Loop drive north from Phoenix?

September 12, 2023 10:07 PM

Thanksgiving week, flying into PHX with seven days to hike and play. Someone suggested five days in Sedona and two days in Jerome. What would you do?

We are two women who love to hike. Open to options, perhaps with two locations outside of Phoenix. No one day’s drive more than 2 hours. Priorities are 3- to 8-mile day hikes, any difficulty. Dramatic vistas, sunsets, stars, sunny aspects if possible. We do have to work remotely a bit that week, so M-W we need wifi and the shorter trails.

Looking for itinerary ideas, both roads and trails!

Not so much seeking lodging suggestions, but if you have them, fire away. Probably aiming for the $120-150/nt range if possible with two beds and a kitchen (with hopes of assembling some sort of Thanksgiving meal there). Seems possible, but a challenge. Feel free to toss in quirky roadside attractions, favorite cafés, etc.

posted by AnOrigamiLife to Travel & Transportation around Arizona (11 answers total)

Sedona has great hiking but culturally pretty lame. It's worth like a day or two max depending on your patience for crowds. The locals in Jerome are awesome but it gets overrun with tourists in a way that's hard to avoid.

Luckily there are alternative destinations very close. If you have an interest in art and architecture, Arcosanti is also nearby and one of my favorite places ever. Their Airbnb spots are probably booked, but it's worth doing a tour at least.

The towns between Jerome and Sedona--Clarkdale and Cottonwood--are much more interesting and less touristy. The Verde Valley wineries like Page Springs and Alcantara are fun and pretty (the wine isn't anything special AFAIK). Toozigoot National Monument is worth seeing. There should be good hikes all over the Verde Valley. I heard the Verde Canyon railroad is fun.

For hiking, given the time of year, maybe stay closer to Phoenix. Lots of great hikes around the Superstitions and McDowell mountains.
posted by mullacc at 10:55 PM on September 12, 2023

Seconding Cottonwood over Sedona unless you're really into the tourist-trap-hippie vibe. Nearby Dead Horse Ranch State Park has lots of trails.
posted by mmoncur at 3:18 AM on September 13, 2023

I gather from the way that the question is phrased that you've been to the Canyon before?
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 6:22 AM on September 13, 2023

Sedona has hundreds of hikes and many gorgeous vistas. If that is your thing, go for the hikes and skip the touristy stuff. I stayed in an Airbnb in the nearby Village of Oak Creek, which was not crowded and provided a nice place to walk in the evening (Bell Rock). I'm not sure how crowded Sedona proper will be in late November, so you may be able to escape some of the concerns expressed above. You may also want to check on the weather, too.

The Superstitions are great in the Mesa area. But I'd put a vote in for a visit down to the Tucson area. Treat it like a homebase. It's ~2hrs from Phoenix and there's lots to do and see in a vibrant college town, with plenty of hiking in the multiple mountain ranges in the area. Check into Mt Lemmon and the Catalinas - as well as Madera Canyon.
posted by shw at 6:28 AM on September 13, 2023

Sedona is a good base for town, work, easy after-work access to hikes. Mullacc's suggestions are also excellent. But if I had that kind of time, I'd do Petrified Forest and/or Monument Valley. I always seem to drive past those and regretfully not have the time it takes to get to the actual place and see them.
posted by Dashy at 7:40 AM on September 13, 2023

I was in Sedona for a few days in April, mostly for the scenery and to do a few hikes. I'll echo what others have said about the vibe in Sedona, but just to give a bit more context - it's a bit touristy. I was staying in central Sedona near the Tlaquepaque shopping center, which is right in the middle of all the touristy stuff - it might be a bit less intense if you're out west a bit on route 89A in West Sedona, where it seems like all the actual functional services like grocery stores are located. But, the vibe in downtown is something 50% new age/hippie stuff, 50% bougie wealthy retiree. Lots of shops selling crystals, vortex stuff, psychic readings and aura photographs; along with a bunch of iffy art galleries, wine tasting rooms, and combination wine tasting/art gallery spaces. It's possible there's more "real" art spaces around, but mostly what I saw was things like a seated Buddha being incorporated into a waterfall or forest scene kind of thing. Other services like restaurants are risky in the way that touristy places are, where there might be good stuff, but there's also plenty of bad stuff that's able to stick around just because people are walking around and need a place to eat and they get enough business to survive. I didn't stumble across anything worth recommending. I was there mid-week so it wasn't maximum crowded - on weekends, the parking lots at trailheads shut down and there's a shuttle bus that you need to take that runs a circuit of the different trailheads; I think there's a couple different routes.

But OMG the views when you're in town; the vibe was cringy for me, but being surrounded by those cliffs any time I walked outside was kind of worth it.

I also drove up from Phoenix and stopped at an REI on the way to pick up a hiking guide to Sedona - I got FalconGuides "Best Hikes Sedona", which is a bit light on trail information, but covers a lot of trails in the area, even out into Verde Valley. There's also a hiking store on the east side of the road once you get into town - they have some trail info on their website and might be worth stopping in to talk to somebody if you have more specific questions (I did not go in). Based on the book I got and just looking at the map, it seems like most hikes in the area are not too crazy in terms of difficulty unless you try going from the valley floor to the mesa/plateau rims above. I did one hike from the book - the Jim Thompson Trail, which contours around the base of a cliff at the north side of town and eventually drops you into Wilson Canyon towards the northeast where the main road heads up along Oak Creek to Flagstaff - it probably meets your criteria, fairly flat, starts off through pinyon forest and eventually gets out onto an elevated flat with great views over town. The other hike I did was the Hangover Trail, which follows a narrow (two to three feet) shelf that goes around the bottom of the vertical cliffs on the Mitten Ridge - amazing hike, but maybe too long and not good at all if you're worried about heights or light exposure. Has more renown as a mountain bike trail, but I only saw one biker while I was on it. Video, just for what the trail looks like (from mountain bike perspective).

Also, just about all the trails around town are shown on google maps, so it might be worth just turning the topo on and seeing what looks interesting to you - that's how I found the Hangover Trail.
posted by LionIndex at 8:20 AM on September 13, 2023 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Fantastic feedback, thanks everyone! Never been to this region. Definitely putting eyes on Cottonwood as an alternative to Sedona. We're not shoppers and if Sedona town isn't particularly special, we can just visit a couple of times, or stop as we pass through for a hike, and place our focus on surrounding areas.

Arcosanti looks fascinating and seems worth a stop and a tour...and maybe a night's stay. Also on that note, if we'd like a loop with two locations and Cottonwood is one of them, is the area along Rte 260 around Strawberry/Pine/Payson worth staying in for a couple of nights? I see things like Tonto Natural Bridge over there.
posted by AnOrigamiLife at 11:08 AM on September 13, 2023

Natural Bridge is phenomenal. It is such a fun hike and so beautiful. I really think it’s underrated. Although, maybe take my opinion with a grain of salt as I thought Arcosanti was not fun or very interesting, but I also didn’t hike around the area so maybe I missed out on that aspect.
posted by Sassyfras at 12:43 PM on September 13, 2023

The area around Strawberry/Pine is gorgeous and has great hikes nearby. Anything around the Mogollon Rim. It'll be cold that time of year though.

I've stayed in some cool like A-frame cabins around Strawberry and there are some fun local dive bars and restaurants. But it is deep MAGA country. Lots of UTVs with Trump flags riding around. I wouldn't bother with Payson unless you need to supplies from a big box store.
posted by mullacc at 12:44 PM on September 13, 2023

Never been to this region

Dear lord, go to the Canyon. It's a planetary-level wonder. It's easy to feel jaded about it as something that you've seen photos of all over the place, but:

* It really is that... big.
* There are plenty of day hikes including nonstrenuous hikes along the rim
* It's unlikely to be crowded at that time so as soon as y'all are a few hundred yards from major viewpoint parking lots you'll likely have the trail pretty much to yourself

If either of you enjoy driving, go thru the Sedona area on the way back towards Phoenix. 89A from Flagstaff to Sedona is one of those roads that's just pure magic, where just toodling along under the speed limit is still fun.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 1:27 PM on September 13, 2023

Response by poster: My bad @GCU Sweet and Full of Grace, you meant the GRAND Canyon?! I thought you were making some sort of local's reference to the area around Sedona, derp sorry about that. But at an additional 2hrs north of Sedona, it's not for this trip. I have been there, but only to the North Rim a lifetime ago, so it's on the radar for a future trip, definitely!
posted by AnOrigamiLife at 1:50 PM on September 13, 2023