Red Agave Resort

In order to make use of the Red Rock Country trails you must buy a car pass. There are kiosks in most parking areas. A day pass costs $5 and a seven day pass is $15. You can also get a pass at any Circle K.

The Bell Rock trail is a pretty easy hike. The trail is wide and is not steep if you stay on the main trail.

The initial part of the trail provides a spectacular view of both Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte. It is about .6 miles from the parking lot to where the trail splits to go either to the west side of Bell Rock or to the east towards Courthouse Butte. For this hike we went to the left which headed to the west side of Bell Rock.

Once you have hiked around the west side of Bell Rock you will come around to the north side. At 1.1 miles into the hike there will be a trail junction as indicated in the picture. One can choose to continue on the Bell Rock loop, or take a side trip up the side of it.

Going up the side of the rock is a bit more difficult than the trail itself. Here you will encounter some steep hiking over rock ledges, up cracks in the side of ledges and scrambling over loose rock.

The views are stunning in all directions, and it's worth the extra effort. One can decide to go just a little ways or all the way to the top.

The trail is generally marked with cairns (rock piles), but you can wonder off the marked trail and still make it back.

One can see Cathedral Rock off to the northwest and also Sedona in the distance.

Once you have decided to come down off the rocks, you will make your way back down to the Bell Rock loop. Here we headed east toward Courthouse Butte.

At about 1.4 miles into the hike (not including the side trail), the trail splits once again. If you head north, you will be going down the Bell Rock Pathway. If you stay heading east you will now be on the Courthouse Butte trail which goes around the east side of the Butte.

There will be another trail that will fork off to the north about .4 miles up the trail. This is the Llama trail.

Keep to the right on the Courthouse Butte loop trail.

The Courthouse Butte trail is a little more challenging than the Bell Rock trail. The trail heads around the east side of the Butte and there is some areas of the trail that get pretty steep.

Along the east side of the trail there is a section where bikes are not allowed.

Coming around to the South side of Courthouse Butte, you will once again be able to see Bell Rock. The trail is pretty flat here and joins back up with the Bell Rock trail to make a full loop.

You will end up back to the trail that brings you back to the parking lot.