Day 2 – Sedona: Soldiers Pass & Redwall Distillery
We woke up at 6am and got ready for our morning hike. Today’s plan was to hike Soldier’s Pass Trail. Stelios cooked up the eggs we bought from the market and they were so fresh the yolks were actually orange. It was 43 degrees outside but would be 60s and sunny by 10am so I layered up in my winter leggings, tank top, long sleeve, north face fleece, and windbreaker. It was a quick 5 minute drive from our hotel to the parking lot and we walked 20 minutes down Sunrise Trail to get to the Soldiers Pass trailhead. Along the way we passed beautiful Sedona homes and even saw a wild boar gnawing on someone’s plants.
The beginning of the hike was empty and serene, and eventually the path lead us to Devils Kitchen Sinkhole and the Seven Sacred Pools. We continued along the trail and eventually came to a fork in the road. We ventured right which lead us to the Soldiers Pass Cave trail. The cave was slightly difficult to climb up into, especially if you’re vertically challenged at 5 feet tall like myself. Nonetheless after hoisting myself up on some rocks we made it inside the cave. Inside the cave was really cool, there were ledges you could climb up on and several other people used it as a spot to rest. We explored the cave, snapped some pics, then carefully made our way back down.
At this point it was 9:30am and we had been hiking for 2.5 hours. The sun was much stronger now so I took off my layers and wore just a tank top and leggings for the remainder of the hike. We backtracked to the main soldier pass trail to finish the hike and stopped at the plateau before making our way back to the starting point. By the time we finished the hike it was 11am and we clocked in 6.5 miles and 17k steps. What an excellent start to the day!
We drove back to our hotel and quickly changed for lunch. We walked 15 minutes to Sedona Beer Company, a spot that didn’t open until 12pm and they don’t open a minute earlier. We arrived at 11:59 and there were already about 10-15 people waiting outside for the brewery to open. We were seated at a nice table outside with a view of the red rocks. An interesting concept at Sedona Beer Company is that they have a can with a red side and a green side and if you’re ready to order or need something from the waitress you flip the green side up. If you’re content and don’t need anything you flip the red side up. Stelios and I each ordered a flight of beer – they were all really good but surprisingly the Hazy IPA was my favorite (I’m not usually an IPA girl). At this point we were HUNGRY so we ordered the fall salad to share, the bacon jam burger, and buffalo chicken sandwich. Everything hit the spot. After we finished lunch we walked 15 minutes back to our hotel and had walked a total of 22k steps and 7 miles.
Stelios took a nap in the AC and I tried to power nap but couldn’t so I went to lay out by the pool. Around 4pm the sun started to go down so I went back to the room to change and get ready for dinner. We decided to head to Redwall Lounge, a local distillery in Sedona known for their award winning bourbon. The place was packed but luckily we snagged 2 seats by the fire pit as another couple was leaving. They also had an acoustic guitarist playing live music and honestly it was a perfect evening vibe. I ordered a glass of red wine and Stelios got the peanut butter stout to start. The wine wasn’t very good so I decided to try the Spicy Old Fashioned. An old fashioned is usually hit or miss for me but this one was a perfectly concocted cocktail. You could taste the bourbon but it was balanced with a subtle sweetness and cinnamon flavor. Stelios tried mine and was also WOWed and decided to order one for himself. By 7pm we decided to order some light bites to share for dinner – the Elote arancini and Thai Shrimp roll, both very tasty. We hung out until the live music ended at 8pm, but before leaving Stelios decided to buy a bottle of the Redwall Sedona Small Batch Bourbon since they don’t sell it anywhere else besides the tasting room. It will be a nice treat for us to enjoy when we get back home.
On the walk back to the car we couldn’t help but notice all of the stars in the sky. Sedona is part of the International Dark Sky Community so they actively reduce all light pollution at night which makes for a beautiful night time sky. We drove back to the hotel and were tucked in bed by 9pm – a very early bedtime for us compared to our other trips, but it honestly felt like we had ourselves a full day! It also helps that everything in Sedona is closed by 9pm, plus we had another 6am wake up time tomorrow morning. Good night!
