SEDONA: the lowdown
The Area
The beauty of Sedona rivals most national parks. In addition to biking there are opportunties for hiking, canyoneering, climbing, fishing, photography and so forth. There are also many resorts and spas. It’s a good place to keep everyone in the family happy. The culture is a strange mix of old-west conservativism, outdoorsy ‘granola’ types and new-age hippy types.
There are two towns, but three town centers. Uptown Sedona is highest in elevation and the first you’ll run into rolling into the area from Oak Creek Canyon. Lots of tourist shops here. West Sedona has the grocery stores and most of the hotels and dining places. It is separated from uptown Sedona by a chunk of National Forest, and though these two areas in in two different counties they are still part of the same town. The Village of Oak Creek (VOC) is south of Sedona, on Highway 179, just south of Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte. This town has a little bit of everything you might need.
There is a Red Rock Fee to park on National Forest land around Sedana. This fee helps maintain the trail and trailhead facilities, it really does go to a good cause. You can buy them at any FS facility (including major trailheads) and at some shops and stores (such as Circle K). If your a cheap skate, however, you can park in a grocery store or bike shop parking lot and ride from there without fear of a ticket.
There are a lot of trails in Sedona that go into wilderness where no bikes are allowed. Keep yourself (and the MTB community) out of trouble and stay out of the wilderness.
Trails
Here are my three favorite rides in the area (in no particular order):
1) Broken Arrow (w/ Submarine Rock detour), Llama Loop, Templeton, Baldwin and back. If you don't have enough time to do a complete out and back, there are several short cuts you could take. Don't forget to take take a flop off the rope swing at Budda Beach.
2) Jordan, Tea Cup, Thunder Mountain, and back. A little bit shorter then the other two.
3) Up Schnebly Hill Road (or Munds Wagon Road Trail if you want a technical climbing challenge) to just past the overlook, then right on FR 153A, then right where it comes to a "T" (just past the fenced off radio or whatever equipment) then continue on down Schnebly Hill Trail, hit the road, and just 30 or so feet downhill from there continue on down the Munds Wagon Road Trail to the trailhead. This has some options, for example you can keep going down from the trailhead on Huckabee to the creek or turn off on Cow Pies and hook up with the "extreme" Damifino Trail, though its very hard to find.
The Girdner trailhead behind the cultural center will lead you to a substantial trail network. Also, check out the Carroll Canyon area trails, best accessed from the Shelby Dr. trailhead. A loop down there would probably be my number 4 favorite trail.
Check out the
Arizona Trail Reviews for more info.
Trail Maps and Books
Emmitt Barks Cartagraphy, Cosmic Ray, Mountain Bike Heaven and Bear (something) Cartography all produce maps of the area. The Emmitt Barks map is the best for navigating since it’s a true scale map with contours, shaded relief, the whole nine yards. The Cosmic Ray map is less expensive and bike specific, but has a quant, cartoonish appearance that isn’t the best for navigating if you’re not familar with the area. Personally, I would buy both. The MTB Heaven map is also decent, however the Bear (something) Cartagraphy map is a crappy glorified USGS topo map with a few trails thrown in on it. Its so unimpressive, I can’t even remember the propper name!
Both Cosmic Ray and Paul Beakley have produced state-wide mountain bike books that highlight the best trails in the Sedona area. See the “Books” section in the post by Paul B above for more details.
Bear in mind that none of these maps or books have all of the trails in Sedona. The best of them have perhaps about 1/3 of the actual trail milage in them. This is because they only contain official network trails. There are many non-system trails which are legal to ride, and many of them are quite fun. Other non-network trails are miserable paths carved out by hikers, horseback riders and cattle. You will find plenty of fun riding to keep you busy for a solid week on the network trails, try not to get too distracted or get lost on side trails.
Tours
Sedona MTB Adventures offers mountain bike tours for anyone from complete novices looking for a slightly more interesting sight seeing tour to experienced, hard-core rider looking for the most challenging trails. The local knowledge keeps you from getting lost on the somewhat confusing trail network and you can learn a bit about geology, natural history, local history and so forth as you go, or you can just ride. I work for Sedona MTB Adventures as a guide, so I appologise if my description is especially glowing.
Bike and Bean also offers tours, appariently through
360 Adventures.
Additionally there are group rides leaving from Bike and Bean, MTB Heaven and possibly also Absolute Bikes, on most days.
Shops
Absolute Bikes (VOC): 928.284.1242
Bike & Bean (VOC): 928.284.0210
Mountain Bike Heaven (West Sedona): 928 282-1312
Camping
There are two locations for primitive camping near Sedona. The one I would recommend most is Forest Road 525/Red Canyon Road/Bill Gray Road 7 miles west of Sedona (4 miles past the high school) on Highway 89A. The other is an area called Beaver Head Flats, just south of Beaver Head Flats road on Hwy 179, south of VOC, (about a mile north of the intersection of I-17 and AZ 179). Neither of these places has water or other facilities, so you will have to pack it in and pack it out. These places are also further from trails, only kinda sorta within riding distance of a few trails. But its free camping so you get what you pay for.
Most of the commercial campgrounds in Sedona do not take tents. If you’re in a RV, there are several RV parks, contact the
Sedona Chamber of Commerce for more information on these places. The Hawkeye RV park on the north end of Uptown Sedona is a bit dumpy, but they have tent camping for $18.88 per night. The phone number there is 928-282-2222. Showers available. If you’re camping elsewhere this is a good place to go sneek a shower. Just don’t tell them you heard that here.
The better campgrounds are run by the National forest.
Chavez Crossing Group Campground is the perfect place for a group of riders (10 or more) to camp. At $55-75 a night, its a bit pricey, but there’s water, toilets, its located on Oak Creek, and best of all its within riding distance of all the trails. The rest of the campgrounds are up in Oak Creek Canyon, a beautiful area but futher from the trails. The Manzanita campground is the closest of these to town, only about 4-5 miles of road riding from there. Check out the
Coconino National Forest Red Rock Recreation page for more info. I would recommend getting reservations (required for Chavez Crossing) in advance if you plan on being there over the weekend.
Lodging
There are plenty of expensive resort type places to stay at. If you're looking for something less expensive you can get away for about $60 a night at some of the motels further west in West Sedona (along 89A) and in the Village of Oak Creek. A nice, bike specific place is in the rooms above
Bike & Bean in Oak Creek. Contact the
Sedona Chamber of Commerce for more information on hotel accomidations in the area.
Eats
My place favorite is Mayan Taco, a good post-ride meal. The Red Planet Diner next to MTB Heaven is an interesting and tasty place to have dinner. Oak Creek Brewery has some good beer and food. There are many other options, I just don't eat out down there often.
