20211010_094632The Birthing Cave (October 2021)

Although we had only spent two nights in Sedona last October, my dad and I packed a lot into that short amount of time. From hiking a couple of trails to sightseeing red rocks by car, we did a bit of everything that there was to see in the Red Rock State Park. Wonderful sites, wonderful views, and a wonderful experience.

Following our 5-mile (8 km) hike to and from the Devil’s Bridge, we headed back to the Mescal Trailhead (where our car was parked) to head to our next trail on-foot. As mentioned in the previous post, we’d intentionally chosen to park at the Mescal Trailhead not only to access the Devil’s Bridge, but also to access a nearby trailhead for another hike we wanted to do. We had a brief rest with snacks and a potty break before walking to our second hike.

Our second hike was to the Birthing Cave, accessible by the Long Canyon Trail. The trailhead was only 0.4 miles/0.6 km from the Mescal Trailhead, which made it convenient to walk over, instead of having to move our car and find parking there– as we started our second hike around 9h00, the parking lots were already filled up, which meant that we would’ve had to park on the side of the road. That said, we left our car still parked at Mescal and hitched our way over to the Long Canyon trailhead.

20211010_091602Long Canyon Trailhead

The hike to the Birthing Cave is 4 miles/6.4 km round-trip. It isn’t a difficult hike, as most of it is flat– it only starts to get difficult once you begin ascending to the top of the cave, as you need to go up some switchbacks that not only are narrow, but extremely steep and a bit slippery at some parts. There aren’t any ledges to grab onto, and you’ll have to be careful not to accidentally grab the cacti conveniently planted on the side of the trail (ouch)! Personally, I found this stretch more difficult to surmount than that at the Devil’s Bridge, but it’s not impossible. Definitely take extra caution when descending afterwards, though!

It’s also important to note that the trail to get to the Birthing Cave isn’t marked, so it helps to rely on Google Maps to track your steps. If you don’t have Google Maps, the rule of thumb is to keep left on the trail at all times, until you reach the base to the switchbacks. And if you’re going later in the day, you’ll come across people also going to and coming from the cave, so you’ll won’t get lost!

We reached the Birthing Cave in about 30 minutes; there were perhaps six to eight people inside the cave when we arrived, although they came and went frequently. Take note that the Birthing Cave isn’t really a cave, but more of a…massive dent on the side of a cliff. It’s not very deep, and it’s hulled out in a way that the ground is very slippery, so it’s hard to stand or even sit without sliding a bit. Also, there is zero shade if you go close to mid-day (which we did), so you’ll get hit full-force with the blinding sun– definitely bring a hat or sunglasses!

20211010_095913The Birthing Cave (on our way up)

The Birthing Cave gets its name from the shape of its opening, which resembles *erm* a female anatomical part. It offers a unique shape, and it looks out to the green valley and the town of Sedona– absolutely sublime. Because of how high to ceiling and how shallow the cave is, it’s really difficult to capture the Birthing Cave in its entirety– at least for my photography-taking skills, you’ll most likely need to use the panorama setting to get as much of the cave as possible. For me, I wasn’t able to get the tip-top of the ceiling, but this photo I took will do the trick:

20211010_094632Inside the Birthing Cave

By the time we descended and headed back to our car, we were tired and ready to return to town for a nice, big lunch. We drove into Sedona’s town center, which has plenty of restaurants and gift shops for tourists to enjoy a more-leisurely time at. Our meal was at a cowboy-themed restaurant, where I ordered a bison burger and a glass of prickly-pear mojito. Personally, I found the food to be very-mediocre and over-priced (and, dare I say it, I’ve had better food at Black Angus than what I had there).

20211010_113149Bison burger with sweet potato fries and prickly-pear mojito

After grabbing a few souvenirs, we returned to our hotel by 14h00 to relax for the rest of the day. We returned early, as we’d woken up so early and had over 10 miles of hiking by 11h00– it would be our last day in Sedona before we were to head to our next destination, so we wanted to take it easy and rest for the drive over.

Overall, Sedona was a solid introduction to our road trip. As mentioned, it’s a smaller natural park compared to its neighboring giant, the Grand Canyon, but it offers so much to do and see in its small area. We only focused on two hikes there, and I would’ve loved to have done the hike to the Subway Cave, but at almost 7 miles/11.3 km round-trip (and limited time), we ended up substituting it with the similar, but shorter hike to the Birthing Cave. It really is true that there’s something magnetic, almost hypnotic, of the red rocks in Sedona, and I can see why people– in-state and out-of-state– make the journey over to see them for themselves. Definitely a place you can’t miss when in Arizona!

Thanks for reading about my trip to Sedona– we’ll be moving on to more of Arizona in the next post!

— Rebecca

Published by Rebecca

Blogger, world traveler, poet, foodie, part-time penguin. Welcome!

36 thoughts on “Destination: Sedona, Arizona (Hiking the Birthing Cave- Part 3)”

  3. Seems like a beautiful hike! I’m surprised that the parking lot was packed so early in the day! I feel like hikes are not as popular in Europe maybe – or maybe I don’t go to the most famous ones?

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    1. National parks are an institution in the US. Almost everyone– from nature lovers to city people– flock to them every year to enjoy the great outdoors. I also think that when I went, the pandemic was still in full swing, so since many people couldn’t travel internationally, they stuck to domestic trips, i.e. national parks, including my family!

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  5. Enjoyed this Sedona wrap up, Rebecca. What fine views you had from the Birthing Cave, well worth your efforts I’d say. I want to try that Bison Burger! I guess with the Subway Cave you’ll always have an excuse to go back.

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    1. Definitely! The Birthing Cave’s views were gorgeous, but it was HOT, no shade! The bison burger was pretty good, although I’ll say it essentially tastes like beef (albeit a tad gamier). I hope to return to Sedona to hike to the Subway Cave (and others)! Thanks for reading, Leighton. 🙂

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  8. I enjoyed reading about your time in Sedona with your dad; what a special time together for you both. I have not yet enjoyed the Arizona desert; but have enjoyed the desert terrain in Utah, Nevada and New Mexico. So many places to visit and so little time! Great post Rebecca!

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  9. teehee…had a good chuckle with why it was called the birthing cave…although with a name like that it isn’t too much of a stretch for the imagination! Isn’t Sedona magical? hard to get enough of that place!

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