The Sugarloaf trailhead is the start of several wonderful hikes in the beautiful West Sedona area. Unfortunately the parking lot isn't very big, which seems to be a common issue in Sedona, so waiting for an open spot may take a few minutes. We recommend downloading trail maps ahead of time since often cell coverage is spotty and the trails criss-cross and can get confusing.
This hike is 1.9 miles roundtrip with a 354 foot elevation gain. There was still some patchy snow the day we did it and we heard lots of birds. It starts off pretty flat with a few minor ups/downs.
At the base of Sugarloaf Mountain we began to gain elevation as we headed up for the views, which were really great for such a quick climb as we could see out in all directions. This would be a wonderful place to come watch a Sedona Sunset. If you're looking for a shorter hike with great views of the valley this is a solid choice.
The official trail shows 2.7 miles roundtrip for the loop with a 291 foot elevation gain, but we wished we had stopped a little earlier and turned around when the trail got too exposed for our liking, so really the hike would have been more like 2.5 miles. The trail began at Sugarloaf trailhead, like the last one, but then we turned off at the Teacup Junction and began working our way into new beautiful areas. It was really nice and rolling and we loved the open views.
We continued heading towards some incredible rock formations which included the one at the end named Coffee Pot. We couldn't stop taking pictures of the amazing rocks and as we gained some elevation we loved looking over the valley.
Once we reached the top of the loop the trailhead map showed we were supposed to continue on around the base of Coffee Pot before turning around to meet back at the loop as you can see here.
So we continued on heading toward Coffee Pot and it soon became very apparent that this was not really a trail! It was really more just walking on the rocks which at first were flat and wider, but soon turned into narrow sections with steep drop offs! There wasn't a lot of room for error. We decided to turn around and would recommend just cutting this last part of the trail off as it really wasn't very safe. Hiking a little part of the section after the loop offers great views without needing to go very far or do that last sketchy part. We were too scared to take pictures from the sketchy part, so these pics are all prior to that.
The other side of the loop was fun and offered slightly different perspective as we returned to connect to Sugarloaf Trail and back to the parking lot. A really nice hike close to town.
We loved both of these hikes and would happily do them again.