Planning an Arizona trip

The girlfriend and I are planning an 8-10 day trip out to Arizona from San Diego mid-October. We'll be doing a lot of hiking, sightseeing, tourist attractions.. and most importantly.. trails!

Do any of you locals have any suggestions on any of the above? We're most likely going out there on the 40 East and back home on the 10 West or 8 West.

 

Browns Peak, Fossil Springs, Horton Springs are all great day hikes. What kind of hiking do you want to do? The Tonto Natural Bridge is cool and you can hike down under it. There are tons of places to see, do you want to do anything more adventurous like hiking Mt. Humphreys or some canyoneering or rock climbing?

 

Make sure you drive the 89A, between Sedona and Flagstaff. Arguably one of the prettiest drives in the state.

 

Sedona has a lot of hiking too, better to do on a weekday though.

There's always the Grand Canyon as well

 

We're down for pretty moderate/hard hikes. Probably not too many over the course of the week so we don't tire ourselves out -- maybe like 2-3 difficult ones and 4-5 short hikes/walks. Mt. Humphreys looks like a good possibility actually since from reading about it it doesn't seem too bad (just long). We've done hikes from short but extreme elevation gains to long with no shade. I'll have to look more into the other ones you mentioned. We don't really rock climb since we have no gear but my girlfriend does like to boulder a bit. What's this canyoneering you speak of?

Will do! I've heard the same from others.

We've both been to the Grand Canyon (South Rim) so if we do go again it'll just be for a day trip as we pass through or at most a night. I hear a lot of groups do offroad meets in Sedona -- any solid trails there?

 

Lots of solid trails in sedona!

Canyoneering is hiking with some water, and a lot of time rappelling and down climbing thrown in. It's awesome!

 

definitely 89a Sedona to flag. It's gorgeous!

Also as others have mentioned don't go to Sedona on a weekend, it's packed go mid week.

 

If you are talking offroad trails in Sedona there is; Broken arrow, Soldier's pass, Oak Creek Homestead, Schnebly hill rd (easy but scenic) and some more...