Hike to Devil’s Bridge

We had a dozen hikes lined up as options for the day that we passed through Sedona. Once we saw that most of this hike could be done with a 4WD vehicle, we thought it would be a fun place to see what the our rented Jeep could do!

NH Nomads on Devil’s Bridge, Red Rock Secret Mountain Wilderness Area, Coconino National Forest, Sedona, Arizona.

We have an America The Beautiful annual pass that we displayed on the windshield of the Jeep while we were here. Without the pass, we would have needed to purchase a Red Rock Pass for the day ( https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/coconino/recreation/?cid=stelprdb5416207 ).

Along Dry Creek Road on the way to Devil’s Bridge Trail Head.

Without the Jeep, this would have been a 4.5 mile round-trip hike. We took the Jeep for 3 of those miles, leaving about a 1.5 mile round-trip hike from the trail head to the Arch. There was a lot of foot traffic and a fair amount of 4WD vehicle traffic along this road between the paved parking area and the trail head.

We got the only available space at the trail head.

4WD parking at the Devil’s Bridge Trail Head.

The hike itself was easy for most of the way, with it getting more moderate the closer we got to Devil’s Bridge. There were a few spots where the trail was more of a scramble up rocks that had been arranged into steep staircases.

Looking down at some of the “stairs” that we climbed to get to Devil’s Bridge.
Hikers crossing Devil’s Bridge.
Hiking out over the arch

Everyone we encountered was very friendly. When we got to the arch, hikers were taking turns taking pictures for each other, so we had someone that was there take our picture as we were on the arch, and we did the same favor for a group of hikers that came up behind us.

A geocache that we logged on our way down from Devil’s Bridge. Several of the caches that we found while in Arizona were older caches in containers like this – which wouldn’t have lasted a year in our part of the country between moisture and freezing!
On the way back from the Devil’s Bridge trailhead. Jeeps and pedestrians shared the trail.