How We Hiked Sedona’s Birthing Cave Trail (& Was It Worth The Hype?)

We’d read that Sedona’s Birthing Cave was a popular trail, so when we hiked it on a clear and sunny December afternoon in 2021, we fully expected it to be busy. But getting parked at Long Canyon Trailhead wasn’t a problem (although we imagined the few available spaces would be like gold dust in peak months), we found the short trail to be mostly easy with just a short steep burst at the end to actually get into the cave, and we didn’t see a single other soul on the entire trail. Honestly, it was one of our favorite hikes in Sedona.

That morning we’d already summited Cathedral Rock for sunrise, hiked Bell Rock, and refueled with a late lunch pizza pitstop in West Sedona. We were pretty tired and borderline in a food coma, but having the Birthing Cave completely to ourselves quickly revitalized us, and the mid-afternoon lighting was almost perfect. We loved the flame-shaped cave entrance, and Mark was able to climb up and get inside a sphere-shaped alcove at the back which was cool. As we sat in the cave, we both said it was one of those big “bang for your buck” trails.

The thing that worried us most was not being able to figure out where to turn off Long Canyon and onto the Birthing Cave path. But it couldn’t have been any more obvious. We basically kept walking on the flat path until reaching a wooden fence, and there we turned left (heading west) to pick up the cave trail. The only tough part of the hike was climbing into the cave, but we’d say it’s perfectly doable for most people. Overall, we found Birthing Cave to be the easiest of Sedona’s hidden caves to access, and we did six altogether.

In this guide we explain everything you need to know about hiking Birthing Cave Trail in Sedona, based on our own experience. Let’s dive in.

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Trail Map & Hiking Stats

Map Key

• Red line: Trailhead to cave path
• Purple line: Long Canyon Trail (missing the turnoff)
• Blue dots: Connector path to Mescal (backup parking)
• Orange arrows: Direction of views from cave

Hiking Statistics

• Distance: 1.8 miles round trip
• Elevation Gain: 270 feet
• Difficulty: Easy (moderate climb at end)
• Time: 1.5 hours
• Trailhead: Long Canyon

At the time of our most recent update to this guide, the Birthing Cave Trail scores 4.7 / 5 on AllTrails. We’d actually increase that to a 4.8 / 5 when comparing the hike to others we did in Sedona, and versus the scores on AllTrails of other hikes in the area. It’s got an excellent payoff for such a short trail.

AllTrails also has the difficulty listed as moderate. The truth is, 90% of the trail is super easy and flat, but the climb into the cave is steep with uneven rocks underfoot. We don’t think frequent hikers will have any issues at all – it was just a quick lung-buster to get in, and we took a bit of extra care with our foot placements immediately after leaving the cave.

Our Trail Walkthrough

Here’s a step-by-step walkthrough of our hike with photos we took along the route:

Parking At Long Canyon Trailhead

We expected to find a proper parking lot at Long Canyon Trailhead, but it was more like a few roadside pull-off spaces and then a few more random spaces hidden away in the trees. There were also patches of dirt on the roadside to the north of the trailhead area, which we’re sure is where the spillover happens during the busiest months in Sedona.

The Birthing Cave trailhead also doubles as Chuck Wagon Trailhead, which is a much longer and less used way to reach Devils Bridge Trail. So that can also add more cars to the trailhead area. There were 5 other cars when we arrived around 2:00 PM, and we were able to park in the trees right where the Birthing Cave trail began.

Even though we didn’t think Long Canyon was one of the places we needed to do it, we still displayed our America the Beautiful Pass in our car at the parking area just to be sure. If we didn’t have one, we’d have bought a 7-day Red Rock Pass in advance at recreation.gov, or at a different trailhead in Sedona (there wasn’t a kiosk at Long Canyon).

Beginning On Long Canyon Trail

The trees where we parked were already on the west side of the road, so we didn’t have to cross the road to begin the hike. The wide dirt trail was very obvious, and just a few seconds after starting we arrived at a huge information board with maps and details about Red Rock Secret Mountain wilderness area.

A few steps later, we passed by a narrow trail leading off to the left (south) – this was a connector path leading down to Mescal Trail which ultimately led to the much larger parking lot at Mescal Trailhead (this one definitely requires a parking pass). That was our backup plan in case we had issues getting parked at Long Canyon, but luckily we didn’t have to add on an additional 0.8 miles round trip by hiking the Mescal connector.

Passing Seven Canyons Golf Course

This first portion of Long Canyon Trail was flat, easy and soft underfoot. We essentially passed between patches of rough desert vegetation as the path continuously narrowed and widened. It was a nice and easy start to a very relaxing hike. Then around half a mile in, we passed by the southwest edge of Seven Canyons golf course. Nobody was playing at the time, but we might have stopped to watch a few putts if they were.

Forking Left At The Trail Split

After keeping the manicured greens and fairways to our right side as the trail curved around to the left, we walked a few more minutes before reaching a wooden fence with three poles and two rails – one of which was slanted down – above a patch of vegetation. From researching and using Google Maps, we knew this was the trail split, and we knew we had to ignore what looked like the obvious path (the continuation of Long Canyon) on the right side, do a full 90-degree turn to the left, and cut through the trees.

Climbing A Steep Rocky Bank

Once we were through the trees, we followed a very narrow dirt path towards a huge red rock cliff face. It quickly became clear where the cave was located, despite it not looking anything at all like what we picture when we think of a cave. Just a few minutes after forking off the main trail, we reached the bottom of a short but steep 0.3-mile climb up a rocky bank. The gravel was loose and there were protruding rocks to navigate, but it wasn’t too difficult.

Entering The Birthing Cave

We took a few quick breaks on the climb to catch our breath, and all we had to do to forget about the heavy breathing and calf-burning was look at the immense views opening up behind us. Then before we knew it, we’d arrived at the bottom and center of the Birthing Cave at bang on 2:30 PM. We didn’t have to climb any large boulders or use ropes to get inside the cave (unlike other caves we hiked to in Sedona), we just walked right in.

Climbing Into The Spherical Alcove

From right outside, and even just after entering what looked like a large alcove, we still couldn’t understand why it was called a cave – we weren’t surrounded or encapsulated by rocks. But then after moving the back of the depression and looking back out at the view, all of a sudden it felt like we were inside a cave with a flame (or teardrop) shaped entrance. The back of the cave was sloped like the outside of an egg, so it was hard to climb up far. But there was a small half-sphere shaped alcove and Mark zig-zagged along the rock layers to access it.

Enjoying The View

The view from the half-sphere was better because it was higher up, but the views were still magnificent from below and to the sides a little lower down. We could see an ocean of trees with red and white rock formations bursting into the sky in the direction of Devils Bridge and Soldier Pass Trail. One thing we messed up was not getting a fun perspective photo with one of us as a subject on the left side of the Birthing Cave (looking out), but luckily we had our wide angle lens so we could capture the full cave entrance in one frame at 16mm.

Pros And Cons

Pros ✅

• Spectacular views
• Photogenic cave entrance
• Quieter than other hikes
• Short trail with huge reward
• Lots of room inside cave
• Backup parking options

Cons ❌

• Limited trailhead parking
• Cave access climb is steep
• Sphere is difficult to access
• Can be busy in peak months
• Not a “proper” cave

Important Things To Know

Best lighting: We spent around 30 minutes inside the Birthing Cave from 2:30 PM to 3:00 PM on December 15th. It was a clear and sunny day, but the sun wasn’t quite far enough around to the west yet to leave the cave completely sun-free. In truth, we only had a tiny bit of sun left on the left edge of the cave as we looked out, and the entirety of our view through the cave was lit up nicely. There weren’t any harsh contrasts. Thirty minutes later, the cave lighting would have been even. So we’d say 4:00 PM to sunset has the best lighting.

When to hike: If we hiked Birthing Cave again, we’d either do it first thing in the morning for sunrise or save it until after 4:00 PM. Not only would that give us better lighting, but it would also be quieter than the 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM rush. We were lucky to have the cave to ourselves in the mid-afternoon, and we agreed it would have been a lesser experience if there were 10+ other groups inside with us so we’d prioritize a crowd-free time.

Shoes: We were happy to have our proper hiking shoes on for the steep bank climb and for Mark being able to access the sphere alcove. We always wore them for trails in Sedona to help with traction and slippery rocks.

Long Canyon: We didn’t bother continuing the hike along Long Canyon after the trail split because there are plenty of other amazing trails to be getting on with around Sedona. Our sentiment was that our time would be better spent on other hikes.

Cell service: We lost cell service pretty much as soon as we left Long Canyon parking area and it never came back during our hike. But we had downloaded an offline map on our Gaia GPS app, so we could still track our live location and follow the route with fork onto Birthing Cave.

Respect: This should go without saying, but it’s so important to respect the site. It’s not just an Instagram photo op, it’s a sacred site for indigenous communities like the Hopi tribe. We made sure to keep noise down, not leave any trash, and stay on the beaten paths at all times.

Was Birthing Cave Worth The Hype?

Yes, there’s no doubt in our minds the Birthing Cave lives up to its hype. But we have to caveat that by saying we had no issues with parking and we didn’t see a single other person on the trail or in the cave. We know it would feel different if parking was impossible and the cave was filled with other hikers.

That said, taking those elements out, we still think Birthing Cave is a short and easy trail packing a massive punch at the end. It’s dog friendly, most people can hike it, we’d be happy to take our kids once they are old enough, and the cave didn’t require any actual climbing or scrambling to get inside.

Overall, we’d say Birthing Cave was one of our favorite caves and hikes in Sedona – and we hiked over 20 trails across 8 days. We’d actually include it if we only had one day to hike because geographically it lines up perfectly to do Doe Mountain for sunrise, Boynton Canyon to the Subway Cave and then the Birthing Cave. And we’d also include Fay Canyon after Subway Cave if we were doing well for time.

Next Steps

We hope our Birthing Cave Trail guide helps with planning your trip to Sedona.

Don’t forget you can book a travel planning video call with us if you’d like our expert help organizing your trip to Sedona. We can answer any questions you have or walk through a personalized itinerary to make the most of your time.

Still researching for your trip?

• Here’s our travel guide for Sedona
• Here are the top things to do in Sedona
• Here’s exactly where to stay in Sedona
• These are the best hiking trails in Sedona
• Here’s our 1-5 day Sedona itinerary
• This our full 7-day Sedona itinerary

Finally, if you’ll be visiting more places on the same trip, we recommend reading our Arizona travel guide for more helpful tips and advice.

Happy Travels,

Mark and Kristen

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