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| Hiking | 3.90 Miles |
660 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.90 Miles | 2 Hrs 16 Mns | | 1.72 mph |
| 660 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Took the family up to Sedona/Oak Creek to cap off Fall Break. The plan was to do a quick jaunt to Devil's Bridge, get lunch, and then tackle West Fork Oak Creek.
Headed to the Devils Bridge trailhead. Suprisingly, there is no signage on Dry Creek Road to alert you to the turn off. Using HAZ resources, though, I knew where it was and we made it to the paved parking area. (The only marking at the turn off Dry Creek Rd is a sign indicating "FR512C.")
I thought we would be able to drive all the way to the Devils Bridge trailhead--which is another mile down on an unpaved road, but when the sign at the paved parking area says 4x4 recommended from that point to the trailhead, it means it. We had a high clearance 2W drive, and probably could have navigated it, but I wasn't willing to risk it, so after traversing a short nail-biting section, we just pulled off to the side of the road and threw on the day packs and hiked the .8 mi. down the road to the trailhead. Bottom line: w/o the 4x4, just park at the paved lot and extend the hike another mile, both ways.
The hike to the bridge was fun. As you climb a bit of elevation, the views really open up to some fabulous vistas. I kept trying to guess where the arch was. It never comes into view on the trail until you actually arrive at it.
Prior to arriving at the arch/bridge, you come to a fork. Right/up takes you to the top of the arch/bridge; left/down takes you under the arch/bridge. We did both, beginning at the top.
The bridge is pretty cool. From the photo-op location to the south, the bridge looks pretty scary, and my wife wanted nothing to do with going out on it. She was a bit stressed when I took the kiddos out there. However, when you are out on the bridge itself, it's actually fairly wide and not too scary, if you take reasonable precautions not to get too close to the edge.
We took a bunch of photos and then backtracked to the trail that headed underneath the arch. Equally impressive views of the underside of the arch.
Temps were great and we enjoyed the views again on the hike back.
Ate lunch at the car and then headed up to hike #2 for the day: West Fork Oak Creek! |
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