The best part of owning a home is definitely the nights I get to sleep outside of it.
I spent this weekend hiking up to the top of Sedona’s Wilson Mountain with a few friends, where we took in the views over Backpacker’s Pantry dinners, braved the brutal mountaintop winds and sipped coffee while staring out at some absolutely insane views.
Wilson Mountain is one of those Sedona trails that has been on my list foreverrrr.
So when my friend Mel asked if I’d be down to join a larger group for a quick weekend overnight trip, it was an almost-immediate “yes.”
(Just had to check the sit report first to make sure work wouldn’t need me!)
I packed up my bag and we left Flagstaff at about noon on Saturday.
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Mel opted to pick the route that hikes up from the Encinoso Picnic Area, where we really lucked out by finding parking for both of our vehicles, considering we arrived at the trailhead at about 2 p.m.
We loaded up our bags and got on the trail.
The trail was about 2,300 feet up over the course of roughly four miles. It was a pretty unrelenting and steady uphill climb, but totally doable for all of us, with very minimal complaining.
And the scenery the entire way was gorgeous.
It was also pretty toasty- a lot warmer than most of us were expecting considering we packed for a very cold 40-degree evening.
Regardless of how much we all sweat (a lot) it was a great hike. We ran into a very small handful of other hikers on the journey up, including a really nice guy who sent Dan a photo he took of the six of us making our way up the switchbacks.
We took plenty of breaks along the way. We finally made our way up and were rewarded with…
…those VIEWS!
The photos will never do the views justice.
We all threw our packs on the ground, set up our camp chairs and broke out the snacks.
We hung out and chatted for a bit, then set up camp before the sun dipped too low in the sky.
After that, we perched ourselves back on the ledge of the cliff to not-so-patiently cook our dinners while watching the sunset.
We all went to sleep pretty early. The wind that avoided us on the hike up the hill was absolutely merciless come sunset, and the cold temps we had prepared and packed for definitely arrived! We were all in our tents by about 7:30 p.m. to hide from the dipping temps and biting winds.
I fell asleep pretty quickly, despite the wind, and actually slept pretty well — especially considering that (oddly enough) this was my first ever backpacking trip without Ryan.
We were all awake with the sun at about 6 a.m.
We all assumed we’d wake up and spend the morning guiding nylon gear back into stuff sacks with numb fingers and chattering teeth, but the sun warmed the air pleasantly early, and we were all stripping our puffer jackets off by 7 a.m. while we had our coffee and breakfasts.
At about 8:30, we were all packed up and we started our descent.
About two hours later, we were back in the parking lot: Slipping on Birkenstocks, devouring our car snacks, wiping away sweat and getting ready to head back up to Flagstaff.
Overall, it was a really awesome two-day, one-night trek. I love these little trips because they’re really easy to sneak in on a weekend if work is slow enough to let me, and are always a much better option than staying home.
