Cathedral Rock & Sedona Cave: 6.1.19

11/19/2020
Hiking | Travel

Sedona Cave and Cathedral Rock are pretty close to one another in Sedona, Arizona so it is easy to complete both in a day. Sedona Cave is about a 1.5 mile round trip hike. The mini cave is neat. You can definitely see how one could survive in the cave by oneself; it had an amazing view, was cooler than the outside air (probably by 15 degrees or so), and unless you knew where it was, one would never find it. We used Google Maps and All Trails and found it without a problem. I did this hike in flip flops without an issue, but, that is probably because I am used to being barefoot and enjoy feeling grounded. 

After Sedona Cave, we ventured to explore Cathedral Rock, also in Sedona, Arizona. This hike is about a 1.3 mile round trip hike. The trail head begins pretty close to the base of the rock. I also did this hike in flip flops. The hardest part of the hike, which I think was primarily due to the flip flops more than the trail itself, was there is a 20-30 foot section leading up to the rock that is slanted, slippery rock. I really had to dig in my toes into my flip flops to maintain stability and not go sliding around everywhere. Once past this point, no issues. Once you get to the designated height, the beauty is not overlooking the direction of the trail head. Rather, it is from the backside of the rock. Once you get to the outlook, if you go right, there is a skinny path that hugs the wall and leads out to a point. We took our picture out on this ledge with the towering wall to our right, thousands of feet below, the glow of the setting sun from above, and a vast, expansive view behind us. When you walk back and go left, there is an equally skinny path, but on this side, there are large rock pillars. In hind sight, doing this hike probably wasn't smart, but, I like to believe that fear is an important motivator and in this instance, motivated me to maintain mindfulness and place my feet with purpose and intent so that I didn't go tumbling down the mountain. 

Keep taking those detours!