Friday May 5th, 2023
Jessica and I took on Devil’s Bridge yesterday and it was a blast!
We met Jessica and Dale at Distant Drums RV Resort. They are work camping here and run the Sunday service and bible study. When I mentioned that Tim won’t hike with me on more challenging routes, Jessica offered to be my hiking companion while we are here! I am so thankful!
We left at 6:30am to be sure to get parking at the trailhead as this is one of the more popular hikes in the area.
The hike from the Mescal Trailhead is 4.2 miles round trip. We took a couple of little side trails and I ended up with just under 5 miles according to my watch.
You can also do this hike from the Dry Creek Road which cuts the hike to 2 miles, but you need a 4×4 to get there and you miss a really pretty part of the hike if you do that.
The Sedona shuttle also drops off hikers here so if you don’t get parking you can go that route.
The Mescal Trailhead has bathroom facilities and is well maintained.
We took the Mescal trail to the Chuckwagon trail that leads to the official Devil’s Bridge trail. We were greeted by so many desert flowers and plants.
There are a couple of tricky parts. Several hikers went off the path for awhile, but we used the free version of All Trails (waiting for a special to purchase the paid version) and stayed on track for the most part.
After Dry Creek Road (where the 4x4s can park) you get to the steeper and rockier part of the hike. There are several sets of steep steps and some rock scrambling to get to the very top.
At the top there is a large flat area where people wait to take their turns to get the money shot. I looked to my left and right and said out loud, “I’ll bet I’m the oldest one here.” Much to my surprise, a woman down the line spoke up and said “I’m 66 how old are you??” She had me beat by 5 years! I was definitely the second oldest up there at the time!’
Not only do you have to have courage to go out on the bridge, but to get the excellent pictures, you have to hand your phone or camera over to a stranger behind you in line and ask them to do the honors! Luckily the guy behind us was a very good photographer!
Scrambling back down the rocks was more challenging than going up for me. I’m thankful for the folding hiking stick Emily got me for Christmas last year.
We stopped at several overlooks for some shots of the gorgeous scenery.
As Tim says when we are seeing new things, “this is what I signed up for.” Can’t wait for the next hike!