A Taste of Sedona

Sedona; land of jeep tours and vortexes

Sedona is a unique town in the high desert of central Arizona. About 2 hours north of Phoenix and 1300m in elevation, it sports significantly cooler temperatures than the lower Sonoran Desert, pine forests and magnificent red rock buttes and canyons. It is also home to natural "energy vortexes" which attracts lots of hippies looking to charge their crystals, but we were there to ride bikes. 

It was a brief 2 day touchdown for Kyle, Steve and I before we set out bike packing on the Black Canyon Trail and we wanted to sample the best the area had to offer and warm up our legs, and try not to wreck ourselves (unsuccessfully) for the big days ahead.

Steve blending in with the red rocks of Sedona

Kyle and I had visited Sedona in January 2015, but didn't really get a chance to explore because it snowed, turning the slickrock trails to slickmud so we were stoked to be back with dry rocks and warm daytime temperatures in the mid-teens (Celsius). With recommendations from Ashley, we set out to ride some of the best (hardest) trails in the area and promptly got our butts kicked by the relentless technical climb up Made in the Shade to Hiline. Trying to pace ourselves, we chose a 20km loop for our first day that included Made in the Shade (I recommend skipping this in favour of climbing Slim Shady), Hiline, Baldwin, Templeton and Slim Shady. Hiline is a highly rated double black and although nothing was super steep, the riding was slow and thoughtful with frequent punch climbs and lots of exposure.

Up to Hiline we go

Choosing all the double blacks. "Bikes and Horses not recommended"

The views were spectacular and we stopped often to snap photos. Hiline was a bit frustrating and I had lots of dabs on the climb, but I think if I could ride it a few times, I could climb most of the trail. The long descent was great, and a highlight was ripping past a group scoping out a steep line and hearing them say "oh, that's how you ride it!" Kyle rocked it on his hardtail!

Lunch with a view (Photo: Steve)

About to start the descent of Hiline towards Cathedral Rock

Hardtail jank

Desert river and a bit of shade

Once we got off Hiline, the black trails felt like a slickrock cruise back to the car. Although we only logged about 350m of climbing, we were pretty tired after the ride. Maybe we should have picked an easier warm up, but where's the fun in that?

A chance to chill on Templeton (Photo: Steve)

We stopped for a beer at Sedona Brewery, but would have been better off grabbing some cheap drinks from the grocery store and enjoying them in the hot tub at our Airbnb in West Sedona. I am glad my idea to random camp in the desert got vetoed, the temperature dropped quickly with the setting sun and there was frost on the trails in the mornings.

Sedona Brewery - home to the most expensive bitter beer in the world

Everything in the desert is prickly!

For our second (and last) day in Sedona, we rode "All the Hogs", a 12km/300m elevation loop with an out and back to Submarine Rock and the White Line view point. These trails had lots more flow and we were able to make it through most of the double black technical sections dab-free. High on the Hog and Hog Heaven were really fun, and again the views were spectacular. We finished the ride with a fast descent on the downhill-only jump trail "Pigtail" before climbing up Pessary and Hogwash back to the parking lot.

Love the red rocks

Exploring Submarine Rock (Photo: Steve)

Slickrock everywhere (Photo: Steve)

The Submarine Rock was worth a detour for some fun slickrock riding and various slab lines to explore. As we were riding all over the rock, a number of jeep tours showed up. It was time to move on.

Vacation! (Photo: Steve) 

Another detour took us out on Broken Arrow to the White Line. I have watched videos of people riding the off-camber ledge and wasn't interested in trying it myself. It was cool staring up at it as we had a snack break but seeing the line in person solidified my resolve. A wrong move would end in a serious fall and likely death. Not worth it for me.

Riding under the White Line

Contemplating the White Line (Photo: Steve)

After our "warm up" day, we were feeling more comfortable with the punchy technical riding of Sedona. If we had more time, I would have loved to check out Hangover and Llama trails. Next time!

High on the Hog

Steep slab

Happy Canadians in the desert (Photo: Steve)

Punchy climbs (Photo: Steve)

Hog Heaven (Photo: Steve)

The afternoon was spent checking out the crystal and souvenir shops in Upper Sedona. I got a similar vibe about the town as on my last visit. The trails and views are incredible, but the town itself is an expensive tourist trap. It was also very busy with terrible traffic causing congestion in the roundabouts, making it difficult to get anywhere. The tourists were arriving early for American Thanksgiving. At least we were able to find free parking! I was happy to be moving on and leaving the crowds behind, but felt like we only scratched the surface of the riding around Sedona. I guess we will just need to come back again.

We spent our last night packing and re-packing our bags for 3 days of bike packing on the Black Canyon Trail, trying to pare our gear down to the bare minimum. As novice bike packers, it was shaping up to be a desert adventure with lots of unknowns. Stay tuned for the trip report.

The start of our BCT bike packing adventure