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arizona

Visited May 2025

Was lucky enough to visit with some gal pals from college, Grace & Di, for a long weekend in AZ! Grace moved to Flagstaff last year & I had been dying to visit Sedona for awhile now. We stayed a night in Flag, camped in Sedona, and camped a night at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon!! It was nice to get some early spring sun (ily boze but spring is a lil moody sometimes) & see some of the girlies that I hadn’t seen in literal years. Endlessly grateful for little life moments like these #feelingsoft

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK

Boyton Canyon & Subway Cave

Next Time...

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK

Visited May 2025

Visited the South Rim w/ Grace & Diana!! We camped out in Mather campground on the South Rim. I definitely want to come back!! The junior badge was south rim specific so I think the north rim might have its own badge??!

GC Fun Facts:

The entire Grand Canyon National Park covers an area of 1,218,375 acres. The canyon gorge spans 277 river miles long, reaches up to 18 miles wide, and is one mile deep at its deepest point.
There is evidence of human occupation within & around the GC starting 12,000 years ago
The Grand Canyon creates its own weather due to its own extreme elevation changes. The coldest & wettest ranger station (Bright Angel, North Rim) is 8 miles away from the hottest & driest ranger station (Phantom Ranch)
There are no dinosaur bones in the Grand Canyon. The rock that makes up the canyon is about a billion years older than dinosaurs, but the canyon itself wasn’t formed until long after the dinosaurs were gone!
The Colorado River has notoriously been a difficult habitat for fish (heavy silt, frequent floods, extreme temperature ranges) and as a result, only 8 species of fish are native to the canyon- and 6 of them aren’t found anywhere outside of the Colorado River. One of these fish is called the Humpback Chub!!! #dudesforchubs
The grand canyon is one of the best places to view a worldwide geological phenomenon known as “the great unconformity”. 250 million year old rock lies back to back w/ 1.2 billion year old rock- aka quite a mysteriously large time gap. similar gaps in this same exact time period can be found in other parts of the world, but it is the most drastic at the grand canyon. there are quite a few theories for what caused this (my fav theory was a giant ice sheet), however it remains quite a debate for what caused this geological mystery!

Ooh Ahh Point

Elevation Gain: ~600 ft.

Length: ~3 mi

Difficulty: Easyish

Time: 1-2 hrs

Note(s):

We parked at the yaki point picnic area and walked on the road to the south kaibab trailhead b/c there is no public parking at the trail start & the kaibab shuttle doesn’t start until 6 am.
Fun fact: kaibab is a Paiute indian word that translates to “mountain lying down”

Next Time...

South Rim
- South Kaibab to Cedar Point
- Bright Angel to Plateau Point
Havasupai Indian Reservation
- Havasupai Falls is a bucket list backpack!
- Quite the permit process for this one
North Rim
- I haven't researched this yet!!

SEDONA

Visited May 2025:

Camped out w/ Grace & Diana at Cave Spring campground ! Hot take I think I enjoyed my time in Sedona more than the GC, but both were absolutely amazing!!! Magical vibes!!!

Sedona Fun Facts

The Sedona red rocks formed about 210-370 million years ago & are made up of seven different layers of rock: Basalt lava, Kaibab Limestone, Toroweap sandstone, Coconino sandstone, hermit shale, Supai sandstone and Red Wall limestone
The Sunset Crater volcano erupted in 1064 A.D and the people living in the area were forced to migrate. Eventually people returned to the area because the land had become incredibly fertile due to the volcanic ash & increasing temps!

Vortexes
- Sedona is known for its energy hotspots, known as vortexes. These areas are considered to be spots where energy is either entering into the earth or projecting out of the earth’s plane. It’s believed the energy moves in a spiral formation (either up or down)
  - Technically all of Sedona is considered to be a vortex, but the most prominent spots are: Cathedral Rock, Chapel of the Holy Cross, Airport Mesa, Bell Rock, Boynton Canyon, Schnebly Hill, and Courthouse Butte.
- Vortexes can be further categorized as either feminine or masculine. Feminine sites like Cathedral Rock & Chapel of the Holy Cross are sites where energy is known to be entering the earth. Masculine sites like Airport Mesa and Bell Rock are sites where energy is known to be exiting the earth. Boynton Canyon is actually known for having both feminine and masculine energy!
- Vortexes are found at other well known sites throughout the world – the Great Pyramid in Egypt, Machu Picchu in Peru, Stonehenge in the UK, and more!

West Fork Oak Creek

Elevation Gain: Minimal

Length: ~6 miles RT (most popular), but i think the canyon is 14mi long RT!

Difficulty: VARIES

Time: VARIES

Note(s):

In & out through a canyon so definitely a choose your own adventure vibe!!
a LOT of fun creek crossings
good mix of shade in the trees & some sunny spots. lot of cool rocks & kinda gives zion vibes. perfect hike for a hot day!!
parking lot fills up reaaaal fast- probably a best bet to get there around 7-8am in peak season. We got there around 9 and really lucked out because the parking guy was saving a spot for a tiny car & the prius was a perfect fit, but other people were already parking on the road & walking in!
you do have to pay for parking at this trailhead (even if you are walking in from the road). i think it was maybe ~$15 per car & $5 per human walking in?? don’t quote me on that one because i don’t remember!! they do take cash or card tho!

Fay Canyon / Arch

Elevation Gain: ~260 feet

Length: 1.7 miles RT

Difficulty: Easy

Time: 1.5 hours

Note(s):

This particular spot isn’t known for being a recognized energy hot spot (though all of Sedona is known as an energy vortex- just certain spots have more energy than others), but the gals & I truly thought the energy felt noticeably unique here! I think this was my fav experience of the trip because of the funky energy vibes! Was also cool because we had the place to ourselves!!
The trail up to the arch isn’t marked, but it was up to the right about x mi in. You can’t really tell it’s an arch until you’re underneath it, but it wasn’t super hard to find because it looked like a cool cave vibe from the approach.

Boyton Canyon & Subway Cave

Elevation Gain: ~930 feet

Length: 6.3 miles RT

Difficulty: Med

Time: 2-3 hours

Note(s):

Path to the vortex is unmarked, but pretty easy to find. The vortex is visible from the trail turn off on the right about a quarter mile into the trail. This particular vortex is known to have both masculine & feminine energy making it a balanced energy spot! I didn’t notice any particular unique energy vibes, but did enjoy climbing the rock!!
Path to the subway cave is also unmarked, but relatively well traveled! It’s about 2 mi in and off to the right of a big alligator juniper tree!
When you approach the cave I’d recommend climbing up on the left side towards the ruins & not straight up the slot! Much easier route & the ruins are sick.
The “ruins” are these neat Native Indian structures built by the Sinagua people who inhabited the area from ~500 – 1430 CE / AD
There is also a cool spiral / turtle petroglyph (last pic ft. cool trail snacks)

Next Time...

Cathedral Rock (1.2 mi RT / 669 ft elev.)
Bell rock Courthouse Loop (3.6 mi RT / 341 ft elev.)
Birthing Cave (2mi RT / 232 ft elev.)
Munds Wagon Trail (varies)
Margs Draw (4.1 mi RT / 416 ft elev.)
Bear Mountain (4.6 mi RT / 2000 ft elev.)
Devil’s Bridge (varies on trailhead start)
Soldier Pass & Seven Sacred Pools (4.8 mi RT / 823 ft elev.)

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