After being surprised by seeing elk and snow during the mornings that we stayed in the Grand Canyon, when we woke up this morning we were greeted by sights of the snow and ice melting from the previous day’s snowfall. Upon leaving the Grand Canyon, we saw increasingly longer queues of cars looking to get into the park–we guess now that the weather was nicer and the season was starting, it’d get busier.
As we drove to Sedona, the weather became increasingly warmer, and we were in awe of the scenery–strikingly vibrant red rocks rose high above the earth to surround the desert town, making for dramatic views in all directions. We walked along North Route 89A (one of the main roads), which is full of restaurants, cafes, and shops. One of our favorite cacti is bright purple–a type of prickly pear. It turns out that prickly pears are also used extensively in food and drink–they can be eaten as is or made from syrups that go into margaritas, jam and candy, or mixed with coconut water for a refreshing drink. At the Black Cow Cafe on this main street, we tried it as an ice cream flavor, which tasted a bit like a sweet, mild melon.
As we kept walking south on the route, we arrived at Tlaquepaque Arts and Shopping Village (pronounced T-la-keh-pah-keh), which is modeled after a traditional Mexican village, with stucco walls, cobblestone paths, decorative arches, and lovely fountains. It’s filled with art galleries and boutique shops, and while we weren’t planning to buy anything, we enjoyed walking around and appreciating the architecture.
Amid the red rocks of Sedona, many people believe that there are vortices–swirling centers of energy that are helpful for healing, meditation, and self-exploration. A vortex is meant to be a mysterious cosmic force that is both sacred and powerful. Because of this, it’s no surprise that Sedona is a very mystical, new age-focused town, with lots of stores focused on yoga, meditation and spiritual tours among the rocks.
In the evening, we checked out the McDonald’s in Sedona, which is unique because it is the only one with teal colored arches (rather than the usual bright yellow) to stand out against the red rocks! Like McDonald’s or loathe them, we do appreciate how they localize their fast food chains across many cities around the world, creating their own tourist attractions.
We realized that unfortunately Sedona is not an easy place to navigate or park if you have an RV or oversized vehicle. There aren’t many places to stay for the night, and the windy roads can be tough to drive around. There are very few RV parks (and the ones that exist are super expensive compared to the average price we’ve seen or stayed out in other places), unless you drive well away from Sedona to stay in another town. We were feeling a bit anxious as the sun started to set, as most of the offices at RV parks close from 5pm, and we didn’t have many options. We took a chance by parking outside of a gym that was open 24/7, trying to stay low key by parking on the fringes of the lot.
Devil’s Bridge Trail, RV Pipe Fail
We were relieved to find that we slept in the gym parking lot with no incident, and we were free to hike the next morning in Sedona. There are over 50 hiking trails in Sedona, and the great thing is that they’re pretty much all dog friendly!
We chose Devil’s Bridge Trail, because we wanted a somewhat moderate hike, and it also rewards hikers at the end with a perfect photo moment on the “devil’s bridge”, which is a natural sandstone arch and the largest one in Sedona. Parking around the hiking trails is not easy for RVs, but we were fortunate to find a spot on the side of the road not far to the start of the trail.
The hike we chose is about 2.9 kms long (1.8 miles) and starts off easy, as it’s fairly flat and the entire hike is paved with clear markers (plus it’s a popular trek, so there were quite a lot of other people doing the hike that we could follow). Along the way, there are plenty of places to take in the majestic landscape around you. As we neared the arch, the climb became more challenging, where we had to scamper up rocks as the elevation reached a top of 1,402 meters (4,600 feet), with a 121 meter (400 foot climb) in altitude.
Once we got to the end, we got to that spectacular view, and a short line of folks who wanted to run across the bridge and take that impressive photo with the sheer drop below. Sheila was in her element on the hike, enjoying the opportunity to sniff and scramble up and down the rocks with us–and she was the center of attention when Michael and Sheila got their turn to take a picture on the arch, with a few people commenting that their dog would not be so brave!
We enjoyed the hike so much that we decided to scope out where we could go the following day. We drove along one of the roads, which had what were certainly very expensive adobe-style houses amid the landscape. At one point, we realized that we needed to do a 3-point turn in someone’s driveway to get back onto the main road–only to hear a loud scrape as our RV bottomed out, followed by water gushing along the curb! Uh-oh… was this our grey water (from the kitchen and shower), or our black water (from our toilet)... or both that had spilled out onto the streets?
We hurriedly drove back to the gym parking lot where we’d spent the previous night to diagnose what happened, and it was clear that a part of our pipe had snapped, and fortunately it was likely the one connecting to our grey water. No choice but to search online and call a mobile RV mechanic for the second time on this trip–and fortunately we were able to find someone who could help us in the morning at an RV park south of Sedona in a town called Cottonwood, where we drove toward and slept for the night.
All Day RV Pipe Repairs
The RV repair guy arrived after 8am, and determined that our grey water pipe had snapped, but that because the pipes were already sagging too low to the ground, it was only a matter of time before this would happen. He needed to come back around 1.30pm to finish off the repairs, so in the meantime we stayed at Rio Verde RV Park, a small RV park with a couple of hiking trails and clean facilities. Time for a hot shower and getting errands done! The manager, Mandy, is lovely and based on our experience, we’d recommend it to anyone looking to stay at an RV park near Sedona.
We didn’t end up leaving the RV park until after 3.30pm, but this was just enough time to head back north to see the Chapel of the Holy Cross before it closed at 5pm. The Chapel is a Catholic church perched high atop a red rock with the most spectacular views all around–and perhaps some of the best vistas of any church we’ve been to in the world. Built from 1954 to 1956 within the Coconino National Forest, the church cuts a striking figure from the outside, with the chapel (with a large cross) embedded into the rock. It’s a short uphill hike to the church, with a grotto along the path, and signs greeting visitors in multiple languages.
Upon entering the church, there are towering floor-to-ceiling windows at the front to welcome all the sunlight through, and two sets of pews running parallel to each other facing the altar. At the front on the left hand side, there are footprints on the ground, where you can place your feet and look straight up–and see Jesus on the crucifix, and his eyes looking right at you. Lisette tried it and maybe it’s her Catholic upbringing, but she found the stare to be very intimidating! There’s also a gift shop downstairs near the entrance, but we didn’t go in as it was already closing for the day.
We left Sedona as we knew that there weren’t any RV camping options, and arrived at the town of Camp Verde, where we stayed at Cliff Castle Casino Hotel for the evening. After our experience at Red Rock Casino, we realized that casinos are fantastic options for sleeping for the night–they are generally safe and quiet, are open 24/7, have clean amenities that we can use, and as a bonus, we can sign up to try our luck to make a bit of money to help fund our trip, even if it’s only by a small amount. Initially when we pulled in we had security walk toward us because we couldn’t park in the general lot (and we thought we were going to get kicked out), but it turns out that there was a dedicated, separate lot for RVs and oversized vehicles–and we got a shuttle pick us up once we parked to drive us directly to the casino entrance.
We ended up enjoying our time at this casino. We had dinner at Johnny Rockets, an old school American diner, which was great as it had vegan options for Lisette, including an Impossible Burger hamburger and a vegan milkshake. There was also a bowling alley next door, which we were tempted to do but didn’t (it was packed)! We ended up winning $74 (and at one point cashed out a whopping 4 cents!), before calling it a night.
Route Map
