Heritage Cite tents

Such a hidden gem! SUPER knowledgeable and friendly docents who really made our experience memorable. Note that you will need to purchase a tour in advance (9-2 every 30 minutes) -- I used the NFS and Recreation app to do so. You go back about 5 miles of gravel road to get there that may be difficult for smaller cars to navigate.

First let's talk about getting there. The last 6 miles is a dirt/gravel road. The eggs you had for breakfast will be scrambled, and your car will be covered in clay dirt/powder. You need a reservation so ours was at 10am. We arrived early at 930, and rather than making us wait one of the guides (Jim) took us to the first trail to see petroglyphs. It's supposed to take 30 minutes per hike and there's one for the petroglyphs and one for the cave dwellings. Jim is a wealth of information and took us on an extended tour. We had no idea it would take over 1 1/2 hours. By the time we got back down and ready for the second trail we had missed the 10, 1030 and 11 am groups. We waited and finally got back on the trail at 12pm. We were still up at the cliff dwellings at 1pm and my wife and I were getting hot and dehydrated. We had planned on a 1 hour adventure but it turned into 5 hours. We left the tour group and came back down directly to our car. The tour is amazing and worth the drive. But be prepared for the tour to take much longer than one hour. We had some excitement on the first trail when Jim spotted a diamondback rattler. He captured the snake and took at back down the mountain to be used for educational purposes.

Must see! Underrated place. Please book in advance so that you can visit without any disappointment. We didn't had a booking but was lucky enough to get a slot due to cancelation. The drive from main road to site is around 7 miles. It's advisable to use an suv or vehicles with higher clearance. If you are travelling in other vehicles drive slowly on this unpaved stretch. They typically allow a group of 10-15. The guides were awesome. Trekking is short and is easy to moderate.

There are SO many people coming through Sedona (and rightly so) for the natural beauty, rock formations, and hikes. It’s easy to overlook small heritage sites like this one but you would be foolish to wait in line with hundreds of other people for the “popular” attractions when this little gem is low cost (only $1 reservation per person plus a parks pass) and contains so much rich history! The volunteer guides are kind and knowledgeable. We thoroughly enjoyed our time.