4-7 November 2022
Chimney Rock Pass Loop, Fay Canyon Trail, Mescal Trail, Courthouse Butte loop, Red Cliff Trail, Baldwin Trail loop
(15 miles, +2,000/-2,000 feet).

Time for another birthday trip with ZoZoZoom. Her birthday was in August, but this year she wanted to do a trip to Sedona, which is much nicer in shoulder season. So November it is!

After meeting at the Phoenix airport and then driving up to Sedona, we had time for a quick stretch of the legs on the Chimney Rock Pass Loop.

The next morning we hiked up Fay Canyon to a rock formation that we named to go with the nearby Teapot and Coffeepot formations.

In the afternoon we did a there-and-back on the Mescal Trail.

I wasn’t feeling so great that afternoon, so we took the afternoon off. The next morning I felt better, so we planned a longer hike around Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte.

I got us turned around a bit, which added a bonus mile to our loop. But that extra mile was actually the prettiest part of the hike, taking us towards Courthouse Butte with the sun to our backs.

We passed a fantastic sandstone dome on the trail that I had to scramble up.

That afternoon we had reservations to go see the Palatki Ruins cliff dwellings and pictographs. The drive out there was fantastically beautiful, and it put us a lot farther from the crowds we had been hiking with.

The docents for the ruins were friendly and knowledgeable. Thank you National Forest Service!

On our last morning we did a loop on the Baldwin Trail to see Cathedral Rock and Oak Creek.

After the hike we did a quick tour of downtown, and then headed back to Phoenix to fly home.