Hiking To Cathedral Rock In Sedona, AZ

I might have a new favorite hike.

Hiking to McAfee Knob in Roanoke, VA was always my favorite hike because it offers a good challenge and has some spectacular views at the top. However, our hike to Cathedral Rock in Sedona, AZ last month had some equally – or possibly even more – amazing views.

We got extremely lucky when we visited. We arrived at about 2:30pm after visiting both Montezuma Castle National Monument and Montezuma Well and the parking lot for the trailhead was closed off. Shae’s mom hopped out of the car to ask the guy blocking off the road to the parking lot where we could park and he said there was one last space, so we zipped back and he removed the barrier so that we could park nice and close.

We stopped for lunch before heading off on the trail, so it was about 3:15pm before we made a start. While that would ordinarily be a late start for a hike, the Cathedral Rock trail is only 1.2 miles each way and so we figured we had plenty of time to make it there and back seeing as sunset that day wasn’t until 7:06pm.

The trail is pretty well marked, with a mixture of signs and rock piles showing the way.

The Cathedral Rock trail is pet-friendly, although it’s worth giving consideration as to whether or not to bring your pup. There are a couple of challenging sections, with one in particular being harder for dogs to navigate. We hiked the trail with Truffles who’s only 10 lbs or so. Having her be so small was helpful because it meant during the particularly hard part that we could carry her in her backpack.

The beautiful views aren’t reserved for the end of the trail – you get them all the way up.

As mentioned before, the trail is well marked, so just keep an eye out for signs and the next set of rock markers as you head up.

You’ll definitely want shoes with good grip – ideally hiking boots – because the trail gets steep at times. Although the rocks are a little smooth, they’re thankfully not slippery and so we felt safe going up and down.

As you can see in the photo below, the rock markers continue to be placed as you head up.

In addition to some steep sections, you’ll have to do a bit of clambering too. The hardest – and nerviest – section can be seen in the photo below. There’s a crevice in the rock which you have to make your way through – that’s the crevice in the middle leading up to the top.

It’s narrow and fairly steep, but the fact that it’s narrow is more of a benefit because it means you can get some better footholds and handholds. As we were heading up, we had some trepidation about what it would be like traversing that section on the way down. It turned out that we had undue concern; we just took our time and shuffled down on our butts without any issues.

That’s the section that’s harder for dogs to navigate too. The bottom of the crevice was too deep for Truffles’ legs to be able to reach, so we had to pop her in her K9 Sport Sack (our affiliate link) in order for her to be able to make it through that section.

After making it through that section, Truffles made it the rest of the way to the top on her little legs.

After another ten minutes or so we reached the top.

Once we reached the very top the views were simply spectacular.

As we were nearing the top, we met a mom and daughter who we’d seen the previous day when hiking to Devil’s Bridge. They gave us a couple of useful tips that there was even more to see at the top.

One of those tips was to follow the path around to the right as it leads to a platform which provides some excellent photo opportunities. Although the path got a little narrow at times, it felt perfectly safe walking around and it’s certainly worth it. This was Shae’s mom’s first ever challenging hike (the one to Devil’s Bridge was much easier), so she was feeling particularly celebratory!

We all took it in turns to go out, so Shae went out to join her mom…

…then her mom returned to take a photo of me, Shae and Truffles.

The other tip the mom and daughter gave us was to head round to the left as you could climb a little further to get views from even higher up.

When heading off to the left the path splits off to both the left and right. I think either way will enable you to climb higher, but we took the path on the right hand side.

This part of the path gets pretty steep too, so it was another section that was tricky to make it up with Truffles, but she made it nonetheless.

It was worth it though for the different vantage point and the views in the opposite direction.

The views on the way back down weren’t bad either.

Final Thoughts

The Cathedral Rock trail is 1.2 miles each way and is rated as moderate; it has a few trickier sections though, so be prepared for that. Most of the 1.2 miles to Cathedral Rock is uphill, but it’s an effort worth making because when you experience the amazing views at the top you’ll forget all about the energy you expended.

It truly is a stunning hike and it’s one that I’d love to do again in the future.