The next day we were up early for what was supposed to be a short, easy hike and then followed by an afternoon of shopping in downtown Arizona. However, we had some trouble. We had planned on going to Sugarloaf for the trail there.. The parking lot was full and street parking was not allowed. We then planned for Bell tower but the parking lot was full.  Planned on going to Vultee Arch- couldn’t find the parking lot so we ended up driving out to Brin Mesa. I tell you a four-wheel-drive will be much better to get you there but we were able to find parking. Hallelujah. 

We headed out for what All Trails said was a short 3 1/2 mile out back , it was also supposed to be very easy with very little incline.   Lies!  Brin Mesa started on this marvelous orange trail with green trees and the awesome rocks to your right. . Everything looked amazing. Then we had a little turn and a little climb that turned out to be a lot steeper than we thought. It’s basically like climbing steps, but I wasn’t prepared for that and I was whining. 

 Once we got to the top, we took a breather  and we could see some people out on a rock. So I let my mother convince me to go to the rock.  Once at the rock the view was amazing- 360° view.   Let me tell you, Brin Mesa is worth it.

Then instead of turning around like I had planned, we continued forward. Did we have a real plan?  No.  Was I positive I had  looked at the map at the trailhead right? Also no.   But, choose your own adventure.  So we continued around and eventually Brin Mesa turned into Soldiers Pass Trail, along the way this had one of the best views I’ve ever seen.   Pictures don’t do it justice.  

We continued down into a little gully and started to realize that we were connecting with Soldiers Pass, which I had hiked a couple years ago and I vaguely remembered the area. I was pretty sure we could pick up the other trail and loop around it to Brin Mesa without turning around, but also wasn’t positive. The catch was that I hadn’t actually looked at the map that closely and I couldn’t remember what the name of the other trail was. I vaguely remembered a man’s name so I figured I would figure it out.   It took us past the Seven Sacred Pools and back passed the sinkhole to the Soldiers’ Pass trailhead.. We were able to pick up the Jordan Trail- success!  And then we were headed back towards the Brin Mesa trail head. 

The Jordan trail was nice and pretty easy. There were no real technical moments, just a few parts where you crossed the rocks and kind of lost the trail, but it was fairly easy to pick it up again. I was melting because once again, I was unprepared for how much sun I was getting. We ended up getting back to the trailhead and getting in around exactly 6 miles.  So while it wasn’t long it was  a longer route that I had originally planned, but still worth it. 

However, I was still concerned about the next day, when we would venture into the Grand Canyon. We then spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around downtown Sedona and ate some good pizza before heading back to the hotel to get some rest.