The final push to the top was a bit of a rock scramble and lots of "stairs". And then I saw it. The Devil's Bridge. The bridge is the largest sandstone arch in the Sedona area and stands just over 50 feet tall. The narrow walkway out onto the bridge is terrifying and my fear of heights almost won out and prevented me from trying it. It's wide enough for two people to easily walk out on but it's more of the mental game knowing both sides have a steep drop off. After some quick photo ops it was time to head back.
I was happy we began the hike at sunrise because coming down there were a LOT of people so by midday this trail is pretty packed. It was a beautiful way to check out Sedona and see the red rocks up close and personal with only one day to explore. I highly recommend this hike and if you have the guts, take on the Devil's Bridge.To watch the whole episode click below!