It’s my second time visiting Sedona and its magical Red Rocks.
A few months ago, Alec and I took a trip from Colorado to California together with my parents who were visiting from Italy. It was such an incredible experience! We got to explore Boulder and the Rocky Mountains, to cross the territories of Buffalo Bill, see Veil and then drive through all of Utah , down until the Grand Canyon.
It’s hard to pick the one place that stood out the most. They were all unforgettable. But one particular town stuck into my mind for its magical aura: Sedona and the beautiful Red Rocks that surround it.
Back then, we didn’t have a lot of time left to explore and we only dedicated a handful of hours to this beauty before the sun set beyond the horizon.
That first, concise experience was definitely enough to make me wish to go back. And seven months later, we made it happen!
Sedona is located in the upper Sonoran Desert of northern Arizona, at an elevation of 4,500 feet. The easiest way to get there is to drive from Phoenix. A couple hours crossing deserted hills scattered with saguaros and cacti, a few stops paying homage to the traces of the pre-Columbian peoples that inhabited the area, and the majestic scenery of the Sedona Red Rock canyons opens up in front of you.
Beautiful bare rocks tinted with a burnt, intense red, catch fire around the golden hour. Pinnacles, canyons and multiform rock formations keep the locals busy finding similarities between their profile and those of some famous cartoons characters. You can see Snoopy and other Peanuts sitting there with their nose pointed upwards toward the sky.
The walls of the Sedona’s Canyons show nine layers of stone from different geological periods that span hundreds of millions of years. There are six layers of sandstone, two thin layers of limestone and, atop all of these, a layer of basalt stone. These layers were formed by wind blown sand dunes or mud deposited by inland seas and their beautiful red color is the result of iron oxide staining the rocks over great periods of time.
What makes this landscape even more special is its uniqueness: as you soon as you leave the area around Sedona and head south, the red rock gives way to vast distances of cacti; if you drive north, toward Flagstaff, the scenery becomes mountainous and covered with trees.
If you look at it from above, Sedona is just a little splash of red magic in between the beige hills of the Verde Valley and the greenery of the Coconino National Forest populated with elks.
I am absolutely in love with this place and I already can’t wait to go back!
In the meantime, I prepared this article for you with the 7 Things To Do in Sedona so you can make sure you don’t miss all the best!!
Love,
Ambra
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