If you’ve read my other Trip Reports from a Sister’s Trip, then you know I am lucky to have 2 Sisters (2 great Bro In-Laws) and 3 Brothers that married 3 wonderful women. Many years ago, my 2 sisters moved out of state. In an effort to spend more time with them Megan (a sister in-law) asked if anyone wanted to go on a trip together. That first year I passed, then got wise and I’ve been joining in and making it a 4-some ever since.

We change the location and sometimes the month depending on life. This year we went to Sedona in November. Last year we went to Savanah. I didn’t write I trip report for it (since it was city based) but you can watch the YouTube video if you like.

We like to alternate trip styles as much as we can, so this year was planned to be more outdoor based-hiking in Sedona.

We arrived in Phoenix on Thursday morning, grabbed the rental car, stopped off at Snooze (enjoyed a surprise gluten free pancake from our server) for yummy breakfast and drove the ~2 hours to Sedona.

We spent that first afternoon walking around the main street, snacking, shopping for turquoise and crystals, laughing and catching up. We walked to an outdoor retailer to pick up a Red Rocks Pass ($15/week?) for hiking the rest of the trip, and grabbed quick dinners at Whole Foods.

This trip we rented an Air B/B that was just south of Sedona, to the east of the Village of Oak Creek and I would absolutely recommend. If you want the details let me know. Being in our own rental meant more time to just be together, something we always want more of. That first night we giggled, ate, giggled some more and went to bed early with plans to start hiking the next day before sunrise.

On Friday we left the rental around 5:30am and drove to the Mescal Trailhead to hike to Devil’s Bridge. Sedona is amazing, I can’t wait to go back, which goes to say that Sedona can be crowded. One easy way to mitigate the crowds? Start in the dark. We planned for cooler weather, brought our headlamps are started hiking before 6:30am. The first part of the hike is very mild, and the sun begins to rise over the vistas around you creating the most magical glow.

After just over 2 miles and a small amount of climbing (just steps) you are rewarded with a view over the valley and this incredible bridge of rocks wide enough to walk comfortably across. When we got there a few parties were already there, taking turns with photos on the bridge, with groups taking photos of other groups. For the most part Sedona at this time of year had a lot of girl groups-a concentration like I have never really seen. The result was like one big party.

Sometimes the sisterhood among women runs deep. So deep in fact, that a stranger might recognize that a person in your group looks left out (not wearing a puffy coat) and offer to let you wear hers coat….giving you (for the moment) the literal coat off her back. This actually happened. And I’m thinking by next trip Brittany will already have gotten a puffy jacket ’cause we know it’s a darn good layer.

Now, with photos taken and coats returned, we hiked back the way we came to the car, ending with about 4.33 miles total. Since we started so early, we ate our packed snacks/lunches and headed to Courthouse Butte for our secondary hike of the day.

Parking was pretty full, but we managed a spot and in the heat of the day (mild and comfortable in November) and took a leisurely hike around the base of Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte.

The whole loop was about 3.8 miles of red rock, blue sky, agave plants, prickly pear and Pinyon trees. It is a beautiful landscape filled with incredible history. Even though for parts of the hike you are pretty close to the road, you don’t really hear the traffic since Sedona keeps the speed limit very low, and utilizes roundabouts. With no noise of braking and accelerating or high speeds, the hikes feel relatively remote even though they are super accessible.

That afternoon we grabbed coffee at Black Potion, 6/10, and food from Clark’s Market -wayyyyy better than Whole Foods-before heading back for some relaxation before dinner.

Dinner was at Creekside American Bistro. We cooked a little under the heaters in their outdoor seating. I had the Carbonara paired with a delightful Zinfandel and was not disappointed. That night was much of the same….laughed until we couldn’t breathe….talked about our favorite part of the day….spoke up if we wanted to change the following day.

We agreed starting early was the greatest, as hard as it is to do Dawn Patrol on ‘vacation’. So we set our alarms a little earlier and the next morning, grabbed our breakfasts and our pack snacks and headed off to the trailhead.

The Subway Cave is a popular spot, thats really just a spur trail off of the Boynton Canyon Trail. I believe the entire Canyon Trail is around 6 miles, and then the spur trail is around a half mile to the cave. Our day in total was 9.26 miles.

The first part of the hike follows the Enchantment Resort. Which looks amazing and very expensive. Under headlamp and the a gorgeous desert moon we hiked about 2 miles until the sun came up and we hit our turn off for the cave.

It took a little finding, the area is a web of dry creek beds and canyons that feed into each other, but eventually we scrambled up to the most spectacular landing in the rocks.

For just a few moments we had it to ourselves……

There is a walkable level, midway up the cliff band that you can explore and see. It allows you to look down the canyon at just indescribable scenery and imagine what it would have been like lifetimes ago for the people who called this area home. You must be careful not to touch any carvings or paintings and not to move rocks. It is a memorable place that I feel privileged to have seen.

We hiked back to the main trail and opted to hike the end of Boynton Canyon. Coming from Minnesota I had no idea that fall in the desert could be so colorful! It was stunning. Just…..stunning. November is a wonderful time for Sedona. Cool (maybe cold) mornings and evenings and mild afternoons.

We hiked to the end of the canyon and in the process met several amazing people, many of whom had not understood that to get to the Subway Cave you needed to take a spur trail. We patted ourselves on the back for a navigation job (planning) well done and hiked back to the car.

Again we opted for lunch from Clark’s, coffee from Free Form (10/10) and an afternoon of relaxing and chatting in the hot tub with a gorgeous red rock view.

Dinner that night surprised me! We had reservations at Mesa Grill (thanks Megan for making all our reservations ahead of time) which a quick Google search told me was a restaurant at the airport? What? I had a burger which did not suck…but hear me out-get the Kale Salad….I dream of it. I wouldn’t order the Blackberry Jalapeño Margarita again. You win some you loose some.

Sedona has a small airport on a Mesa….that offers brilliant sunset views. For our time of year that was around 5pm….which is when Megan made reservations-pro move! It is breathtaking up there. I have goosebumps now as I picture it. Sedona knows that its scenery is the ticket and it does everything it can not to mess that up. Light pollution? What’s that? Tall buildings to obstruct your view? Not here.

Can’t wait to go back.

That night we swapped photos, laughed some more….ate dessert we’d picked up along the way and laughed a little longer.

Our last morning was a quick breakfast, again at Creekside American Bistro (breakfast tacos are always the right choice) coffee again from Free Form and drove back to Phoenix to catch our flights!

We had a sensational time….planned a location for next year and gave thanks that we get to do this trip.

Learnings:

We’ve done 6 trips as a group of 4 and here are some things we’ve talked about that help us have success.

1). Clear expectations. We kinda take turns with these trips, planning them…making reservations etc. As we do it, we lay out clear expectations of what the trip is going to look like. There is no ‘sandbagging’ hikes here.

2) Splitwise. Affectionately known to us as ‘splitsies’. This free app is how we make most purchases on our trip. Rental car? Goes in the app. Gas fill? Lodging? Parking pass? We put it in the app…it divides it up…at the end of the trip we Venmo each other and schizamm….easy.

3). Less is More. We’re sisters!!!!! Brandon’s impersonation of what sister’s trip sounds like would be kinda condescending if it weren’t so true! It is a LOT of giggling. We like to do fun stuff, but we like to give ourselves as much time as we can to be together too.

4). Packing lists. I think we’ve done this for the last few years. Whoever ends up doing the bulk of planning sends a bit of packing-list for the group. And we’ve gotten good. When its a city based trip that includes dress-code type things if we have a nice dinner. When it’s outdoor based that includes things like layers and temperature considerations.

5). Group Item. This is optional but added to the fun. 3 years ago for our Colorado trip we got matching shirts that had the best reception. So the following year when we went to the beach, Jessica got us matching beach towels……love. This year Brittany designed bandanas for the group (seen in that last 2 pics). Turn the fun factor up to 20…..who knows what we’ll do next year!

I sure hope you enjoyed reading and watching. Thanks for following along and stay tuned for more Brandon and Hannah (and Sage) content to follow.

**I want to know who knows the quote that Brittany says at the end of the video-comment below!**

As always, thanks for reading. Now get out (stay warm) and enjoy some Days Off!