Devil’s Bridge, located in the Coconino National Forest in Sedona, Arizona, is an easy and popular hike. It features an incredible sandstone arch. You’ll definitely want to go on this hike if you are visiting Sedona!
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Hike Overview
Length: ~4 miles round trip without a 4×4; 2 miles round trip with a 4×4 (more details on that later)
Difficulty: Easy/moderate depending on which route you take
Elevation Gain: 564 feet
Dog Friendly: Yes
Parking: Free
Restrooms: Yes at the parking lot
Admission Fee: You’ll need to buy a Red Rock Pass ($5) when you visit
Directions
There are essentially 3 routes to get to Devil’s Bridge.
One important factor is whether or not you have a high-clearance 4WD vehicle.
Route 1 via Vultee Arch Rd / Dry Creek Vista Trail
If you do have a high-clearance 4WD vehicle, you can drive on Vultee Arch Road and park directly at the trailhead. This will make your hike 2 miles round trip.
If you don’t have a high-clearance 4WD vehicle (like us), you’ll need to park at the paved lot at the Dry Creek Vista Trail and start your hike (on a dirt road) to the trailhead. This makes your hike ~4 miles round trip.
This route is rated as easy (that’s mostly why we picked it).
Route 2 via Mescal Trailhead
If you don’t want to hike on the dirt road where it can be shared by 4×4 vehicles, you can opt to take route 2 via the Mescal Trailhead. It is rated as moderate.
Route 3 via Chuck Wagon Trail
For those of you who are more adventurous and like more strenuous hikes, this route is for you. It is rated as hard and will make your total trip 5.8 miles roundtrip.
Hiking to Devil’s Bridge for Sunrise
When Brea and I did some research into this hike, it sounded like a pretty popular one so we decided to do it for sunrise to avoid the crowd. This means we had to start around 5AM! We don’t usually do night hikes and so we picked Route 1 which is rated easy.
No matter which route you take though, make sure to be prepared. Bring enough water, wear sunscreen and if you are hiking before the sun rises, bring a headlamp or flashlight!
The good thing about starting a hike so early is that you’ll certainly get the best parking spot. When we arrived at the Dry Creek Vista Trail, we only saw 2 other cars there. It was pitch dark but you can identify people by their flashlights/headlamps.
The hike itself was pretty uneventful going there. Mostly because it was so dark that we couldn’t see anything around us. I was looking down at my feet most of the time too.We took more photos of our surroundings on the hike back when there was daylight.
There are plenty of signs on the hike so just make sure you follow them.
Brea and I are not fast hikers at all so a few people passed us on the way there. Surprisingly, there were quite a few people doing the hike at the same time as us. Well they probably started later and caught up to us haha.
We did get a little lost at the end because we thought we had to keep going up. But then we realized this was supposed to be an easy hike so why did we need to climb up steep rocks? In the end, we made it there for sunrise!
There was already a line to take pictures though by the time we arrived…
More people arrived while we were here waiting. People did keep their distance when possible and wore masks if they couldn’t be 6 feet apart.
On Devil’s Bridge
Unless you are the very first people to arrive, you’ll be waiting in line for your turn. The bridge is not as narrow as it looks in photos but of course everyone wants a picture on it by themself or with their group. There is a viewing deck directly across from the bridge for you to set up your tripod/phone or have someone take your picture.
The people in line with us were pretty nice and everyone encouraged each other to take pictures and even gave advice on what poses to do! Since the line was relatively short at sunrise, we were able to go twice. One thing we didn’t get to do though was fly Brea’s drone .. there was just too much to do and too many people!
If you don’t want to wait in line for your picture on the bridge, don’t worry – the surrounding areas give a pretty good landscape as well. If you position yourself correctly, you can even block out the people who are on the bridge.
Devil’s Bridge in the background
We brought our dog along with us on this hike but he stayed in his backpack the whole time. We learned our lesson at Big Pine that he isn’t an outdoor dog at all.
Once we were done taking photos at Devil’s Bridge, we embarked on our hike back to the car. This time, we were able to enjoy the scenary!
Hiking to Devil’s Bridge for sunrise was a great experience for our first time in Sedona. It was worth waking up early and hiking in the dark to avoid the crowd. The views were amazing for a somewhat easy hike!
