Sedona, Arizona

Arizona is a state with a reputation. When you think of Arizona, you probably have a distinct picture your head. It is dry. Arid. The occasional tumbleweed blows past an empty, sandy landscape. Scorpions hide around the base of a saguaro cactus. The sun beats down oppressively overhead, and a rattlesnake curls in the shade beneath a mesquite bush.

In short, Arizona is the epitome of a desert.

Or at least, that’s what a lot of people believe.

As is always the case, reality is more than stories would lead us to believe. Arizona has deserts, of course. There are tumbleweeds and cacti and rattlesnakes. But there is also much more. Arizona is home to mountain ranges and forests, rivers and lakes, canyons and mesas. Some areas even get enough snow to open ski resorts.

This may not be what you expected, but oh, my friend, this is how the Southwest is. It is a land filled with all kinds of places and cultures and experiences. A land of diversity.

With that all in mind, let us pay a visit to one of Arizona’s many unique sites. Today, we will see Sedona, Arizona.

Sedona is a town built on aesthetic. The roads are new, the sidewalks clean, the buildings fancy and themed around the surrounding desert. As you drive through the main stretch of town, you’ll notice the Earth tones, flat roofs, and muted color palettes. Whether it be restaurants, stores, or one of the town’s many art galleries, the buildings all have a similar desert aesthetic. Even McDonald’s matches, it’s usual golden arches repainted in a pastel turquoise to better match the rest of the town.

This, of course, is not by accident. Sedona’s building codes are strict and specific. Everything has a similar expensive, high-end desert look. The town itself has literally been designed to fit the surrounding landscape.

Unsurprisingly, it’s a beautiful town, albeit a bit much. You’ll find plenty of restaurants to eat at, boutiques to shop, and expensive art galleries to ogle and imagine you could one day afford the exquisite pieces. There’s plenty to do in this town.

However, the true appeal to Sedona predates any building. The land is what pulls people in.

Sedona, Arizona, is known for its striking red rocks. Millions of people come each year to see the stunning sandstone formations. Bell Rock, Cathedral Rock, Airport Mesa, and other features surround Sedona and tower overhead its many visitors.

From these photos alone, you no doubt see how picturesque this unique landscape is. It is beautiful, the kind of place people come from thousands of miles away to see. The colors here are vivid, the red rock looking almost otherworldly. Perhaps they were plucked from the surface of our planetary neighbor, Mars, the Red Planet. These formations would be right at home there.

And yet, they are here.

Of course, they are not the only such sight in the Southwest. Have we not already visited many geological marvels, remnants of the ancient past? Were not the tent rocks of Kasha Katuwe otherworldly? Was not El Malpais a reminder of the many ancient stories of our land? And we still have yet to visit one of the greatest geological wonders in the world - the Grand Canyon! This World Heritage Site is only two hours north of Sedona!

So, with all of the incredible geological features of the Southwest, what is it that makes Sedona so special?

Ah, my friends, I was hoping you would ask!

What makes Sedona truly unique is THE VORTEX.

Now, doesn’t THAT sound like the dramatic sort of thing we’re meant to be visiting?

According to Sedona’s website (because everything has a website and marketing campaign these days):

Sedona vortexes (the proper grammatical form ‘vortices’ is rarely used) are thought to be swirling centers of energy that are conducive to healing, meditation and self-exploration. These are places where the earth seems especially alive with energy. Many people feel inspired, recharged or uplifted after visiting a vortex.

Does this not sound like a place worth visiting? After all, we’ve been scouring the Southwest for stories, for places where the walls of the Earth are thin, where the stories of the past poke through to meet us in the present. When these stories are not immediately apparent, we dig them out, researching, reflecting, and listening to the world around us.

Here in Sedona, we’re told we do not have to search so hard. The Earth’s energy is right there, right under our feet! It swirls through the air above our heads! As we stand there, surrounded by nature’s beauty and majesty, we’ll gain new insights, connect to the world around us, and heal ourselves of the ails of our human society. Here, we’ll be at one with the Earth. We’ll be at peace.

It sounds a bit too good to be true, doesn’t it? Could Sedona really be all the stories say it is? Or is it an overblown tale, fiction repeated so many times that it starts to feel like fact? What IS the truth?

That is what we are here to seek!

Unfortunately, truth is complicated. What is true and what is not true varies for different people. Even facts that seem to be completely true can waver under second glance. Take, for example, the sky is blue. Surely this is an indisputable fact. No one would argue otherwise. But how does the sky appear to someone who is color blind? Someone who cannot see the color blue? Their truth will be different than yours or mine. But does that make what they experience any less real?

When you start asking what is real and what is not, you can quickly spiral down the rabbit hole of an existential crisis. Truth is a matter of perception, and what you perceive is what makes up your reality. If different people perceive the world in different ways, then the reality they experience must be somewhat different than yours. And if that is the case… is anything really real? Or is reality just a matter of perception?

I cannot answer these questions. Philosophy will drive you mad if you let it. But it can tell us a lot about a place like Sedona. Sedona claims to be a vortex, a center of energy we can tap into. We can wonder if this is a true claim or not, but in the end, does it really matter? If truth is all in how we perceive it, maybe it doesn’t have to be real. Maybe we just need to feel like it is. Maybe Sedona can be a place of healing, of energy, if we want it to be.

Or, perhaps it’s just a pretty place people have convinced themselves must be something more. It’s difficult to say. To discover your truth regarding Sedona, you will have to explore for yourself.

Perhaps you will step into Sedona and feel its power right away. To some people, it is as clear as if it were visible in the air. When I myself first stepped out of my car at the red rocks, I asked a man on a bicycle about the vortex. He laughed and said, “You’re standing in it! Don’t you feel it?”

Perhaps your reality will be like this man’s.

Or perhaps you will be one who must seek a little bit. Many who visit Sedona claim to tap into the energy vortex at certain sites, such as Bell Rock. Perhaps you will be like them. You may hike up the steep sides of this formation, climbing over the smooth red rocks, and look out over the whole of the landscape. From here, you may meditate, sitting in peace and losing yourself in the world around you. You may build a cairn to reflect the balance of energy you feel. You may return home, rejuvenated and content. This may be your reality.

Notice the many cairns around Bell Rock's base.

Or perhaps your reality will be less spectacular. Perhaps you will step onto the red rocks and see the beauty, appreciate the land, but not feel anything particularly special. To be honest, my friends, this was my experience. After visiting so many incredible places in the Southwest, I was expecting Sedona to hit me hard. I was expecting to feel the energy, to feel something different. I did not.

I tried, of course. I hiked up Bell Rock. I sat and looked out at the land. I took pictures and breathed deeply and reflected on the energy of the Earth.

I could see how beautiful the land was. Anyone could. Beauty is not something that has to be sought out in a place like this. But the feelings of healing, of self-exploration, that Sedona promised? Bell Rock may have brought that to the hundreds of other tourists climbing its sides that day, but I didn’t feel it.

But of course, that’s not the end of the story. Sometimes the truth is not immediately obvious. Sometimes you must seek it out, as we have done many times before in our travels.

And so, I sought. From Bell Rock, I headed out toward Courthouse Bluff.

Courthouse Bluff is one of the many formations unique to Sedona. Not quite as distinct as Bell Rock or Cathedral Rock, this large, hulking bluff of red and tan sandstone stretches high into the sky. A four-mile trail circles its base. I followed it.

The farther I walked along the trail, the fewer people I encountered. Millions of tourists come to visit Sedona each year, and many of them flock to the most well-known sites. Fewer are willing to hike out into the desert heat and keep going for miles. Along the trail, the crowds slowly fell away and disappeared. Eventually, it was only me and the land.

This is when I felt something. Peace. It was so quiet. I felt alone for the first time since arriving in Sedona, but it was not the bad kind of alone. It was peaceful, comforting. The world felt far away, as if it couldn’t touch me anymore. My own problems felt smaller and less significant. Earth was so much bigger than just me and the little corner of it I was used to experiencing. In that moment, I was reminded of how I fit into the world, how I was a little piece of something enormous, a tiny part of the story of our majestic, incredible planet.

I found myself hiking slower and slower, eventually stopping in the shade of the bluff. I found a rock to sit on, and I just sat and stared out in the distance. I didn’t want to move on and lose the feeling. I didn’t want to return to the rest of the world.

Did I experience the vortex? Or was I simply struck by the beauty of that stretch of land, as I have several other places since? What was my truth?

To be honest, I’m not sure. In the end, it didn’t really matter. Whether it was a real vortex or my own mind, it was beautiful. Quiet. Peaceful.

These days, peace is in short supply. Our world is loud and chaotic. New problems arise from every corner, jumping out at us from cell phone screens and television news. There is no break, no moment when the world settles. The truth of our reality can be difficult. Therefore, when we find this kind of quiet peace, we must soak it in while we can. Whether peace is real or just our own perception, we need it now more than ever.

Seek out peace where you can find it, my friends. Good luck.

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Read about Sedona, Arizona, and the energy vortex at https://visitsedona.com