Visiting Sedona: Wheeling, hiking, shooting & food recs welcome :)

I'm going to be driving out to Sedona to meet up with some childhood friends in April and was hoping to get some suggestions for stuff to do while we're there.

• 4x4 trails
• Hiking trails
• Somewhere we can go shoot guns
• Restaurants

I've done a little googling and there are tons of hikes and 4x4 trails. I'm sure I can find some good ones on my own but I've found it's always a good idea to get tips from locals

Also, hoping to bring a couple firearms with me and do some shooting if we can find a good spot that is safe, legal and not crowded with others.

Thanks!

 

If at all possible do not go on the weekend. It keeps getting more and more crowded, both in town and on the weekend. Disclaimer: I am a little grumpy about the tourist having worked for State Parks in the area for a bit.

If you do go on the weekend, prioritize the stuff you really want to do and knock it out early in the morning, before the phoenix crowd gets there

• 4x4 trails - Broken Arrow and Diamond Back gulch are the go to. awesome trails but crowded on the weekend. Broken arrow will have traffic jams at times. Pink Jeep tours dont help.
  Schnebly hill road is cool because it gets you into Sedona from the I-17 on dirt, but it is more bumpy / annoying than 4x4 and prone to traffic
  
  
• Hiking trails - the vultee arch trail that starts from hwy 89a just south of slide rock is epic, and less traveled.
  the famous ones are cathedral, devils bridge, ect. All are cool. All are full of mouthbreathers on the weekends.
  Slide rock state park is a zoo. Red Rock State park is not as bad
  
  
• Somewhere we can go shoot guns - lots of room out in the desert, just make sure you have a good backdrop and arent near a trail.
  
  
• Restaurants- Open Range grill and tavern. Has an amazing view of the rocks. A little pricey and downtown so parking is hard on the weekend. I was always a fan of Torta La Fuego on the west side, they have their own parking and arent as tourist trap ish. Coffee Pot is a good breakfast joint.

Are you set on just Sedona? There is some other fun stuff in the area, like the ghost town of Jerome.

Either way, im happy to help if you have questions

 

Wife and I drove out there for three nights Oct 2021. We stayed in Franklin but will likely stay in Cottonwood next time we go. It’s about a twenty minute drive to the southwest. Nice little town with all the amenities and affordable airnb’s. We did two days of tourist stuff in Sedona. We only did about five hikes, out of a zillion. Our favorite was West Fork Oak Creek. We also liked the Airport Mesa loop hike. We only had dinner once in town, at Oak Creek Brewery and Grill; it was pretty good. Also had breakfast once, at Creekside American Bistro; that was good also. Both places were recommended by our 4x4 Pink Jeep tour guide. We didn't go off-roading ourselves, or shooting.

 

• 4x4 trails, there isnt a ton of true crawling, most of the trails will be mild but enjoyable with good views, do any of them honestly. If you want to do Broken Arrow go SUPER early in the morning so its empty, otherwise its a traffic jam of rental SxS's.
• Hiking, there is this thing to know about Sedona, its called "The Sedona multiplier." Its a little more pertinent for mountain biking but it counts for hiking too. Everything is fucking hard. It will be harder than you're expecting, it will take longer than youre expecting, you wont go as far as you were expecting, youll drink more water than youre expecting etc. Take it easy and just enjoy but plan ahead, especially if the sun is out.
• Shooting, Sedona is as far away from "out in the desert" as you can possibly get in Arizona. Phoenix is significantly closer to open land with legal shooting than Sedona. Sedona is nestled in a Valley, surrounded by fancy houses and resorts and entirely inside of the Coconino National Forest. There is no open range for a solid 20 mile radius from Sedona.
• Restaurants, my forte Best food by far in Sedona is at Mariposa. Best pizza is at Pisa Lisa(same owner/chef as Mariposa) get it takeout and go sit at the pavillion at Posse Grounds Park. It will be the best view youve ever had while eating pizza. If you want to get bougie AF go to Cress at L'Auberge, you practically sit in Oak Creek while you eat, its incredible. Honorable mention for above average pub food and good views on the deck is The Hudson.

 

The trip will be part week, part weekend. Just how the cookie crumbles when you try to get 5 working professionals together from across the country. But yeah, I planned to try and put most of our outdoor exploring into the weekdays as I too hate dealing with crowds (an issue I'm quite familiar with when exploring here in CA).

Thanks for all the tips, I'm gonna get these onto my list to do some further research/planning.

Thanks! I'll look into those hikes.

Thanks! I definitely don't want rock crawling. Although I think it'd be fun (personally) I don't think it'd be as good of a group adventure. The truck will be loaded with 5 full grown men so we'll be a little crammed and my ground clearance won't be as good as usual. Plus, for this trip, I'd rather a more comfortable trail with views for the passengers rather than offroading fun for the driver.

As for the hikes, thanks for the reminder on the "multiplier". At least one of our group is NOT fit. I planned to try and stick to easier/shorter trails as the goal is to have fun, see some sights and spend time with old friends rather than push ourselves to the max. I figure we can use the offroading trails for getting further out into areas we aren't willing to walk.

And thanks for the food tips, definitely some good sounding places to check out!

 

For 4x4 I really enjoyed Soldier Pass Trail. It’s close to town and pretty short, but has a couple of fun sections, a few cool attractions along the way, and a nice hike to a cave at the end if you so choose. You need to buy a permit ahead of time, they only offer a handful per day.

For food I second The Hudson, and Shorebird if you like seafood, the scallops were top notch!

Enjoy! It’s really lovely out there.

 

“I'd rather a more comfortable trail with views”
Look up Jerome- Perkinsville Road (Tr 318) it starts at the fire station in Jerome and goes to Williams Az.
It’s a VERY easy graded dirt road up about 5000’ with amazing views of Sedona and Sycamore. I rarely see other vehicles which is the complete opposite of any trail in Sedisney.
Jerome has suds and grub and the Tool rockstar opened a winery and store front (Puscifer Music and Caduceus Cellars and Merkin Vineyards Tasting Room)

 

Trails | Red Rock State Park (azstateparks.com) This area is close to town, incredible views and nice hiking trails with a river running through it.

West Fork trail is Amazing and Easy, you can go as far as you want or not. My wife and I do this trail annually, just get there 30 minutes before the parking lot opens.

Coconino National Forest - West Fork of Oak Creek No. 108 (usda.gov)

2nd Soldiers Pass trail, very short scenic trail and the caves are pretty cool also.

Soldier Pass Motorized Use Permit, Coconino National Forest Recreation - Recreation.gov

Good site for local trails.

www.trailsoffroad.com

Another fun semi short trail is Cliffhanger, I prefer starting this trail from the 89 not Red Rock.

Broken arrow like the others have said, Get There Early

Outlaw Trail is moderate but only a couple of spots, plus you can stop at these ruins on the way to this trail.

Coconino National Forest - Palatki Heritage Site (usda.gov

Coconino National Forest - Honanki Heritage Site (usda.gov)

Excellent Mountain Biking, but like ATl-ATl said, everything is pretty difficult.

If you like shopping, this place is pretty cool, Very Expensive though.

Tlaquepaque - Arts & Shopping Village

So So Much cool stuff to do, Enjoy your stay.

 

Thank you, I'll add these to the list to look into. A lightly trafficked 4x4 trail with a hike to a cave at the end sounds PERFECT for this group. I also LOVE seafood

Thanks! I definitely need to look into Jerome. It's almost an hour from where we'll be staying so I'll want to make sure the group is down for a bit of a drive to get out there. But perhaps we can just make a day out of it out there.

Thanks for all the details, this is great! I do already use TrailsOffroad and will use both that and OnX Offroad for details on recs from this post. Cheers!