TL;DR
Distance: 12 miles
Type: Strait through
Time: 1.5 hours
Difficulty: Medium
Rating: 5 stars
Welcome to 4RunnerDude.com. I have been wanting to get my 4Runner on some decent trails ever since I bought it. I had taken the 4Runner up some very short dirt roads to get into state parks and other areas in the Rocky Mountains but nothing considered a trail. We had planned a trip to Sedona, Arizona a few years back and had heard of some pretty beautiful trails right around the area. We were staying in the north eastern part of Sedona near all the art and shops near Oak Creek. I looked to see if there were some trails nearby and saw this trail called Schnebly Hill Road right off highway 179. This trail is about 11 miles long and I figured this was a good trail to take because I noticed all the jeep tours were turning onto this road when we would drive around town. We made plans to take the trail on one of our days there.
The day had come and we packed up a cooler full of drinks and snacks and even a lunch to eat up on the trail. My family of 5 were ready for the trail. I didn’t have any other supplies with me because I was new and never thought about anything else I might need. Luckily I didn’t need anything else this trip but after watching some YouTube videos on off-roading I plan on making some purchases soon of some supplies like a tire pump and medical kit soon.
We venture out and hit the start of the trail that is just right off the main road. It’s paved for just a bit and hits dirt very soon after. We then pull up to a entryway sign warning us that a 4×4 is required with high clearance. Being new I was terrified. You could already look up the road and see the rocks and rough terrain up ahead. I wasn’t sure what the sign meant. Did it mean a high clearance vehicle like a actual off-road vehicle like a 4Runner and not a Highlander SUV? Or did it mean a high clearance, jacked up Jeep with 37 inch tires on it. I started questioning my decision but had the family loaded and thought at least I would try it. I didn’t take a lot of pictures that I should of because I was pretty nervous at times. Next time I will feel better about getting out during rough times to get a few shots.
Continuing up we quickly ran into a beautiful section of the trail that was nestled in between a red Sedona colored mountain side and a brown more traditional colored mountain side.
The views here were amazing, but we quickly realized we were in for a treat. Continuing up the trail we stopped at a spot that is is a entry point into a hiking trail called Hangover Trail. Its a large shelf type rock that you can drive up and take pictures on or park so that you can take the hiking trail. We decided as it was around 95 degrees to just take some pictures.
While we were parked here there were some Pink Jeep tours passing by. It was kind of awesome to think that we could save about $400 dollars just by having this 4Runner that is capable of taking this road. Yes it would have cost that much to pay a Jeep tour to take us up a road anyone can go up with a capable vehicle.
As we got further up the trail we were met with wonderful views. This was some of the best views I had seen in my life. I am glad I didn’t turn away and go back down. I actually pondered it many times because the trail was getting more and more bumpy as the rocks got larger. We hit a spot on the top of the mountain and got out to take some shots with my Canon DSLR and iPhone before continuing. I must admit my wife took a bunch of these photos.
Once we got past the top the trail got really rough. This is the point when I thought I might have really screwed up going up this trail as it was my first off-roading experience ever. I swear these rocks were way bigger than the pictures would lead you to believe.
I must say when you are thinking you made a mistake and then come up on a Hummer on the trail you really start to second guess yourself. I think I said in my head “holy crap!” about 20 times during this trip. The next part of the trail I don’t have many pics because it was a section that I can only describe as terrifying for me. Before we hit that section we did stop at this large section of the trail that had some info on a sign about the Munds Wagon Trail that was passing right by here.
As I was saying, we pull up to a section of the trail that had me rethinking my decisions on venturing into off-roading. I can only describe it as one of those up on 2 wheels and flip over scenarios. What made it worse is there was a large tree trunk off to the left and almost no where to go but over it. I was worried about clearance, approach and departure angle and life in general at this point. I must say I am sorry I don’t have any photos of this part mostly because I was shitting bricks at the time. My lovely wife actually got out of the car and went up ahead to guide me. I started moving forward and started leaning to the right very quickly. I started yelling at my wife asking my where the edge was. She has no clue what I was saying because I was losing my mind worried about the oncoming 2 wheel balancing disaster about to happen. My wife then guided me over it and nothing happened. Nothing at all. The 4Runner did awesome. I don’t have any more photos of the trail as it got very well maintained after that as it headed through a wooded area that had camping and large trees. Was very beautiful and pretty and I forgot to take any pics. I think I was just glad I was out of the rough part of the trail. But something happened. I was hooked and also not too worried anymore about taking the 4Runner off-roading. I felt like I had battled a trail way over my experience level and was ready for more. I created this website shortly after that first trail to document my experiences.
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