Devil’s Bridge Hike in Sedona

On our visit to Sedona, we didn’t have a whole lot of time to do as many hikes as we had hoped, however this was the one hike that we thought would be a must. We had read that you must get up early and get out on the trail before it starts getting too busy, so that’s just what we did. My mom, two daughters and myself hit the trailhead at 6:30 am. We turned on our headlamps and started down the trail.

The first mile or so is a gravel road with large boulders and huge potholes which is suggested only to be driven by a 4 wheel drive vehicle. I would definitely agree with this suggestion due to the fact that we saw several 4 wheel drive vehicles struggle over a couple of spots if they didn’t have a lot of clearance. One guy in an older beat-up Suburban with Texas plates however made it though without much of an issue. I guess it’s what your comfortable with in regards to driving your 4 wheel drive vehicle. We didn’t have a 4 wheel drive vehicle so we walked the extra 2 miles roundtrip.

I don’t have a lot of pics from the beginning of the hike since we were hiking in the darkness with our headlamps on until about the last 3/4 mile from the top. Thankfully, it was light enough when we hit the most treacherous climb up the rock stairs.

Once you hit the actual Devil’s Bridge Trailhead marker, the hike begins a steady ascent, then takes a much sharper ascent once you start scrambling over rocks the last 1/4 mile near the top.

Only two were interested in the final walk out to Devil’s Bridge

Looking at the Hot air Balloon, while out on Devil’s Bridge was very cool.

View from Devil’s Bridge

How the path looks walking back across Devil’s Bridge

The number of people waiting to walk out on Devil’s Bridge just after sunrise

Stair-like steps up the red rocks to get to the top of the trail

On the way up the trail we saw the side trail to the bottom of the Devil’s Bridge arch, but it wasn’t until we had already been to the top did we decide to take the side trail and check out the arch from beneath.

Climbing back down seemed like a quick descent

The girls did a great job and grandma was so excited to share this memory with them. She talked about it quite a bit on the way down, once the tough part of the climb was over. The view from the top of the trail was awesome like so much of Sedona, but I am so glad we started when we did, because on the way back down, we passed so many people just getting started on the trail. The parking lot was packed and was spilling over to the alternate parking spots down the road by 9:00 am. When in Sedona, this is a fairly easy hike that would be worth you time.