Sedona: Don't just stop by here, Experience it.

A ShadyHipster Story-time and Travel Blog

1. Dated: Oct 8th, 2020

Have you ever had the urge to just go google top coolest places to explore on your computer? After hitting the search button, Sedona pops up in your search feed. I've lived in the state of Arizona for now close to 7 years. Each year I take an oath to myself to explore it, and appreciate the beauty. I'm always fascinated by the smooth rocks, the vast green tall trees that remind me of the planet of Endor from Star Wars. Ever since I was little when I grabbed a camera and saw black and white photographs of landscape photography. It has always been from photographs taken in Arizona or within the region. So, Long story short over the past two years. The feeling of going outdoors into nature has been VITAL for my state of mind and sanity. Or if you want to say it so I don't feel cooped in my house with coffee. Which isn't entirely a bad thing.

A week ago before my 24th birthday, one of my photographer friends I know who's suuuuuper skilled in nature photography. After 3 months of talking, getting to know her more. Which has been such a lovely experience. She's been inspiring me even more to EXPLORE. Because as humans we shouldn't always be inside. It's great but we need our natural sun. After two months of planning to finally hang out face to face. Did some trail research around Arizona. After the tugging gut feeling within my stomach telling "Why not hike in Sedona?" Really? Why not hike and experience it. Nature is going to be around as long as we maintain it and keep it clean. While social media is a tool I've longed and appreciated. It's always made me feel out of touch. I see ALL of these wonderful post from people going to the area of Sedona. Hiking it, getting that photo of accomplishment, Like I'm for it. But when Taylor and I made the decision to come to Arizona to hike. I KNEW. I needed to document this place and do nature justice. Not trying to sound too humble. I really do appreciate nature for someone who has asthma and I'm sensitive. Being in clear crisp air, surrounded by trees or cactus. It makes me content, and connected with the world.

We woke up bright and early Thursday morning, went to Target to get healthy snacks to have on our hike. And also to buy myself both an unnecessary backpack but a necessity hydration bag. I've camped before, done light hikes around Arizona. But nothing too physically taxing on myself. I have to anticipate anything. I didn't want to be off balance while hiking. with all my camera gear + essentials. Afterwards, We were off driving on the 101 highway, then highway 89 to arrive at the destination of Sedona, Arizona. We planned to knock out the hike first, then coffee.

But we were on a time crunch. Instead we used Instagram, google maps and Waze. To find coffee, Luckily two days ago I was already thinking of possible places to try in the Sedona area for our "brain juice" in other words COFFEE. I love coffee culture. It's so diverse no matter where you live. There is such a culture now for how essential it is. After driving for 15 minutes we arrived to a local coffee shop. That's squeezed inside a mini mall that's two stories high, on the corner of the main creek in Sedona. It's named "Creekside Coffee" owned by Rattle and Hum roasters. It's the most minimal, cozy, and quaint coffee shop. With a welcoming lounge area that we hangout to enjoy our morning coffee. The employees were the chilliest and so welcoming to us "Tourist". I say that label loosely since we are Arizona natives here....Well Taylor is at least.

I found this unique coffee joint from a well known foodie thats known to the state her name is AZ Foodie. She actually inspired me to check it out. I'm so glad we did. The decoration and everything combined it hit off the morning just right. This was only the beginning of the adventure for us! Exploring places where you live is nice and it helps keep you grounded if not learn more history. Which I always find exciting. On this day trip adventure I really wanted to take in the peace, and tiny moments. Enjoying my iced coffee with this view, while getting a cool breeze coming in the doorway. Ugh, it was AMAZING.

My order: Cold brew, some vanilla flavor, and half n half.

Lowkey this is my go to at any coffee shop. It's interesting to see the types of depths of flavor and richness you can get depending on how you enjoy your coffee. I highly recommend this simple order if you prefer a balance of natural sweetness and bitterness.

Onto the more EPIC part of this story, after driving into the city to acquire our coffee fix for half of the day. We went backwards to endure our next task, finding a spot in the parking lot of the Bell Rock trailhead. We arrived at the trailhead parking lot waited about a solid 20 minutes for one spot, then a miracle happened we struck TWO options. Now we didn't have to deal with a normal weekend rush in Sedona with the trails. This is considered more chill compared to the weekend which will be so packed even news will let you know that people are parking on the side of the highway within Sedona JUST TO HIKE these trails.

Since I've lived in Arizona for a decent amount of time. I already had an idea of how busy and popular these nature trails would be. My recommendation: Come on during the week there's not as much people, more room on the trail and less traffic for yourself.

The trail for Bell Rock is exactly 1 mile and then some if you run into tiny detours when trying to find the

safest way up to the peak. The first segment of the hike which is roughly .35 of a mile until you hit the incline. That's when you first see the smooth Sedona red rock. There huge smooth boulders stacked upon one another. It's a plateau of smooth boulder for about .20, then thats when the tune will change and get confusing. I originally planned to use the Allltrails app to keep track of the correct route it came in handy. But for the most part Taylor and I was just problem solving our way up while asking questions every now and then with other locals to get up. The answers from people were about the same "just figure it out" or "yeah, just follow this along and you'll get there".

This trails unlike others I've hiked doesn't have little plastic flags to indicate where to turn. We used what to be was lines in dented into the the boulders. That seemed to work once we were getting near the peak of the trail. I should mention when searching up this specific trailhead. There's about 3-5 different variations of it which range in length, time and difficulty. We chose the one labeled as "moderate" difficulty I interrupted that as easy. WHICH it was challenging, it got my blood pumping and also my anxiety at some points because of hikes. This trail was not boring in the slightest. It was thrilling, breathtaking (Literally). Once we got to the "top" or our version of the peak or end of the trail. We just sat on these two flat boulder rocks overlooking the Sedona valley. We had a 360 degree viewing experience

Eventually after enjoying our work making it to the end of the trail. We really tried to take in the everything as best as we could. Yes, I actually wasn't on my phone to document it. Instead, I chose to bring out of my Sony DSLR to capture what the view looked like. I really want to remember this hike. I Haven't been crazy active. Because I've been focusing on business and planning out the next phase for me. That I haven't been setting my own self as a priority. This day cation/adventure was just that. It was my form of self love and me time with Taylor. It was a memorable way.

If you find yourself in need of visiting Sedona. Don't just go to a hotel, really try to hike it, swim, indulge in the towns culture and history. There's still a lot to learn and see. The Arizona state is has a massive deiverse types of sceneries. From the city culture of Phoenix with the skylines and food culture to the land that is a mix of hot and prickly. To the tall, green and vibrant northern areas of Arizona. Sedona is just one of those gems where it can come off as cheesy. But it's wholesome in it's nature and where it leads you wanting more than what you originally came there for. Now I know, this will definitely not be my last written blog post.

Thank you for taking time to read my blog post.

If you want to see more photographs and content from this fun adventure. Make sure to follow my socials on this website. To see this is a video form, well check out and subscribe to my YouTube channel!

Follow my friend Taylor for her work on Instagram: @greengiraffephoto

My Instagram: @theshadyhipster

Featured local spot: @Creeksidecoffee on Instagram