Today we ventured to Sedona, a vibrant town that blends perfectly with its brilliantly colored natural surroundings. The 50-minute drive from Flagstaff took us through pine forests, colorful canyonland, and mountain roads with lots of hairpin turns. Once we started seeing bunches of cacti along the road, the telltale red/orange rock formations, and lots of traffic, we knew we had found this super popular destination.

Sedona is surrounded by scenery just like this!

Indeed, Sedona is beautiful. The houses are tucked neatly into the area’s nooks and crannies and are the colors of nature: sage, cinnabar, clay, coral, and apricot. Many of the houses have stucco exteriors which makes them look even more organic to the area. The town itself is very touristy, but clean and pretty. No matter what direction you look, the red sandstone cliffs and shapes are visible, giving the place an enchanting vibe.

We headed to the most photographed landmark in Sedona, Cathedral Rock, and took a hiking trail up. The terrain was flat at first and then became switchbacks up bare rock. Cactus and other succulents lined the trail. The most difficult part was a very steep section that required scrambling up 20 or 30 feet by jamming your feet into a vertical crack on the front face of the formation. It was harrowing, but doable (very slowly). The views at the top were amazing. I found out after the hike that Cathedral Rock is one of the “energy vortexes” in the area. I can’t say that I felt any extra energy, just the adrenaline required to hike back down the way we came up. 🙂

If you look closely, you can see the tiny people hiking up the face of Cathedral Rock. The end point of the hike is the saddle between the spires on the left.

One of the views from the top of the rock. The red sandstone is part of the Schnebly Hill Formation and only exists in this area of the world.

That tiny little person on the edge is Billy, taking in the vibes of Cathedral Rock.

A view from the back of the church looking toward the altar.

After hiking down…very, very slowly…we headed to the Chapel of the Holy Cross. It is a small church built into one of the buttes overlooking the city. It also happens to be another vortex area. Instead of finding a quiet spiritual place, we found crowds of people wandering all over the grounds, patrolling the parking lots, and stuffed into the entrance of the church. It was a little off-putting. It would be one thing if everyone was respectful, but many people were somewhat rude. I didn’t get a photo of the outside of the church because the traffic in and out parking lot was nuts and it would have been a hassle. Billy got one from the car window. Maybe he will post it!

The rest of the afternoon was spent driving the scenic byway (SR 179) south. Of course there were many stops for photography. I have lots of photos of the same rock formation from all different places and with all different foregrounds. I wanted to do some shopping in the Tlaquepaque Arts and Crafts Village, but once there lost interest. It felt less authentic and more touristy than I expected.

Tomorrow we are heading to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Fingers crossed that there will be less haze and that we will be able to see the canyon in all its glory!