Sedona, AZ trails

I set up a trip for Sedona, AZ and ended up having 6 rigs total on the trip. The trails here are all relatively short and close together so we got 3 trails in during the course of the day. I have done most of the Sedona trails myself, but did get a new one in. Most of the others, these were all new trails to them. Had a variety of vehicles on hand. Me in my Tacoma, we also had a Ford Raptor, a Wrangler JK, 90s F150, and Brand new F150 (still had paper plates) and a Cherokee XJ. I think the new F150 impressed everyone, it was stock, street tires, and he did remove the lower air dam before hand, I think it would have ended up a casualty.

First Trail was Oak Creek Homestead a.k.a Cliffhanger. This trail is in the vicinity of Red Rock State Park. The trail used to go down and cross oak creek and then to the remains of an old cabin. It was been gated just before the creek as the FS didn't like people crossing the creek. You can still hike down to the end if you like. This trail is also one that the Hummer tours use, luckily we only ran into 1 hummer on the trail.

Second Trail was Greasy Spoon. This trail is on the other side of 89A from Oak Creek homestead, its in the vicinity of Boynton Canyon. A portion of this trail follows a pipeline, and this is the fun part of the trail. This is where you run into a series of hills, up and down. I wasn't expecting much from this trail, but it turned out to be a good one. This was my first time on this trail. This area is where they send a lot of the tourist who rent side by sides and what not, but again we lucked out as the only traffic was 1 random Jeep and a FS employee in a government issued Rubicon.

Third Trail was Schnebly Hill road. This is a must do when in Sedona, it is by far the most scenic trail of these three. The trail stretches from the middle of Sedona out to I-17. I always save this trail for the end since its a nice way to get back to the highway to head back down to Phoenix. The first half if this trail is very Sedona, It winds through a canyon of red rocks, while climbing up to the look out over Sedona and the red rocks. Great views and some cool shelf roads. The second half out to I-17 is high enough elevation that you are in the Ponderosa Pines. This area up top is also open to camping, and there are some side roads up there to check out as well.

 

Here are some Pictures

20170916_101814 by craig white, on Flickr

20170916_101742 by craig white, on Flickr

IMG_0837 by craig white, on Flickr

20170916_103237 by craig white, on Flickr

20170916_131454 by craig white, on Flickr

20170916_132805 by craig white, on Flickr

20170916_150919 by craig white, on Flickr

IMG_0890 by craig white, on Flickr

20170916_161043 by craig white, on Flickr

 

How's Schnebly Hill Rd? Thinking about going from the 17 into Sedona early Saturday morning in a 100% stock TRD Sport 4x4. Still have the air dam on the front - do I need to take it off? From what I'm seeing online it seems like some people do it in Sedans?

 

"built" 2wd friendly?

 

I think you will be fine. coming from that direction the first half is just a graded road. from the look out down into town will be bumpy, but definately doable in a stock truck. Thats a great way to come into town, very scenic. I wouldn't recommend a sedan. This section of road stopped being maintained a few years ago, when I was there 10 years ago it was sedan friendly.

 

are you asking if the trails are 2wd friendly? I would think so, some of the climbs could give you issues, but plenty of clearance is what's most important.

 

I did it in my stock 2000 2.4L 4x4 Tacoma last year with my wife. I had zero issues going up and we camped right at the top where the pine trees start. It was a spectacular trail and camping at the top we had an amazing view of a lightning storm over the valley all night