Februray 6, 2012

By Tim Briese

1.5 miles roundtrip, 700’ elevation gain, 2:15 roundtrip time

The Cathedral Rock Trail just south of Sedona is a splendid trail that climbs steeply up to a saddle between the towers of Cathedral Rock, where hikers are afforded magnificent views. The route involves enjoyable climbing up slickrock slopes and some class 3 rock scrambling up a rather steep crack.  It is a lot of fun for those inclined to this sort of climbing. The hike is a popular one and we saw several dozen other people on the trail even though we hiked it on a weekday.

a view of cathedral rock from a distance; the trail climbs from the lower right up to the gap in the middle between the towers

Teresa and I and friends Hal and Linda drove to the busy parking lot at the trailhead and headed up the well used trail a little before noon. After climbing up through a juniper forest for a few hundred yards we came to an area of slickrock benches and the fun began.

the route goes up the slope in the center

climbing up the slickrock

the crux of the route is just ahead, a crack that goes up to the left

Cairns guided us up the best way to the base of a steeply sloping 75 yard long crack, the crux of the route. Climbing the crack was great fun but could definitely be intimidating to those not accustomed to this sort of thing. We had to stop a couple of times to let other climbers going up or down pass by.

Hal and Linda climbing in the crack (photo taken on the way down)

looking down the crack;  it is quite a bit steeper than it looks in this photo

Above the crack we continued upward on the trail on sand, rock, and slickrock benches.

a scenic view along the way

We soon reached the spectacular saddle. We spent quite a bit of time there taking photos and enjoying the scenery on this splendid February day.

a view from the saddle

another view from the saddle

at the saddle

Some hikers were out on an exposed ledge and of course Hal and I had to go over there and check it out, too.

these climbers on the ledge are enjoying the view to the west from the saddle

Hal and I went over to join them

After a while we left the saddle and hiked back down to the car and headed back to Phoenix.