Bootlegger Picnic Area — Attraction in Sedona

This is a great place to visit. Not just the view itself but also lots of content for kiddos/adults to learn about meteor and other geography stuff.

I saw handful bad review about this place from multiple places like Google, Roadtripper, etc. While I agree its admission is comparatively expensive than others, but consider this is private property and also they prepared a lot of stuff to demonstrate in and out, that includes short movie with motion chair at theater.

Only cons might be it’s two hours round driving from Flagstaff if you are on the Grand Circle road trip… so it would be difficult to add this place in your itinerary. But I would definitely recommend this place if you can spend a half a day and around Flagstaff. I visited here in April during kid’s spring recess so weather was nice, but I assume it will be super hot during summer.. same as other places in Arizona. Most contents are displayed indoor, so you only spend about 30 mins outside to take a photo and see it. There is free guided tour at 10:10 and 12:10 that you actually walk outside with a guide, but you’ll still see the spot from overlook, which is just a little bit higher than the other sight spots… but make sure you hurry up especially for 10:10 AM tour as it will take some time to wait in the land to buy an admission ticket. It turned out to be quite famous place.

No problem with parking when I visited in the morning around 10:30 AM and I saw RV/bus...

Firstly, the drive down to the water was EXTREMELY rough. I have a minivan and was going 5 miles an hour and it was rough. I definitely suggest using a vehicle for rough terrain. It took us 30 minutes to get down the road, but jeeps and trucks were zooming past us lol.

Previous reviews I had read did not emphasize how bumpy the road actually is. Some said you could even take a car. Even my van was scraping the bottom at a few points. So I definitely wouldn't agree that its safe to take a car.

Granted, we got down, but the drive wasn't very enjoyable lol.

The hike to the water was pretty cool. Not too long and there was some parts along the trail that were shaded.

The watering hole was nice. The water was refreshing after the hike. There's a rope swing and a rock structure to jump from. There's a few different hights on the rock, too. So if you don't want to go to the top, you have options.

We didn't explore the area much as it was very hot when we went.

The bathrooms are infested with flys. Not uncommon in AZ. SO IF you have alternative options for the restroom, you may want to think about bringing it.

Other than that, we enjoyed...

It's a small day use area with access to the stream in Cottonwood Canyon. The canyon is beautiful and busy!!!

The paths we chose to get to the water were a bit challenging and not for people who are NOT sure footed. I have a knee issue, and it was difficult to find footings that wouldn't bother my knee. The rocks can be slippery, and there are a lot! Bring mosquito spray.

There is a pit toilet and trash containers.

Be careful pulling in and out as the canyon road is...