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On Location: Sedona
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Our writer double-tasks on her Arizona trip, and—no surprise—prefers the resort life to IKEA
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BY KATIE ARNOLD
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An intrepid mountain biker on Broken Arrow Trail, outside Sedona; swimmers cooling down at Slide Rock State Park.
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Katie Arnold lives in Santa Fe, and has visited Sedona several times over the years. Her latest trip, planned (partly) to research a story for the summer issue of Endless Vacation® magazine, got off to a less-than-relaxing start—but picked up after that.
THE BUILDUP
My husband
and I had the hair-brained idea of flying to Phoenix with our
17-month-old, spending a day stocking up on home-office furniture at
IKEA, and loading it into a rental truck which Steve would drive back
to Santa Fe, following me with our daughter in a rental car. Our reward
en route would be a much-needed pit stop in Sedona. But we hadn’t
bargained for the delirium that set in during the six hours we spent at
IKEA, weaving through the displays, scarfing down Swedish meatballs and
manhandling boxes of assembly-required furniture into a shopping cart
captained by a cranky toddler. By the time we staggered out of the
store, we were in bad shape—and we still had to convoy two hours north
to Sedona in spitting rain. (And I’d thought Arizona was the desert.)
Two hours turned into three, and before long it was dark. Steve and the
16-foot truck were just a forlorn pair of headlights in my rearview
mirror as my car wheezed up what felt like endless mountain passes.
THE PAYOFF
Driving
into Sedona at night is like arriving blindfolded at a surprise
party—you don’t know what kind of outlandish splendor awaits. When I
pulled into Enchantment Resort, all I could see was my rain-streaked
windshield and brooding blackness everywhere. It felt as though we’d
left all known landmarks behind. But when we awoke in the morning, we
found ourselves at the mouth of a narrow box canyon surrounded on three
sides by staggeringly beautiful sandstone cliffs. We’d made our way to
one of the loveliest spots in the Southwest and hadn’t even known it.
LIVE TO RIDE
Sedona
is famous among hikers and New Age gurus for its more than 200 miles of
trails—many of which supposedly lead to invisible energy centers in the
earth called vortexes. But on past trips, I have chosen to bypass the
perambulatory masses and ride a bike instead. The mountain-bike scene
is thriving (though still a little underground) and the hub of the
action is the Bike & Bean, a bike shop/caffeine factory in the
neighboring village of Oak Creek (6020 Hwy. 179; 928-284-0210; bike-bean.com).
Stock up on picnic supplies at New Frontiers Natural Marketplace (1420
W Hwy. 89A; 928-282-6311), Sedona’s version of Whole Foods, and then
tackle the singletrack. Favorite routes include the 12-mile Cathedral
Rock loop, Soldier Pass and Submarine Rock. Good news for road
cyclists: Sedona recently created more than a dozen miles of paved bike
lanes along Highway 179, prime real estate for gawking at red rock.
THE COOLDOWN
I’ve
only been to Sedona in the summer once. The highlight of that trip:
escaping the heat with a swim at Slide Rock State Park (928-282-3034; azstateparks.com).
Oak Creek has carved a smooth chute in the rocky river bottom, with one plunge pool after another, creating what
could be the world’s greatest natural waterslide. The water was
refreshingly cool, and we did laps on the flume, bobbing along in our
bathing suits, shrieking with relief, then clambering along the bank to
do it again. And again and again. Any place in Arizona with water and
shade trees doesn’t stay a secret for long, and we gladly shared the
swimming holes with hundreds of others that day. It was beyond worth it.
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Published: March 1, 2010
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PHOTOS: Doug Berry; Julian Smith
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