Go Take A Hike | Devil’s Bridge – Sedona, Arizona

If you haven’t visited Sedona, Arizona … YOU MUST!  As a Phoenician (aka – born and raised Phoenix, Arizona), I love exploring my fabulous state.  Hands down,  Sedona is one of my favorite cities… by a long shot!  As a little girl, we vacationed in Sedona every summer to beat the Phoenix heat, so I have countless memories and happy moments forever engrained in my mind.  Sedona was also the city in which my husband proposed to me, along the majestic Oak Creek to be exact.  And now it is one of our favorite places to take our girls for a weekend getaway.  Sedona is only about a 2 hour drive from our city life in Phoenix, so it makes for the perfect getaway location.  The weather, the stunning beauty (famous for the red rocks) and the “small town” feel are just too fabulous not to visit.

On our last holiday weekend adventure, my husband and I decided it was time to take our 4 year old and 1 year old daughters on their first hike in the red rocks.  We loaded up the girls in our fabulous backpack carriers, and off we went!

Sedona is filled with incredible views and amazing hikes, with a wide range of difficulty to chose from.  Typically we’d chose a fairly demanding hike, but since we would be wearing our girls on our backs this trip, we decided to pick a “moderate level” hike.  Now granted my husband and I are active people (my husband more than me), but this hike wasn’t difficult and turned out to be a perfect hike for our situation.  Our goals were to get a good workout in, be amazed by God’s creativity in nature, and enjoy our time together as family.  We achieved all this by visiting this iconic Sedona location: Devil’s Bridge.  Although the name doesn’t imply a family friendly outing, the views at the top are HEAVENLY!

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Devils Bridge is a moderate level hike up to the largest natural stone arch in the Sedona area.  The  4.5 mile roundtrip hike begins right out of the Devils Bridge parking lot with a trail-marker directing you to the Devil’s Bridge Trailhead.  It was super easy to find and convenient for us visitors.  The hike starts out on a rough dirt road and then leads you to a flat loose dirt path before starting the ascent.

The hike starts with a gradual ascent through a series of switchbacks and grows in steepness as you go.  This part of the hike is so calming and peaceful and we had so much fun talking, playing eye-spy with our 4 year old and admiring the beauty that surrounded us.  To this point in the hike, you cannot see the bridge, but the anticipation of getting your first glimpse is an adventure in itself!

At about 2 miles in, the trail begins to get steeper and requires a little climbing as it is time to begin making your ascent to the bridge.  Because of the natural rock staircase, the ascent isn’t too bad and the thought of some unbelievable views will keep you going strong!

 The hike is well worth it, I was in complete awe of the beauty that surrounds you at the top.  Like I said, it is heavenly!

 If you are brave enough, you can even take a short path to walk across the bridge.  Of course, we HAD to get the picture on the bridge.  We didn’t make the trip out to just look at the bridge, we had to feel it under our feet… life is too short to not be a little adventurous!  The Devils Bridge Hike is a very popular and recommended hike in Sedona, so we were blessed with other hikers who offered to take pictures of us on the bridge.  We’ll always be grateful for that sweet family from Minnesota. 🙂

Remember what goes up must come down!  So those same steep natural stone steps (with no hand rails) are your way off of the mountain as well.  They can be a little bit scary to climb down… but you can do it!  This hike is well worth every step and the pictures we were able to capture will be such a treasured memory for us and our family.

If you are looking for a great back pack carrier … Click HERE for more details.

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So what are you waiting for… GO TAKE A HIKE!

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