March 2016 – We really enjoyed mountain biking the Bell Rock Pathway during our RV travels to Sedona, Arizona, and one day we got chatting with young neighbors in an RV nearby about where the good mountain biking and hiking spots were around Sedona. They knew the area really well and asked if we’d ever been to The Crack at Wet Beaver.

Mark raised an eyebrow.

“No, no, not that!” They said. “It’s a really cool gorge on Wet Beaver Creek. It’s a great hike, and if you take your bathing suits you can swim there!”

“The Crack” at Wet Beaver Creek

The next morning dawned sunny and warm, so we took off on the Bell Trail to hike into the Wet Beaver Creek Wilderness to find this infamous Crack.

The beginning of the Bell Trail hike into the Wet Beaver Creek Wilderness goes through open grassland.

The Bell Trail is named for Charles Bell who built the trail in 1932 for moving cattle, and a sign at the trailhead indicates it is still used for that purpose today. It is about 3.5 miles from the trailhead to The Crack. The trail goes deeper into the Wilderness, but we figured 7 miles out and back was plenty for one day.

At the beginning, we hiked through open grasslands and under a canopy of trees alongside Wet Beaver Creek. After about two miles, we came across a red rock cliff soaring into the sky with a tree on top.

A red rock cliff with a tree on top juts into the sky

For the next mile or so we walked through gorgeous red rock scenery as the trail hung onto the edges of bright orange hillsides and zig-zagged under exotic red rock formations.

How’s that for a cool trail?!

We were hiking in the morning, and the sun felt good on our skin, but later in the day this desert landscape would become very hot.

Desert plants, like ocotillo cactus and prickly pear, abound.

We could hear the sound of rushing water ahead of us, and soon we saw the creek splashing noisily over river rocks to our right. What a nice spot for a picnic!

We stopped for lunch in a quiet spot where the water rushed over river rocks.

The whole area was filled with leafless deciduous trees that must bring true magic to the landscape in the fall. And what a great spot to do some flowing water photography!

Wet Beaver Creek polishes the rocks in its path.

We hiked just a little futher on and suddenly the landscape opened up to massive shelves of boulders stepping down to sheer cliffs that plunged into the water below. This was The Crack!

“The Crack” is like a red rock quarry with huge flat slabs of sandstone and water far below.

Our friends had described crystal clear water that was a lovely shade of blue, but the creek was running fast from the snow melt and had swelled so much that lots of debris had been stirred up as the water tumbled down from the mountains. The water was murky and filled with foam from the crashing waterfalls upstream.

This made for some neat slo-mo photos!

The fast moving water from the snow melt created cool foam swirls

The Crack is a stunning spot that is so unexpected in the dry dusty desert.

The canyon walls were steep and the surface of the water was foamy!

The huge flat boulders are really inviting, and we scrambled around on them for quite a while.

I just love that tree growing out of the crack in the rocks.

This little oasis was such a surprise after the dusty, dry hike to get here.

We had the place to ourselves. Other than the distant sound of rushing water, it was quiet and still.

We had the place to ourselves…for the moment!

I ventured out onto a cool looking precipice hanging out over the water and Mark got my photo.

Little did I know that this is a favorite diving platform!

Suddenly, we heard voices coming down the trail. Two young couples appeared and set up beach towels right on that same rock precipice I’d been standing on and then stripped down to their bathing suits to get a tan.

“Are you going to jump in?” One girl in a bikini asked me.

I looked down at the murky water doubtfully. Diving into the its depths had not been on my agenda today!

Sunbathers stretch out on the diving rock.

Then, I watched in amazement as she made her way down to a lower rock and jumped in. Brrr!! Then the other girl did the same.

“The water’s great!” They yelled out to me.

Well, I was happier taking photos of them than swimming, so I let them have all the fun in the water while I stayed warm and dry on shore.

They debated jumping off the rock precipice where they’d laid their beach towels, but because they couldn’t see the bottom — which they said you usually can — they decided not to. You never know what kind of submerged log might be lurking just below the surface.

The water was too murky to dive from the upper rock, but this intrepid gal jumped in from lower down.

The bathing beauties climbed out of the water using a rope that someone had secured in the rock, and they settled in on their beach towels for a while.

We left them and began to make our way back along Bell Trail. The trail had gotten really busy, and we were amazed that the silence of the early morning was completely gone now, shattered by the continual voices and footsteps of other hikers making their way to The Crack on this warm Friday afternoon.

A snort and a whinny up ahead alerted us to horseback riders coming down the trail. What a neat sighting at the end of a very enjoyable hike.

A pair of horseback riders greeted us on the trail going back.

If you spend some time in Sedona, whether you travel there by RV or some other means, a hike on Bell Trail to The Crack at Wet Beaver Creek is a really nice change of pace. More info and links below.

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More info about Bell Trail and The Crack at Wet Beaver Creek:

• US Forest Service Trail Info – Description of the Bell Trail hike into the Wet Beaver Creek Wilderness
• Trailhead Parking Lots – Locations of two parking areas that access Bell Trail in relation to Sedona AZ

Other fun hiking and biking trails we’ve found in our RV travels:

• Fossil Creek Waterfall – A Pretty Hike to a Scenic Cascade 04/14/23
• Broken Arrow Trail in Sedona, AZ – What a Hike! 05/31/19
• Hiking the “Pig Trails” in Sedona, AZ – Breathtaking! (oink oink!) 05/17/19
• Top Sedona AZ Hikes: Little Horse to Chicken Point + Templeton Trail (Cathedral Rock)! 05/03/19
• Brins Mesa Trail & Unexpected Delights in Sedona Arizona! 04/26/19
• The Crack at Wet Beaver Creek (Bell Trail Hike), Sedona, AZ 03/14/16
• Bell Rock Pathway, Sedona AZ – Hiking & Biking the Red Rocks 03/07/16
• Acadia National Park’s Carriage Roads in Maine – Thanks, Rockefeller! 07/07/15
• New River Trail State Park – Galax, VA – Pizza, Beer and Biking! 06/12/15
• Cathedral Rock at Red Rock Crossing – Sedona AZ 12/14/14
• Sedona Reflections on the West Fork Trail 05/16/14
• Sedona – Mountain biking in the red rocks! 05/13/14
• The Wind Cave Hike in Phoenix AZ – The Hills are Alive! 03/13/14
• Natural Bridges National Monument & Utah’s Bicentennial Highway 06/15/12
• Northern Idaho – Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes 08/23/07

More posts from our RV adventures in Sedona, Arizona:

• Broken Arrow Trail in Sedona, AZ – What a Hike! 05/31/19
• Hiking the “Pig Trails” in Sedona, AZ – Breathtaking! (oink oink!) 05/17/19
• Top Sedona AZ Hikes: Little Horse to Chicken Point + Templeton Trail (Cathedral Rock)! 05/03/19
• Brins Mesa Trail & Unexpected Delights in Sedona Arizona! 04/26/19
• Sedona Arizona – Brooding Skies at Sunset in the Red Rocks 03/17/16

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Every road in Sedona is a stunner!

October, 2014 – After a brief stay in the mysterious and intriguing Navajo lands of northeastern Arizona, we headed south to Sedona.

We had spent several weeks here in the spring, but this is a place that deserves lots of return visits, so we were delighted to stop in town once again.

The spectacular views are utterly breathtaking, no matter how many times you have driven past them, and I couldn’t stop myself from getting some pics out the truck window — again!

A bronze sculpture of a painter recreating the scene while a little girl takes his pic.

The town of Sedona is a fun combination of funky, artsy, mystical and outdoorsy. On the artsy side, a large brass sculpture of an artist creating a painting on an easel stands in the middle of town.

The artist is painting the stunning mountains that line the horizon across the street while a little girl snaps a photo of him.

Two skeletons sit chatting outside a boutique shop.

On the funky side, two skeletons were sitting on chairs out in front of a boutique shop. They were gabbing away, as happy as could be. One of them waved “hi” to us as we walked past.

Another bronze sculpture depicts Sacagawea, the young Shoshone Indian woman who guided Lewis and Clark on their exploratory expedition of 1804-1806.

A bronze sculpture of Sacajawea and her baby.

In the sculpture, she is carrying an infant in a papoose on her back.

Sedona is much loved for its mysterious and mystical side too.

There are vortexes in the area where people get in touch with their spirituality, sometimes experiencing unusual connections and awakenings

What we noticed, however, were the intense sunsets, a hallmark across all of Arizona.

Late one afternoon, the sky lit up in glorious shades of pink and purple.

We see our first Arizona sunset after a season away.

During our previous visit we had seen some gorgeous photos of Cathedral Rock taken at Red Rock Crossing where Oak Creek reflects the brilliant red rock formation in its pools.

Cathedral Rock – without the reflecting pools!

The hike along Oak Creek

There are two ways to get to this spot, either by going through Red Rock State Park or by driving down Verde Valley School Road to the end.

We chose the latter method and followed the trail through some woods and across a large flat grassy meadow where Cathedral Rock loomed at the far end, brightly lit by the afternoon sun.

Then the trail ducked into the woods again, roughly following Oak Creek.

A glimpse of the base of Cathedral Rock

At last the view opened up a little, and we could see beautiful red rock spires near the water’s edge.

It was a warm day, and we came across a group of people sun tanning on beach towels and wading in the water in swimsuits.

Besides getting a little exercise hiking, though, we were on a mission to see Cathedral Rock reflected in the watery pools, not to sun bathe. Unfortunately, we soon found out we were at the wrong end of the trail. So we turned around and headed back.

Passing the turn-off to our truck on the left, suddenly huge flat slabs of red rocks fanned out in front of us.

Mark kneels in reverence at Cathedral Rock — or is he checking the settings on his camera?

Recent rains had filled the crevices with water, making wonderful still, shallow pools that reflected Cathedral Rock in the afternoon sun — in bits and pieces.

The best way to get the reflections was to get really low or even lie on our sides and shoot across the water.

I walked across some dry rocks into the stream a ways and looked back to see Mark bending over his camera in a perfect image of solemnity and reverential worship at the foot of Cathedral Rock!

I had to laugh as I took his picture, and then I lost my balance and plunked one foot in the water, right up to my ankle.

Oops. Never laugh at someone enjoying a particularly spiritual moment, whether it’s with the Divine Essence or with their Nikon, especially in Sedona!

Cathedral Rock is reflected in shallow pools by Red Rock Crossing.

Sedona is for Lovers

Our stay in Sedona was just a few days this time, but we were so happy to be able to stop by once again and take in a few more of the exceptional sights there.

Here is some info about Red Rock Crossing:

Trailer Life Magazine’s December 2014 issue features our article Arizona’s Red Rock Country, and you can read it here.

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Beautiful reflections on the West Fork Trail

May, 2014 – Sedona, Arizona, is an outdoor lover’s paradise.  Not only were we thrilled (and challenged) by the wonderful mountain biking in the area, but the hiking was incredible too.

The only problem we had was figuring out which hikes to do! Continue reading →