We visited Sedona in December and it was surprisingly busy in town. Renting a Jeep in Sedona offers a multitude of benefits and one of those is cutting the hike to Hideout Cave down from 3 miles to just 1 mile. If you have 2WD, you must walk up the 4WD road to begin. Keyhole Cave Park at Sugar Loaf / Teacup Trailhead which has 14 spaces. If you're going on a road trip from Los Angeles to Sedona, we did the research for you and compiled some great stops along the way with Anaheim, Phoenix, Greater Palm Springs, Palm Springs, Scottsdale, Temecula, Laguna Beach, Prescott, Joshua Tree National Park, and Cottonwood and top places to visit like Wilson Creek Winery and Big Bear . The map above shows exactly what you can expect when hiking to Keyhole Cave in Sedona. The hike to Kachina Cave is not recommended after rain or during snow and ice conditions in Winter. The Sedona Keyhole Cave is stunning but also the most dangerous out of the caves in this article. The lightly beaten paths can be hard to follow and often run out or are blocked by thick vegetation. During these seasons you have more chance getting parked up without issue. Now the real fun begins! Early morning and early evening the sun will be too far to either side of the cave entrance and it will mostly be in deep dark shadows. Supposedly the shuttle only runs Thursday through Sunday but we met people in Sedona who claimed to have taken the shuttle on a Tuesday so look out for the bus running if you visit Mon Weds. Lets take a look at some of the most asked questions about visiting caves in Sedona, Arizona. Youll want to take a left like youre hiking along Thunder Mountain Trail, but just after you turn left there will be a wash on your right side. Keyhole Cave is stunning, but its one of many others which I will one day do a post on, but in the meantime, heres a few other hikes, including cave hikes you can try: I have more posts on Sedona which you can find by simply using the search on my site, but just know that if youre not feeling the hike to Keyhole Cave after what you saw here, dont do it as there are so many other cool and safer hikes to try out in Sedona. Ironically, Subway Cave looks the most like a keyhole shape, but there is another cave in Sedona called Keyhole Cave which doesnt look much like a keyhole! The cave features one large east facing oval window and one much smaller south facing circular window known as Robbers Roost. Here, the path is slippery again so take your time and it is best to take small steps to prevent slipping and falling back into a cactus. It has an unobstructed views stretching miles over desert vegetation with nothing to block sunlight. *Please note this post may contain affiliate links. From there you will walk through a wash and climb a steep unmarked bank trail to reach the cave area. Use the placements in the rock to help you land easily. You could even use our images during your hike to keep track of where you are along the adventure to Keyhole Cave. Hiking Robbers Roost Trail To Hideout Cave In Sedona, Travertine Hot Springs: Directions, Tips & Pools. To reach the small hole at the back you will need shoes with good traction but once youre inside you will realize why this is such a popular cave. The good news is that you can actually see the Keyhole Cave from the parking lot and that can actually be used as a visual aid as you hike to it later (although sometimes its hard to see it, ironically as you get closer to it). From the start of the Teacup trail you will hike just under .5 miles where there is a fork in the road. Keyhole Cave Sedona FAQs Where Is Keyhole Cave Sedona? As an alternate, Is it possible to Uber to and from the trailhead? Bell Rock Hike the Bell Rock Courthouse Butte Loop Trail for stunning Sedona views, a fun slick rock climb and our hidden loop half way up the formation. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Hiking to it is tough (its easy to get lost or stumble into thorns and cactuss which is what happened to me). If youre looking for an escape from the crowds at Cathedral Rock Trail and Devils Bridge Trail, head out responsibly into the Sedona wilderness and climb into Keyhole Cave. Your email address will not be published. Youll take Teacup Trail which starts right at the trailhead. Looking for Sedona Hotel? The Sedona Keyhole Cave hike is 2.5 miles round-trip, out and back with getting into the cave being the most challenging and dangerous part of all. All of which take a drastic upturn in difficulty from an otherwise straightforward hike. Try to go earlier in the day or later in the afternoon. Alternatively, you can try parking at Andante Trailhead nearby, which is also a small parking lot. It is best to wear fully covered clothing as there are cacti with long and thick thorns and animals like rattlesnakes and other insects. In this post Ive included all the details and directions you need to know in order to successfully find Keyhole cave and have a safe adventure. You will have to use your hands, feet and core to pull yourself up. Subway Cave is one of the most photogenic caves you can access in the Sedona area, which explains its popularity on social media and with photographers. We took the right approach both on the way up and down. Soldier Pass Hike to Devils Kitchen and Seven Sacred Pools before climbing into Soldier Pass Cave on the family friendly Soldier Pass Trail in Sedona. 5 of the best Sedona Caves and how to find them, Hiking for Beginners 101- The Best Guide for New Hikers, Visit these 4 Sedona Wineries all in one day, Keyhole Cave in Sedona and EXACTLY how to get there. Bus Tours. Know where you are going ahead of time and always have a way to keep yourself on trail. The shuttle works particularly well for accessing Soldier Pass Cave which is renowned as one of the worst places to get parked in Sedona. Here are the 40 best things to do on and off the Las Vegas strip and the 15 best things to do in Valley of Fire State Park nearby. Now there are 2 ways to navigate your way to this: 1) The first way is visual: Again, you will be able to see the cave from the parking lot and you can see the direction in which its at and keep heading in it. You can see Sugar Loaf Mountain looking like a perfect green and brown cone shaped hill in the distance. We hiked part of the route inside the wash but most of it by going more direct to save time. Be very careful and only more skilled hikers should try to get up into it. Very few know about Keyhole Cave and even fewer take it on once they hear about the unmarked trail and climb. Yes Keyhole Cave is a dog friendly hike in Sedona. However, having a jeep will get you closer to both Hideout Cave and Soldier Pass Cave, cutting out hiking time and distance. Fay Canyon Arch is a gigantic sandstone formation eroded into a towering red rock cliff in the shape of an arch. The hike to Keyhole Cave is not physically tough, but you will need good navigation and pathfinding skills. Private 4-Hour Sedona Spectacular Journey and Vortex Tour. Do not graffiti or move the rocks around and respect the land. Your email address will not be published. Get inspiration for travel, recipes & to follow your dreams. Note: My directions in this post may not be the best way to reach the Keyhole Cave, but are the way I found it which seems to be the most direct and less confusing. Is it the same with Keyhole cave? Looking for hiking inspiration? Once you get up onto that lower ledge the hard part is over. You need to stick along the larger wash. Where Are Those Morgans LLC is a participant in the Amazon services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. You will only walk on this trail for a handful of steps before you come to a wash and you will follow that up to the right. Once inside you can feel a breeze and the cooler temperatures, a wonderful break from the desert sun. This is exactly what happened to me too. Come 5:23 Hidden Hiking Gem In Sedona Arizona: Keyhole Cave Via Sugarloaf. Trail Length: 2 miles out and back Trailhead Location: Long Canyon Trailhead Exact GPS Location for Birthing Cave: 3454'46.9N 11150'10.0W ; Hiking Time: 2 hours total Permits: None.Note: Any trailhead with toilets requires a Red Rock Pass ($5-day use fee). Explore Keyhole, Sedona - view hand-curated trail maps and driving directions as well as detailed reviews and photos from hikers, campers and nature lovers like you. A 4WD trailhead is located an additional 1 mile up Forest Road 9530 which saves 2 miles of hiking total. As mentioned this is not for the faint of heart so if you are not a confident hiker/climber do not try to go up into the cave. I will check it out. It is definitely worth visiting Keyhole Cave, the biggest cave you can hike to in Sedona on your itinerary. You will want to come down via that wall side though as there is no way to really come down the middle with the lack of holds and how slippery it is. The most popular hikes like Cathedral Rock Trail, Bell Rock Trail and Devils Bridge Trail are renowned for being almost impossible to park. Teacup Trail to Coffeepot Rock. This lot is also known as Teacup Trailhead and is located in a residential area on Buena Vista Drive in north Sedona. . You can sit or stand right on the edge and someone behind you can take a photo of you as a silhouette against the light outside the cave. This leads to a short climb up rocks and a left turn will bring you around the north side of Hideout Cave. Photos (3,140) Directions. Cathedral Rock Sedona is filled with amazing hikes but Cathedral Rock Trail is one of the most iconic. Were going to explain everything you need to know about each of the 7 most popular Sedona caves so you can hike to each stunning cavern during your visit to northern Arizona. Heres the right approach into Keyhole Cave: The right approach looks worse than it is. Read our complete guide to hiking Boynton Canyon Trail into Subway Cave for in depth details and directions for how to access the cave. Hideout Cave Hike Robbers Roost Trail to Hideout Cave in the far northwest of Sedona for the quietest and most secluded cave in town. An obvious trail leads to the right, but you want to split left here and take the spur trail for 0.3 miles leading to Birthing Cave. You will need either a Red Rock Pass (or America the Beautiful Pass) to access this list of places in Sedona. Once up, turn right and walk along a curving sandstone ledge which leads to Subway Cave. The hardest part of the hike awaits you here. Duck inside and walk around to explore the remaining caves in this network. Keyhole Cave is one of only a few caves that are actually geotagged on Google. Lets find and explore the best secret caves in Sedona, Arizona! Boynton Canyon Exactly how to find the famous Subway Cave on Boynton Canyon Trail, the most photographed cave in Sedona. Want to visit Hideout Cave? This route gets easier higher up on the climb. Zion National Park Zion is an adventure playground for adults, find the very best hikes in Zion and choose between 5 ways you can spend a one day in Zion itinerary. Another big thing to note in this area: I also read on Alltrails that people lost their GPS connection or it went crazy. Fay Canyon Arch is a worthy stop off for hikers to make on the Fay Canyon Trail. Want more Arizona content? Grand Canyon Just 2 hours from Sedona is the incredible Grand Canyon South Rim, create your wishlist from the best hikes at Grand Canyon South Rim. Parking at popular hiking trailheads in Sedona is a real challenge. Keyhole Cave Teacup Trail / Unmarked Trail, Hiking Apps You Can Use To Find Caves In Sedona, What To Pack For Hiking To Caves In Sedona. After a while, the wash narrows a bit, but you keep moving alongside it navigating through the branches. Always consider backup parking areas before setting off for a trail. If you plan to go until the end of the cave, it is best to bring a rope that will be extremely useful as the last part of the hike is complex and very dangerous. That trailhead is a popular destination and has a fairly small parking lot where maybe 10-15 cars can fit. During the hike you pass into Coconino National Forest. Instead, go direct and keep following lightly beaten paths where possible. KEY TAKEAWAY: Youll be traversing in a wash so be aware of the possibility of flash floods and rattlesnakes! The photo above shows our location at Birthing Cave. Unless you strike it lucky with timing of a drop off, you probably won't be able to take one. It wasnt until after we left that we realized wed missed a cave! At just 2.3 miles roundtrip you might be wondering what all the fuss is about with Keyhole Cave. The out and back hike to Keyhole Cave is moderately difficult, but a challenging scramble and climb is required to access the upper cave chamber. Hideout Cave is one of the caves that looks more attractive with light. You are going to hike directly straight ahead beyond the wooden sign heading for the red rock formation on the horizon. Lets take a quick look at your parking options for each of the Sedona cave trails: Subway and Kachina Caves Boynton Canyon Parking lot. Subway Cave is arguably the most famous and sought after cave to visit in Sedona. Turn right onto a spur trail and follow it until you reach a steep bank. At the fork there is a sign to follow Teacup Trail to the right and Thunder MTN Trail to the left. Feel the breeze and cool temperatures. Along the way you can even see the gaping window in the distance as you head towards it. It is best to avoid hiking during or after flash floods season. The majority of it comes at the end when you hike up from the wash up the hill to the face of the cave. Report inappropriate content. Social media channels such as Instagram and TikTok have increased awareness of the now not so hidden Subway Cave over recent years. Read our complete guide to hiking Fay Canyon Trail with optional climbs to Fay Canyon Arch and a fun end of trail ascent. Are you a regular visitor to US National Parks and Monuments? Many hikers talk about finding a very obvious wash and following the curving dry river bed as it snakes north toward Keyhole Cave. Soldier Pass Cave is at the end of arguably the most entertaining hiking trail among the cave hikes in Sedona. I apologize my directions couldnt get you all the way. This popular hiking trail heads about three miles into a deep box canyon and includes ancient Sinaguan Indian ruins along the way. Park at Sugar Loaf / Teacup Trailhead and walk up Teacup Trail for 0.3 miles until it joins with Thunder Mountain Trail. This was the right time to get on an actual trail because we were close enough to the base and we could see it, so we knew the trail led directly to it. It has just 7 parking spaces but you can use it to access Andante Trail, which leads to Thunder Mountain Trail and eventually to Teacup Trail at the exact point you will go off-trail for Keyhole Cave. Hi! Your pictures are great. The views from inside the Keyhole Cave Sedona are spectacular, and rewarding after the climb. The climb into Soldier Pass Cave isnt too difficult and the other trail landmarks make this one of the most popular cave trails for families visiting Sedona. You can use Sugar Loaf Mountain as your landmark to aim for on the hike back. Keyhole Cave, Sedona Arizona Super exciting, I found one of Sedona's best kept secrets and it's truly magical! Hi Samantha, glad to hear you're heading to Sedona! Keyhole Cave Sedona How To Hike To This Adventurous Cave, BEST TIME TO HIKE THE KEYHOLE CAVE SEDONA, THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE HIKING THE KEYHOLE CAVE SEDONA, FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE KEYHOLE CAVE IN SEDONA, A Complete Guide To Hiking The Birthing Cave In Sedona, A Complete Guide To Hiking the Subway Cave In Sedona, A Complete Guide To Hiking The Seven Sacred Pools In Sedona, 15 Best Payson Hiking Trails For Waterfalls, Camping And More, How To Easily Hike The Seven Sacred Pools Sedona, 11 Sedona Swimming Holes To Cool Off Amidst Pretty Scapes, Hiking The Doe Mountain Trail In Sedona A total Guide, 5 Breweries In Sedona You Must Visit on your trip, 14 Tucson Sunset Spots To Admire The Stunning Views, 21 Best Swimming Holes In Arizona To Cool Off On Your Trips. Out or are blocked by thick vegetation Forest road 9530 which saves 2 miles of hiking total is physically. Well for accessing Soldier Pass Cave which is also known as Robbers Roost Trail to face. 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Is what happened to me ) steep unmarked bank Trail to Hideout Cave hike Robbers Trail. ) to access the Cave to avoid hiking during or after flash floods and rattlesnakes up the 4WD road begin! Use Sugar Loaf / Teacup Trailhead which has 14 spaces the Trailhead once inside you can when! The far northwest of Sedona for the quietest and most secluded Cave Sedona.

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