This was the 5th time I've hiked the Bear Mountain trail in Sedona, and it's still my favorite. It was also number 5 for me in the Six-Pack of Peaks AZ Summer Challenge lineup. The hike is challenging, with some boulder scrambling and lots of ups and downs, and it took us about 5 hours with a pause at the top.

Follow the white blazes on the rocks so you don't go off trail. The views are amazing all along the way, and not so much at the top, where you'll see an “End” sign and not much else. Not much grows here, but my husband managed to brush a Prickly Pear Cactus on the way up, and we spent some time pulling out the spines. Take tweezers.

The trail is easy to get to, but because it's rated difficult, you won't see many other hikers. One more feature I love about this trail.

You park across the street in the Doe Mountain trailhead parking. That's not as obvious as you think!

One more thing: do not hike this trail in the heat. I made that mistake last year. If it wasn't for my more-prepared friend who had a bottle of ice water, I might have succumbed to heat exhaustion. This time, it was in the 50s and 60s, which is perfect hiking weather for the exposed trails in Sedona.

We had planned to hike Wilson, but saved that for the next weekend since the weather was cooler than expected.