Red Rock State Park, Arizona

Today we headed to Red Rock State Park just outside Sedona, AZ, to hike the many trails there. Red Rock State Park has some beautiful scenery in addition the Oak Creek which crosses this scenic park, creating a diverse riparian habitat. Here plant communities thrive along the Oak Creek's edge.



Views from the Javelina Trail



Hiking Javelina Trail



Apache Fire House as seen from the visitor center



Previous owner's house - The House of Apache Fire from the Apache Fire Trail

The park has approximately 5 miles of interconnecting hiking trails which are all very well marked. The trails at the park are easy, the hardest and the most recommended trail is the Eagles Nest trail. This one is a loop of 1.7 miles and climbs 300 feet in elevation but I’d still consider it easy compared to some of the trails I hike in Colorado.



Ice hiding in the shadows on Javelina Trail



Neat looking ice



Zoomed in - ice with a rock sticking out of it surrounded by frozen air bubbles



Climbing Eagle's Nest Trail





High above in the park on Eagle's Nest Trail



Kisva Trail and Oak Creek



Hmmmmmm... some of the rocks in the park arn't real

The Red Rock State Park property was purchased by the Arizona State Parks Board in 1986 and the park was opened to the public in 1991. This 286 acre land used to be private property called the Smoke Trail Ranch. The former owner's house still sits in top of the hill abandoned and closed off by a gate.



Some of the trail signs in the park; we hiked about 4 miles or trails today including House of Apache loop trail, Javelina Trail, Eagle's Nest Trail, Bunkhouse Trail and Kisva Trail

Eagle's Nest Trail

Oak Creek

Views from the Eagle's Nest Trail

Crossing Oak Creek

Even though the trails in the park aren’t very challenging, the scenery is amazing. We arrived here in the late morning just as the temperature was warming up. By the time we left it was well in 70’s and many visitors were just arriving. We pretty much had the trails all to ourselves in the morning. I’d image in the winter months the majority of people arrive at this park to hike in the afternoon and leave at sunset.



Red Rock State Park - map of the trails

Sedona, AZ: Cathedral Rock at Red Rock Crossing

The Cathedral Rock is one of the most photographed rock formations around Sedona. There are a few places in Sedona where you can get a good look at Cathedral Rock but the most popular place to see this magnificent rock formation from is Red Rocks Crossing.



On the trail to Cathedral Rock

This is a tourist trap and there is a fee to enter this area, but from what I read on the internet it’s the easiest way to see the rock formation. If you park your vehicle at the Crescent Moon Ranch picnic area you can take an easy trail that runs along the Oak Creek toward Cathedral Rock. The hike was very enjoyable and I do believe the trail continues further. We only went as far as the most photographed view - Cathedral Rock reflecting in the water of Oak Creek.



Hiking from Crescent Moon Ranch picnic area









Cathedral Rock and Oak Creek



Neat looking tree

Sedona, AZ: Schnebly Hill Road

The four of us jumped into Mike’s parent’s rental car, a bright red Hummer H3, and headed for a little dirt drive with big scenery.



Schnebly Hill Road goes from Sedona to I-17

Schnebly Hill Road begins as a paved road called State Route 179 in Sedona, but turns in to a rough dirt road called FS Road 153 where a high clearance vehicle is highly recommended. The road climbs 1,800 feet in elevation in 5 miles.




See those people on top of that rock in the upper right of the photo, that's where we were headed



Hiking up to the rocks



We weren’t the only ones who had this idea



Mike sitting on top of a rock



I wanted to climb even higher, this was my view from the top of my rock



Posing with some red rocks



This was my view of the parking lot from the top of the rock

Schnebly Hill Vista at 6,000 feet in elevation overlooks the Verde Valley and Sedona, Steamboat Rock and Mingus Mountains. The road was actually closed at the higher elevations so we couldn’t go any further. We decided to take a hike to some of the rocks that we saw people were climbing on. The scenery was amazing.



That's Schnebly Hill Road twisting below



Amazing views from up here

Sedona, AZ: Chapel of the Holy Cross

This unique chapel is located just off of Route 179 at the end of Chapel Road. From the chapel you can see Cathedral Rock, Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte.



The walkway to the chapel from the parking lot



Chapel of the Holy Cross



Views from the chapel

This is a huge tourist trap, but it’s worth a look if you’re in to architecture. The Chapel of the Holy Cross was designed by Marguerite Brunswig Staude, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright. It was designed in the early 1930's and built in the late 1950’s. Approximately 25,000 tons of rock were removed to build the structure.



Somebody built a huge house down there





The Chapel is open 9 AM to 5 PM daily but its closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, Good Friday and Easter. There is a prayer service every Monday at 5:00 pm, otherwise there are no other services.



Water fountains and plants at the chapel