How to Hike Bell Rock + The Courthouse Loop in Sedona, AZ
If you’re searching for yet another fun hike to do in Sedona, look no further – Bell Rock is such a fun and adventurous trail to explore. Located near Courthouse Butte, this prominent mountain in Sedona is a scramble up to craggy cliffs and overlooks.
Bell Rock ended up being a top 5 trail for me from the nearly 20 trails that I’ve done in Sedona. Here’s everything you need to know about this incredible hiking location.
Where is the Bell Rock Trailhead?
Bell Rock Trail starts from the Courthouse Vista parking lot, located off Highway 179, just 10 minutes directly south of downtown Sedona. You can find the parking lot location here.
This hiking area is pretty popular, and the parking lot, though fairly large (20-30 parking spots) does fill up. We arrived here in the late morning and had to wait about 10 minutes for someone to come off the trail and leave. There is also overflow parking at the Yavapai Trailhead parking lot (location here), which is just a 10-minute walk away.
You do need a Red Rocks Pass (or a National Parks Pass) to park in the lot and access the trail. You can buy that pass at a machine by the trailhead.
There are vault toilets at the trailhead.
The Trails
There are two prominent mountains that this trailhead serves: Bell Rock and The Courthouse. These two rock formations are essentially right next to each other. Multiple trails crisscross and intersect around these mountains.
You can hike around the two mountains, around one of the mountains, or climb up Bell Rock. There is no trail that goes up Courthouse Butte.
Initially, we were just planning on doing the Courthouse Loop, which takes you on a large loop around Bell Rock and the Courthouse. However, after about 10 minutes of hiking we passed this sign, pointing up to Bell Rock.
Another couple who was hiking at the sign told us that Bell Rock was FOR SURE the more exciting trail to do, so we ended up hiking the rock, and then finishing up with the loop.
Bell Rock
Hiking Bell Rock involves a fairly easy scramble up a steep hill where you hike up the layers of grippy sandstone.
There is technically a specific trail to follow, which is marked by cairns, but since you’re hiking on flatrock, the trail isn’t always super obvious. Keep an eye on the cairns, but if you just keep heading upwards, you’ll be going in the right direction.
This section involved a combination of standard hiking, scrambling up the rocks, and walking along the little ledges created by the sandstone layers. Quickly, you’ll gain enough elevation to enjoy the great views of the mountains all around you!
Look across the valley to see the Chapel of the Holy Cross, built into the mountainside. This fascinating church is recognized globally as one of the most unique church designs in the world.
About halfway up the mountain, the rock changes dramatically, becoming more textured and vertical. Once you get up to where the rock changes, it gets really adventurous. The rocks transform into vertical pillars, and there you get to explore, climb, and scramble.
You can climb up onto mini-summits with insane views over the Courthouse and walk in between the textured, rocky outcroppings filled with narrow paths and ledges.
You can only go up the “vertical” section of Bell Rock a little bit – you certainly aren’t going anywhere close to the summit of the rock, but I still loved this section so, so much.
Climbing up between these big, textured pillars to stand on top of the ledges, looking at the Courthouse just behind, was SO epic.
Courthouse Loop
When you finish with Bell Rock, you can still do a large section of the Courthouse Butte Loop.
The trail officially goes around Bell Rock and the Courthouse, but you can just head back down Bell Rock, pick up the unofficial trail that cuts between the two mountains, and join the official loop trail on the backside of the mountains.
From here, the trail continues all the way around the Courthouse and swings back to the parking lot. This is an easy, flat, fairly level trail right at the base of the Courthouse, offering excellent views of this massive rock formation.
Trail Stats
We did a combination of two different trails (the loop trail and the trail up Bell Rock). This map illustrates the route we took:
Here are our stats for this route:
- Distance: 4.2 miles
- Elevation Gain: 699 feet (almost entirely on the scramble up Bell Rock)
- Difficulty: Fairly difficult on the last part of Bell Rock, otherwise I’d say its an easy hike
- Pets: Dogs are welcome, but must be on a leash. I would not take a dog up Bell Rock.
If you do just the Courthouse Butte and Bell Rock Loop, it’s a 3.6-mile trail. If you just do the Bell Rock trail, then it’s about 1.2 miles round trip.
I would be hesitant to do the entire Bell Rock scramble with young children who can’t hike themselves or who could wander off the cliff. If you come with young children, I would stop right at the bottom of the vertical section of Bell Rock.
Final Thoughts on Both Trails
Bell Rock is a super fun trail and I highly recommend it.
However, in comparison, Courthouse Loop was not even close as exciting. While the views of Courthouse Butte are very cool, the trail offers little variation and is pretty long (about 3 miles, and 4 miles if you also go around Bell Rock too).
The loop is good if you can’t scramble up and/or don’t want to be on the high ledges, as you get up-close views of both of the very impressive rock formations. But if I had to pick, I’d pick the trail up Bell Rock over the Courthouse Loop every time.
Other Hikes to Do in Sedona
Check out my other Sedona hiking guides – these are all top bucket list hikes and experiences in Sedona:
- How to Hike Fay Canyon in Sedona, Arizona
- How to Hike to Keyhole Cave in Sedona, AZ
- How to Hike Doe Mountain in Sedona, AZ
- How to Hike Cathedral Rock Trail in Sedona, Arizona
- How to Hike the West Fork Oak Creek Trail in Sedona, AZ
- How to Visit Edge of the World near Sedona, AZ
- 7 Easy Yet GORGEOUS Hikes in Sedona
