Red rock, high desert light, and some of the most beautiful day hiking in America. This is a complete field kit for exploring the Sedona and Colorado Plateau country: the trails to walk, the gear that belongs in your pack, the organizations keeping this landscape wild, and a way to make it more than a visit.
The Trails
Sedona’s numbered Forest Service trails interconnect into days of any length. Start with these, all searchable in full on the Trail Atlas:
- Chuckwagon #196 and Girdner #162 — rolling red-dirt classics, easy to link into a longer loop
- Thunder Mountain #165 — big views under the Coffee Pot formations
- Bear Sign #59 and Dry Creek #52 — quieter canyon walking north of town
- Aerie #168 — a connector that opens up the western red rock country
For the full region, season by season, read the Colorado Plateau Trail Guide.
The Field Kit
What actually belongs in your pack for red rock day hiking, with the makers we trust for each piece:
- Water, and lots of it — three liters minimum; a Klean Kanteen or hydration reservoir. Water is the organizing fact of Plateau hiking.
- Grippy footwear — slickrock rewards sticky rubber; trail shoes from Salomon or sandals from Chaco for creek-crossing days.
- Sun architecture — a brimmed hat and hooded sun shirt; shade here is something you carry. Outdoor Research owns this category.
- A real daypack — 18 to 28 liters, fitted to your back, from Osprey or Gregory.
- Layers for the swing — desert mornings and afternoons can be 30 degrees apart; packable insulation from Patagonia or Mountain Hardwear.
- Winter traction — north-facing switchbacks hold ice into spring; Kahtoola MICROspikes, made just up the road in Flagstaff.
Protect This Place
The red rocks are not self-sustaining; people keep them open and intact. These organizations do the work, and you can join them in the Ideal Location nature directory:
- Grand Canyon Trust — defending the wider Colorado Plateau
- Keep Sedona Beautiful — guarding the character of red rock country
- Sedona Red Rock Trail Fund — maintaining the very trails above
Practice Leave No Trace on every one of these trails: stay on the slickrock and established tread, pack out everything, and give the cryptobiotic soil a wide berth.
Stay Longer. Belong Here.
The deepest way to know a landscape is to keep coming back to it. The Ideal Location ecosystem is building pathways from visiting a place to having a basecamp in it:
- Stay — nature-first lodging near the trailheads (coming through the ecosystem)
- Own — Ideal Location Homes works on nature-based property near the places worth protecting
- Co-own — shared-ownership pathways to a red rock basecamp, so a place like this can be part of your life without being your whole mortgage
Find your trail. Gear up for it. Protect it. Then find your way back.
Explore the Trail Atlas · Read the Guides · Meet the Guardians