Overlanding Arizona

Arizona is truly an amazing state. Back on the east coast you’re surrounded by similar enough flora, fauna, and climate for hundreds of miles. But in Arizona, we traversed the rocky deserts outside of Phoenix, the behemoth red rocks of Sedona, the tall pine forests south of Flagstaff, to the barren wasteland around the planet’s most preserved meteor crater, all within the span of a few days.

I was originally supposed to take this trip in early 2020. I had my bags packed, and my maps plotted out. But life had other plans for me and the rest of humanity that year. 

So there I was, two years later with my bags packed and maps plotted out. Except this time Ariana would be by my side as my adventure companion and navigator. 

Day 1: Off-Roading in the Pale Moon Light

The plan was to land in Phoenix, pick up our Jeep and head directly to the Seven Springs trail and head north, setting up camp sometime around sunset. But delays at the airport set us back a decent amount and the sun was already beginning to set.

Instead of stressing and rushing it, we decided to be comfortable with the fact that we would be setting up camp in the dark. Improvise, adapt, and overcome.

Once out of the airport, we picked up some camp fuel and some last minute supplies at REI and headed northeast out of the city and towards the mountains.

We were getting hungry, so we ran through the first drive through we saw on the way. Shout out to ‘Salad and Go’. Apparently they only exist in Phoenix. A fast-food drive through cobb salad has no business being that good. Then again, they do say hunger is the best spice.

As the desert sky was transitioning through its red-purple hues, we made it to the trailhead of the Seven Springs fire road. 

It was a bit slow-going, trying to offroad in the dark, and I do not recommend it. But I had planted some GPS coordinate markers on the map for potential campsites, and with Ariana navigating, I could focus on us not rolling off a cliff. 

After passing a few campsites hugging the lush stream valleys, we opted for one on higher ground overlooking the wide open desert to the north.

It was dark, but dark enough that once our eyes adapted, the glow of the moonlight provided plenty of illumination to set up camp. I don’t know what it is, but I always get a sense of calming joy when I can see my moon-shadow.

Ariana and I stood there together for a while, stargazing, and looking out at the pale blue landscape, before finally turning in. 

It was warm enough on this first night that we didn’t need to put the tent fly on. I had every intention of continuing to look at the stars while laying in that tent. But as soon as our heads hit the pillow, we were both out. 

God I love sleeping in a tent.

Day 2: Seven Springs to Schnebly Overlook 

Waking up at dawn, I decided to get up to watch the sunrise over the desert wilderness. It was dead quiet with the exception of the occasional bird chirp. Ariana was soon to follow. I was lucky enough to witness her excitement as her sleep-brain yielded to the reality of what she was waking up to.

“Yawwwwwwn…. Holyshit-holyshit-holyshit!”

We both marveled at the sunlight-bathed beauty arounds us. Which is funny, because that actually wound up being the least attractive campsite of the trip.

After some leisurely paced breakfast and coffee, we packed up the Jeep and headed back out onto the trail.

We off-roaded for about 40 more miles, taking breaks here and there to enjoy the scenery. At times it was slow going over the rough roads up and over the mountains. But for the most part it was relatively smooth. Nothing a stock 4x4 couldn’t handle. 

We rejoined civilization by getting onto Route 17 North by mid afternoon.

We stopped into the nearby town of Camp Verde to grab lunch at a small mexican food spot called La Casita. It was good but nothing to write home about, but the coffee place nearby was awesome. It had a very modern vibe, and the staff was incredibly friendly to the point of bordering on creepy. But great nonetheless. With an equally over the top name too, “Thanks A Latte”. 

Once caffeinated up, we continued on up Rt 17 until we hit the turn off for Schnebly Hill. It was a dirt road through what seemed like an out of place forest. The road eventually turned into a Jeep crawl, but only for a short while until the woods cleared up and we came to the Schnebly cliff top vista. 

It was beautiful, but windy as hell. There were signs warning us not to set up camp too close to the cliff, so we found a tree and some shrubs further back to break the wind a bit, and settled in. 

Once the tent was set up, Ariana surprised me with a bottle of wine, and we sat on the cliff watching the sunset until it got dark. 

Day 3: Exploring Sedona

The wind was blowing strong up from the Sedona valley all night. But luckily I had thought to bring the extra guylines to bombproof the tent, and it held strong. 

This new tent was pretty nice. The REI Half Dome SL 2+. At a little under 5 lbs, it's a bit heavy for normal backpacking. But it was strong and roomy enough for two people and perfect for our overlanding needs.

As the green hue of the tent interior got brighter, we crawled out the tent to greet the morning. The wind had died down and we enjoyed a lazy morning in camp.

We met a hiker on his way up to the cliff view. Friendly dude. And oddly enough, also from NJ. His girlfriend was a traveling nurse and they were in the area for a bit. 

Didn’t catch his name.

After a brief additional rest in camp, it was time to get moving. 

We continued on Schnebly Hill Road as it steeply descended down the cliff walls. This was the most difficult traverse of the trip. It took us almost 2 hours to crawl over 5 miles of bouldery road. But there were rock formations and views to be seen throughout. 

After those hours of being tossed back and forth, we were glad to hit the pavement again as we made our way through town.

Sedona was more crowded than I thought it would be. Then again, I guess I couldn’t have been the only one to think April was the best time to come to the area. 

After stopping for a quick bite at the Halfway house, (a casual place with a great view of the cliffs we had just descended) we headed south for our first day hike, Bell Rock.

Sedona is famous for its red rocks and scenic hikes. And although crowded, we knew we had to get in some of these iconic hikes while here. 

Bell Rock was a fun climb with an amazing view. And at less than a mile, it was an easy hike to cross off the list. 

Less of a trail than a series of light scrambles up massive slabs, when it began to get too steep, we decided to sit and enjoy the view.

Although the official trail had ended, there were still some adventurous climbers braving their way upwards above us. 

As we sat there, a sudden gust of wind assaulted us. We grabbed the slab to hold steady as best we could. But the gust caused the climbers above us to slip as we heard the fear inducing rumble of an oncoming rock cascade.

“ROCK!!”

I yelled, as we were pelted with projectile pebbles. 

I escaped the worst of it. But one of the rocks nailed Ariana on the upper knee pretty bad. 

Luckily the largest of the rocks rolled and ricocheted just to the right of us.

Below, a woman hid herself behind a boulder for protection. It wasn’t until all was clear that I saw she was using her own body as a shield as she curled herself completely around her small child. What good mom instincts.

With a stiff and bruised knee, we made our way back down.

From there our plan was to head for Cathedral Rock. Unfortunately we found the trailhead closed due to overcrowding and was only accessible via shuttle. That was a little much for us, so we opted for the far more secluded Broken arrow trail. 

Broken Arrow was a pleasant hike through a mix of shaded paths and open red rock slabs, flanked by huge monuments all around us. Very secluded, we only saw a couple of other hikers out there. 

But it was at this trailhead map we discovered that our stealth camping plans for the night weren’t going to work. 

I had purchased a permit for primitive camping anywhere on state land, but as we learned, the entire greater Sedona area was a no-go zone. Crap.

Always willing to improvise and adapt, with a forecast calling for rain and wind gusts over 40mph, it wasn’t hard to convince me to get a motel for the night.

So we opted for the Wildflower Inn,  just south of town with a room overlooking the huge Courthouse Butte rock formation. I couldn’t complain. 

Day 4: Journey to the Edge of the World

The weather was less than stellar that morning. Bits of hail were lightly pelting the Jeep as we drove off. But as the day went on, the skies cleared up and those solar rays added some welcomed warmth to everything. 

We were excited to set out for Soldier Pass; a scenic hike with a cave to explore at the end. But like Cathedral Rock, the parking lot was closed and was accessible only through shuttle service. 

So instead we opted for Boynton Canyon instead. It did not disappoint. 

For a hike of only four and a half miles, it gave us a diverse landscape to traverse through. It had us passing through massive rock monuments, dense wooded areas, sandy creek shores, and at times, sections that could be mistaken for an east-coast style forest if you didn’t look too hard.

I couldn’t find any information on this rock formation, but I swear there is a face in this mountain. I’m gonna call him Mr. Boynton.

If anyone knows it’s real name, let me know.

Before we got too far in, our attention was aggressively grabbed by a pair of  ‘Anna’s Broad Tailed Hummingbirds’ flirting with each other. 

The male was making his loud chirping noises and strutting his stuff. The female was playing coy, but she stuck around for the show. Couldn’t blame her. It was pretty cool. 

At about two miles in, the trail curved to the left, but there was a clearing and rockpile cairn marking an alternate path. We took the way less traveled, which brought us up to the Subway Cave.

We climbed up the walls of the canyon and stayed in one of the out carvings to have lunch.

On the way out, we saw a guy playing a native american flute high atop a cliff. Not sure how he got up there, but the music echoing through the canyon was surreal. 

Once we got back to the Jeep, we drove north through tall pines and up the scenic Rt 89A as it winded back and forth up the switchbacks out of the Sedona area.

After getting out of the valley, we drove an additional hour through pined wilderness to get to the most amazing campsite either of us had ever been to. The Edge of the World. A primitive campsite on a cliff overlooking Sedona from the north.

That’s Cathedral Rock off in the distance to the right.

It was far chillier up here though. There was even some snow left in shaded groves.

Ariana got to making a fire as I set up the tent. She is the best camp-fire engineer I know. Her time as a field researcher in South Africa seemed to have served her well. 

Our combined military and nature-science field research backgrounds make for a good team..

As the night set in, we ate our dehydrated backpacker meals by the fire and finished the last bit of wine. I had the chili mac, and she had the coconut chicken curry. Both were delicious. Especially when served with a side dish of that view.

Day 5: The World’s Best Preserved Meteor Crater

Holy hell that was a cold night. Temperatures dipped into the 20s. I was not expecting that in Arizona in April. 

It was a rough morning.

We reluctantly got out of our warm sleeping bags and thawed out our limbs by the fire. I defrosted some breakfast clif bars in my pocket as we sipped on coffee, looking out at the view and feeling the morning sun’s warmth on our faces.

Once we packed up, we set out for our last big adventure. After the hour drive through the pines, we headed towards Flagstaff, then east out into the flat, open desert. 

For most of the day our view was dominated by Humphreys Peak in the distance.

At 12,633 feet, Humphreys Peak dominates Arizona’s many varied landscapes from miles away.

Although the highest point in Arizona today, the peak is only a remnant of what used to be a much larger volcano. About 500,000 years ago, a massive eruption occurred, blowing the top off and leaving behind the jagged peaks we see today. Humphreys being the tallest.

I had ambitions of climbing it at one point. But not this trip. Maybe next time.

After traveling 50 miles on the famous Rt 66 through the desert, we turned south to find the world’s most preserved meteor impact. 50,000 years ago, a dense iron-nickel rock came hurtling down through the Earth’s atmosphere at over 26,000 miles per hour.

It impacted the surface with the energy of 20 million tons of TNT, leaving a crater over 500 feet deep and almost a mile across. 

The dry climate and sparse vegetation have left this crater seemingly untouched for 5 times longer than humans have been experimenting with civilization. And here we were, standing on its edge peering into it.

Because of its similar properties to the lunar surface, all previous Apollo astronauts have trained here in this crater before heading for the moon. As will the new astronauts of the Artemis mission slated to launch in 2025. 

Ariana and I are both huge astrophysics nerds, so we were very excited to learn about this.

To cool down after all the space excitement, we found a spot off the lonely desert road surrounded by nothing but openness. 

We ate Ariana’s famous ‘Tuna ala-Ariana’ (tuna mixed with whatever condiment packets were available), and danced in the desert to celebrate an amazing adventure coming to a close.

Although it wasn’t completely over just yet.  

The wilderness adventure nerd in me was satisfied, the space nerd in me was satisfied, but the history nerd was begging for attention.

For our last night, we stayed in Flagstaff at the Hotel Weatherford. An old west saloon in continual operation since the days of when Arizona was just a territory, and cowboys ruled the dusty streets. 

Not a typical hotel by today’s standards, there were only a few rooms, and the bathroom was in a different room across the hall, as indoor plumbing had yet to come to the area when the place was built. But if you're looking for a historical experience, this is a place to check out.

That evening we sat and drank at the same bar legendary people like law-man Wyatt Earp and President Teddy Roosevelt drank at well over a century earlier. Very cool.

Both exhausted and barely able to hold our glasses up, we toasted to another amazing adventure.