The whole of this part of the country has magnificent scenery.  Sedona is part of Red Rock Country.  The predominant colour of the rock formations here being red sandstone.  The depths of the valleys and canyons are not so great as the Grand Canyon just to the north, nor as numerous as the Canyonlands a little further on, but pretty nonetheless.  There are more trees here and the overall impact is much greener and lusher.

Paul marches out across Devil's Bridge

However, the vortices, for which Sedona is famed, combined with the beautiful scenery, have turned it into a commercial nightmare.  The small town of Sedona is overrun with souvenir shops selling the usual t-shirts, postcards, Indian art, etc.  And of course there are plenty of motels and hotels and restaurants to meet the needs of the many many visitors this area attracts. 

A look around the racks in the visitor centre though provides testimony to the commercialism of spiritual enlightenment.  There are numerous spiritual ‘guides’ offering supported tours of the vortices, where you can have your chakras read, be given your own special crystal, special spirit releasing massages, and whatnot.   Some may be helpful, some may not, but digging your way through the piles of advertising leaflets makes it hard to tell which is which.  None are too keen on telling you where exactly to find these vortices so you can go off on your own and have your own experience of course! 

Some of the scenery in Sedona, Red Rock Country

From one of the tourist guides:  Webster (dictionary presumably) defines a vortex as “a mass of fluid with a whirling or circular motion that forms a cavity or vacuum in the centre of the circle and draws or vacuum bodies subject to its action.”  In Sedona, a vortex is a hot spot of natural energy that draws thousands of visitors each year.  The vortexes are believed to create positive, negative and neutral releases of the Earth’s energy and evoke balance, a heightened sense of awareness and an awakening of the spirit.  From the same guide: In the 1980’s, a locally based, internationally known psychic counsellor expressed that people needed to read the Earth’s natural energies in the same way that a psychic reads a person.  The counsellor emphasized that though ‘hot spots’ of natural energy are found all over this planet, Sedona was an ideal site for reading that energy because all of the three known types of hot spots, or vortexes, exist here.  Sedona has since become a hot spot (my emphasis, not sure if pun intended) for metaphysical and spiritual activities.

The readily available maps of the area are also incredibly imprecise.  The intention seems to be to direct you to the various Jeep Tour companies that operate in the area taking tourists on guided tours around the main sights.  If you choose to drive your own vehicle be prepared to pay the $5 area access fee to do anything other than drive straight through the town and out the other side again.  All parked vehicles at the various trialheads must display this ticket.

Those imprecise maps do indicate where hiking trails begin, and along which you need to hike at least a half a mile to reach any of the famed vortices.  We chose a short hike to Devil’s Bridge, named for the rock that juts out from the side of the hill, forming a bridge, narrow and rocky, over a drop into the wooded valley below.  Paul crossed the bridge and back.  I took his photo from the main path.  Not my cup of tea, as they say.  Disenchanted by the commercial hype we made no attempt to find a vortex.

Having returned from our walk we found the only campsite in the whole of the Sedona area that was open at this time of year.  Another shock – $18 per night for the use of a pit toilet, fire pit and concrete bench.  No water, no nothing else.  More than twice the cost of a similar campsite in the more beautiful Canyonlands.  The only difference here was a man on site to take your money to make sure you paid. 

Pretty as it is, I cannot help but wonder if Sedona would be so popular without the attraction of the vortices and man’s need to seek spiritual enlightenment.

At the end of the day we headed off to Prescott, our next planned stop. After a day of walking and exploring it was late when we got close and we ended up ‘camping’ in Walmart carpark.  Don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but Walmart operate a system of allowing any RV to camp overnight in the car park of any Walmart store that has 24 hour opening hours.  Usually you just park and sleep, here for a change we had to register with the customer services desk first.

Distance travelled – 87 miles since Sedona