Free Hiking in Red Rock Country

October 2005

by  Dave of Mountains... AKA The Naked Padre

This article was published under my nom de plum, Ralph Whitney in N Magazine, the Magazine of Naturist Living, Issue number 25.3 in the Spring of 2006. All rights are reserved of these photos and the text by N Magazine and myself.

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. 
Henry David Thoreau

"The best dress for walking is nakedness." - Colin Fletcher, "The Complete Walker III"

 

For close to 45 years I have been an avid hiker, mountaineer and white water canoe explorer and while I did not know the term during my early years, I was what I know now to be a naturist. For years I free-hiked and canuded in my home forests of New England. I enjoyed the White Mountains in New Hampshire and the Green Mountains in Vermont as well as the mountains and especially enjoyed nude canoeing and camping in the Allagash lakes of Maine. During those years I especially sought out places I could hike and canoe nude. Sometimes with like minded companions, more often alone, enjoying the solitude and deep experience of peace I get when I am in nature in my natural state. My friends came to call me Dave of Mountains and would marvel at my nature photos of wildlife, landscapes and the spectacular variety of flowers and trees that grow on Gaia, our wonderful mother earth.

My climbing and hiking has taken me to explore many mountain ranges in North America from the Appalachians in the east  to the Rockies in the west. From Southwest of New Mexico and Colorado to the Yukon in the north as well as the spectacular Cascades in the Northwest. In all that time the one place I had never visited was the Red Rock country of Arizona. In the last 5 years my wife's profession has called her to travel to Sedona, Arizona for professional development classes and ever since her first trip she has been inviting me to come with her to explore and discover an area that she has come to love, the Red Rocks of Sedona.

Pre-Trip Planning

As this was a totally new area I started planning my 2 or 3 day hikes that I could fit into our schedule a couple of months prior to the trip. I read her tourist maps, the Red Rock National Forest Trail Guides, talked with her and two other friends who had done some short hikes in the area and I immediately knew that I needed more information from better sources. I wanted  to find some more remote hikes where I could  explore the red rock country naturally but the trail guides in my hands only spoke about the walking trails that were available in the highly congested tourist areas around the main part of Sedona. I knew that there had to be other more nude friendly spots and I could see places like Verde Hot Springs and others a couple hours drive away, but I had to be closer to Sedona to be back in time to pick up my wife after her classes were completed each day. Thus I had to find some places that were closer.

One of my concerns is not really knowing the local climate and openness to nudity in general. Due to my professional status as a full-time clergy person working in a local church I can ill afford to be arrested for indecent exposure, as a conviction of that sort would result in my losing my ministerial credentials and career. The local laws around where I live are so severe that a beach I once used to use nude all the time now would result in arrest and being placed on the sexual offenders registry of my state. With concerns like that I began to search known naturists and hot springs visitors to see if they could help.

I all but struck out for 7 weeks of searching. I wrote to literally dozens of naturists, free-hikers, hot springs owners and visitors. Other than the Verde Hot Springs, nobody could come up with a recommendation that sounded both relatively accessible and would not be crowded with tourists. I was particularly disappointed with the cold response I received from the supposedly naturist B&B  in Sedona, Casa Tiene Vista. I am used to naturists being a rather friendly group, willing to meet, converse and help. Their response was just one line, "don't know of any places and no we don't want to meet you when you come". Does not sound very welcoming to me. It is too bad too because with my wife being there for 2 weeks every year they could have had some repeat customers.

Just 2 days before I was due to arrive in Sedona I got a forwarded email from Vince Riggs who answered a message in the Arizona Outdoor Naturist Group (AZON) that Camilla Van Sickle and  Bill Pennington of El Dorado Hotsprings had posted on my behalf, looking for information about places closer to Sedona where I could hike nude. I had corresponded with Camilla and Bill several times and all of us sent numerous emails trying to get some recommendations. The one they posted on AZON struck pay dirt as Vince replied and recommended two spots, Bell's Trail #13 into the Wet Beaver Creek Canyon and Parson's Spring Trail going into Sycamore Canyon near Cottonwood. Vince had also been the author of a recent article on nude hiking in N Magazine, ( Issue 25.1 Nude and Natural, The Magazine of Naturist Living, published by the Naturist Society) so I trusted his judgment.

So with that information, directions to the two trail heads run off from MapQuest I made my way to Sedona in high hopes and great expectations. Once there I stopped at a hiking and outdoor store on Route 89a called Canyon Outfitters. The folks there provided me with maps and a great book called Sedona Hikes, by Richard and Sherry Mangum. It had descriptions of both trails I wanted to take plus 128 more. More importantly they also shared with me that with Vince's recommendation I had picked two of the more beautiful trails to try in my short 4 day stay. They had longer hikes they could recommend for my next trip and were incredibly knowledgeable about the area. Stop in some time if you are in the area and I am certain they will be able to assist you.

My one regret is that my former GPS unit was no longer functioning and without it I felt a little bit reluctant to strike out on my own in strange country. Next time I certainly will bring one along and some better topo maps as my hike in Sycamore Canyon proved to be challenging in that regard.

Bell's Trail # 13  to Bell's Crossing and Wet Beaver Creek Wilderness Area

Directions to the Trail head from Sedona. Take Route 179 toward Phoenix about 14 miles from the center of Sedona. Go straight under Interstate 17. Go straight and continue on what becomes FR 618 for about 2.2 miles until you see a sign for the Beaver Creek Ranger Station and trailheads. Turn left at the sign and drive into the new parking lot (about 1/10 of a mile) and park. There is an outhouse at the trail head and ample parking. (Total miles from Sedona Center to trail head 17.1 miles)

I checked out the lay of the land. There was one truck in the parking lot, no activity near the path/road to the ranger station so off came the clothes and I was off. Destination: Bell's Crossing at 3.8 miles away and if I had time, Bell's Rim at 6.8 miles away. ( The total time to hike from the trail head to Bell's Crossing was less than 2 hours if you take away my stops for dips in the pools and photo taking. The return trip was only 1 1/2 hours)

The first .8 mile was through basically desert and low scrub. The trail was wide enough to accommodate a 4 wheel drive vehicle. I saw nobody on that portion of the trail and made great time to a petroglyph marked rock that was on the left of the trail as it left the wider desert terrain and turned toward the creek below. I spent some time studying the rock, trying to discern what our ancestors were trying to communicate and the best I could come up with was the idea that they were marking the beginning of the pools on the river. For indeed a trail went directly down from the rock to a delightful shelf of red rock and deep pools of clear refreshing water. This part of the trail I understand is used by families on the weekends taking their children up for a swim to those shallow pools, so discretion may be advised on how close at hand you may want to have your shorts.

After stopping at the first pools for some photos I pushed on and the terrain changed as we gained a bit of altitude and began to really enter into the canyon proper. In the distance you could begin to see some red rock spires and they became the focal point of the hike for the next couple of miles. I passed the White Mesa Trail and the Apache Maid Trail, both branching off to the left as I made quick time getting closer to those spires while hiking above the river which was to my right. Then you slab up the shoulder of what is called Casner Butte and start climbing among the red rock spires themselves. They are just incredibly beautiful and hiking among them is a treat.

As I came to the first spire and turned the corner I came upon two women hikers. They were moving slowly and so I ducked back behind the spire, tossed on my onion-skin running shorts and went ahead. I move very quietly in my hiking so I came on them rather quickly and caught them completely by surprise. After exchanging pleasantries, I pushed on and quickly left them behind as one of them was giving the other a lesson in Red Rock geology. As soon as I got a bit further around the next spire, off came the shorts and I did not put them on again the rest of the hike into Bell's Crossing..

I passed the junction of the Wier Trail that branched off to the right and pushed onto to Bell's Crossing. On this part of the trail I came across the signs of recent rain. The desert had just been in bloom, maybe just a few days before. Sentinel cactus, flowering cactus, butterflies darting about. It was just too beautiful for words.

Bell's Crossing and "The Crack"

About a 100 yards above the crossing is an area called "The Crack" and this was the highlight of my entire trip to Sedona. The canyon walls come close to the river... At one point I could touch both sides as I swam in the river rushing from pool to pool around me. Wide expansive red rock shelves for sunning. Deep pools and abundant places for people to gather and still have some privacy. A little bit of heaven on earth and for the moment it was all mine.

I knew that very shortly the two young women would be along, so I started looking for a place where I could enjoy a pool privately without intruding upon their enjoyment of the pools. I slipped on my shorts when I heard them approach to check out the pool where I was setting up. I shared with them that the pools looked so inviting that I was looking for a place to go skinny dipping. They both smiled and said that they were going to push on, which they did. Off came the shorts and I did not put them on again the rest of the day.

I was in the pool when another party of 5 arrived. 3 men and 2 women. I asked if my nudity would offend or bother anybody and they just smiled and said go for it. We chatted and I found out that most of them were from California and were visiting with a friend from Sedona area. His name was Jeff and he confided with me as we were swimming that he never brought a swim suit with him before that day, but because one of the women was very self-conscious the other female in the group requested that he wear clothes. The shy female and her male companion kept to themselves around the corner but the rest of the group was quite fun to get to know and they had 3 dogs with them that cavorted and played with us in the water.

A highlight of our time was the cliff dives from the red rock into one of the deeper pools. What a rush! I got several pictures of the folks taking the plunge then Laurie, the California blond of the bunch took a few of me.

The Crack from above	The Crack looking toward the rim	The diving pool under the Crack	The two women checking out the pool before pushing on to a place more private.	The Crack from the center of the River below.
Jeff taking the plunge	Jeff, his friend John and Laurie	Jeff and John take the plunge, Laurie chickens out.	Laurie takes the plunge	David approaches the edge
Ready, 1, 2 3...	What a rush!

 After swimming I tried to find my way out of "the Crack" to the higher ground of Bells Rim. The trail was gone and the draw of swimming and sunning on the red rocks called me back. Later I found out that the path had crossed the river about 100 yards downstream, slabbed over the ridge on the other side and then made its way up a small side canyon to the rim above. There are several more private pools both upstream and downstream from the Crack, so if you arrive and find the place crawling with textiles, as sometimes I am told it is, just keep walking a bit and you can find a pool to take a nice soak.

After some exploration I ate lunch, checked my watch and  reluctantly made my way slowly back to the trail head. I did not see another person on the trail or in the river until I got all the way back to the first pool by the petroglyphs. There I scampered down to a shallow pool and was taking one last dip when I spied two women from the Wet Beaver Creek campground watching me from behind the trees on the other side. I just kept on swimming nude and enjoyed the drying off on the rocks as they silently made their way back towards the campground. (On the way back I discovered, via their tracks, that the crew from California had used mountain bikes for the first 2 1/2 miles of the journey in, stashed them in the brush near a trail junction and walked the rest of the way, just another way of exploring that area if you are into that sort of thing).

 

I got back to my car in the parking lot and reluctantly had to put on some clothes. I had just donned my shorts when the first two women I had met came down the trail. I asked them how their day had gone and they said "lovely". I shared with them that I had enjoyed the pool at "The Crack" and hoped they found one and they said that they had gone a bit further upstream in order to find a pool where they could be nude and that they did not want to offend anyone, especially an older person like myself. I just laughed and said that too bad we had not talked more before they had pushed on, because that was my preferred dress code as well and then I shared that I had hiked the day nude and did so often. They then shared with me that another beautiful place where I could do so was just down FR 618 another 6 miles till you see a sign for the road to the BullPen (FR 215). This is a local favorite place for skinny dipping, intentionally less well known (the locals tear down the signs to the trail head). She described it as nude friendly hike into another remote canyon called West Clear Creek. I was told by the folks at the climbing shop that it can be dangerous to climb that canyon in the winter due to rains. I will save that one for the next trip! Oh yes... you need a high clearance vehicle to get to the trail head of the BullPen. My rental convertible would not make it through the wash outs in the road leading in.

Parson's Spring Trail - Sycamore Canyon Cottonwood, Arizona

The drive from the center of Sedona to Cottonwood (19.5 miles) takes about a half an hour down 89a. Once through town and starting to get into the village of Clarkdale look for the signs for Tuzigoot National Monument and when you see them take a right off 89a on to Tuzigoot Road (23.4 miles from the center of Sedona). You will cross the Verde River and take the first left after the bridge onto Sycamore Canyon Road (about 4/10s of a mile after you get on to Tuzigoot Road) Follow Sycamore Canyon Road and it soon turns from pavement to a dirt Forest Road (FR 131) for the next 11 miles and you will reach the very well marked trail head. Total distance from Sedona Center 34.4 miles and total time about an hour. There are several washouts along the way, my low ground clearance car just made it across two of them.

There was an extensive parking lot with two other cars. There was also some broken car window glass spread around, so beware of leaving visible stuff in your car. There is a sign with the usual log book asking people to register before they enter the wilderness area.   The Wilderness area now restricts camping for the first 3 miles or so and there is a gate at the top of the trail entrance to try to keep the livestock that are around from getting down into the canyon. Signs request that you close the gate behind you when you go through.

On arrival at the trail head I parked, stripped off and started down the trail and did not see another human being for the next 2 hours. Once the trail gets to the bottom of the canyon you first come to a large pond with water held back by what looks to be a beaver dam. Then you take a right and  follow the river up into the Sycamore Wilderness. The trail was very well marked for the first mile or so. Lots of places to get off the trail and follow them over to the river for fishing and taking a dip. Fresh elk tracks and sign all around but I did not see any. I did see the fresh tracks of a person on horseback with a pack mule towing behind as well as the fresh tracks of a person in some cross trainers, so I knew I had folks ahead of me on the trail.

About 1.3 miles into the journey I reached a Spring with a small stream flowing into the main creek. This is where the trip got "interesting". The trail was wiped out by a land slide coming off the canyon walls. So in order to press forward you take off your shoes and ford the creek. I knew that others had gone before me because I could read the signs in the mud. I don't know that they did with their clothes as there were no stepping stones or logs across the creek at that point. Getting across was no problem without clothes to worry about, waist deep at most. Then dry off in the sun and put the hiking boots back on and follow the boulder field of the creek for about a half mile till you see the trail re-appear on the other side of the creek again. There are some cairns that mark the "path" up the boulder field but no definitive place was marked for crossing back over, so I did what I did before, took off the shoes and waded back across.

It was when I waded out of the creek that I literally ran into my first human encounter of the day. It was a young man in the cross trainers and he was about as surprised to see me wading nude out of the water as I was to find him hidden in the shadows of a grove of Cottonwood trees. He had reached the end of his time and was getting ready to head back out. He had not seen the person on horse back but he too had noted that they must be some place up ahead. I never did locate them, but I also noted that I did not see their tracks the latter half of the hike in, so maybe they had turned back. I can imagine several good reasons why they might have done so.

Once I had my boots back on  scrambled up the side of the wash and rejoined the trail. The trail wound its way up the canyon wall with the creek on the left and the walls of the canyon on the right. The pattern of washout, crossing the creek, following the boulder field and then re-crossing the creek when I could see the trail again was the remaining part of the hike.

 

I finally reached a spot where the creek broke into two distinctive channels. The trail was totally obliterated by a washout on the right so I crossed over to a ridge of boulders that separated the two channels and kept on going. Then everything just ran out... I passed a large pool on the left channel that even had some ducks in it. What I thought was cairns marking a trail on that side ran into a solid wall of growth and brush that showed no signs of a person going that way. The right hand channel got deeper and deeper with the canyon wall coming right down to the water... the middle boulder field ridge ran out and there I was staring at another solid wall of rocks, brush and undergrowth again. I tried a number of ways to get around the seemingly dead ends but eventually was forced back to the channel and the dead end by the canyon wall.

Without a GPS and good reference of where I really was in relationship to my ultimate destination I decided to call it quits. I ate lunch there in the boulder field, took a soak in a nearby pool and hiked my way back out. (Vince later said that I might have come to the end of the trail any way. If so, I totally missed the old agate mine that was supposed to be not too far from Parson's Spring.

Washouts on the trail under the Canyon Rim	One of the boulder fields I hiked along.	Pool near the top of the canyon.	Natural, in nature and at peace without a care in the world! Priceless!	A great place for a dip
A relaxing glade of trees along the trail.	The trail went along this shelf of rock on the canyon wall.	Rock fall along the trail	Water = life and beauty beyond compare.

On the way out I ran into a real naturalist who, with his wife, was out in the canyon collecting migrating butterflies. I came upon them very abruptly and they were much more quiet than most humans out there in the wilderness so I did not have time to cover-up. I just cruised on by telling them good day and that I hoped they had better luck finding the trail than I did. They just smiled and she said that it looked like I was enjoying myself, I said "Naturally, Of Course" and that brought a laugh and smile from both of them. They seemed to be aware of the difficulties ahead and said that they were quite familiar with where the path went. I was sorely tempted to hike back with them to find where I had missed the trail further into the canyon, but I had run out of time looking for the trail earlier. Later on my hike out I bypassed a mixed group of two men and two women that were on the other side of the creek by staying on the boulder field on the other side, thus avoiding having to cover up again. They were the last folks I saw and I stayed nude all the way back to my car.

The climb back up the canyon wall was not too strenuous, but I was certainly glad I had plenty of water and had stopped to cool off in a pool before I attempted it. I am not certain I would want to attempt this hike in the spring with high water and I know I would not want to attempt it in high heat. So hiking in the fall was a good time to do it.

Free Climbing Bell Rock, Sedona

What I had not yet done was to hike into some of the areas in Sedona itself. Sedona has some wonderful short hikes into the Red Rock sites that just beckon you to climb. Many of these sites are known to be energy vortexes and have been sacred sites for our Native American brothers and sisters for millennia. As a long time practitioner of meditation I arranged my next half day of hiking to take in three of the five main vortex sites.

The first was Bell Rock, found 5.2 miles southeast from Sedona Center on route 179a.

I arrived early in the morning (at least for most tourists that is). After parking the car and displaying the required Red Rock Parking pass I walked in Bell Rock Trail about 100 yards and found the junction with the Bell Rock Loop Trail that winds its way sort of parallel to 179a for a few miles. There were many early morning joggers and mountain bikers on the loop trail and I just pressed on straight following the rock basket cairns that marked the way to a shoulder of red rock ledge where the trail ended.

By the time I reached that part of the trail I was totally alone. There was a little sign that pointed up toward the ledges that said "Upper Bell Rock". Seeing nobody in sight and knowing that what was ahead was looking pretty steep, I took the chance and ditched the clothes. Did I tell you that I hate hiking in clothes!

 

The upper part of Bell rock is a magnet for folks who want to commune with nature. Up above the valley floor it is easy to see why, the views are stunning. There are many vistas on the rock where people have set-up medicine circles and places to do meditation. I saw two groups from my perch high on the spire who were using sage and playing on some drums. Out of respect for their privacy I have not shared their pictures, just the site where they were gathered after they left.

		Bell Rock Loop Trail	The sign pointing to Upper Bell Rock by one of the baskets of rocks that serve as a cairn.	Medicine Circle on the Rocks for meditation.
The spire on the left is my ultimate destination.	Views from the top of Bell Rock	More views from the top	looking north to Sedona center

I climbed to the top of the left spire in the photos above. There was a small crack that allowed for a body jam and it was a relatively easy free rock climb to the top. Free in no ropes and free as in no clothes. Once on the top I took off my shoes and did a salutation to the sun. The photo at the beginning of this report was taken there on the top. Some folks way down the rock on the lower Bell Rock Trail noticed me on the top of the spire and took some photos.  If you see a photo of a nude climber on the top of Bell Rock you can know that it was me.

After a half hour meditation in the sun it was time to go. The climb down was a bit more to accomplish, so I put on my shorts and jammed my way back down the crack and made my way back to the trail head. All in all, it was a great way to spend an early morning in Sedona.

Later that morning I walked into Boynton Canyon and climbed to the vortex located in the saddle there. The area was literally crawling with tourists so a free climb was not possible. I am told that if I had kept on hiking past the Enchanted Resort and deeper into Boynton canyon itself that the crowds disappear and that some free hiking might be possible there as well. 

I also spent time on the top of Airport Mesa, another popular Vortex site. The airport overlook provides some of the best views of the region and draws many visitors at sunset.

Red Rock Reflections

Sedona gets almost as many visitors as does the Grand Canyon and the many trails around the popular sites provide a great way to see some stunning and awe inspiring views. A person seeking a more private experience of the Red Rocks need only drive 20 or so minutes to the outskirts of  town to find places of equal beauty. I feel that I have only barely scratched the surface of  what Sedona has to offer.

Yours Naturally,
David

"I...am always glad to touch the living rock again and dip my hand in the high mountain air."
John Muir

"By walking naked you gain an uplifting and almost delirious sense of simplicity. You become, in a new and surer sense, an integral part of the simple, complex world." Colin Fletcher