Winter in Sedona

A storm breaks after leaving snow on Sedona's Capitol Butte.

During winter, the natural world seems to sleep. In Sedona, however, the winter months seem more like a magician’s spell. Autumn’s high tourist season is long past, and holiday visitors are gone. It’s this quiet, spellbound time that many of the town’s residents cherish as a chance to rest and reconnect with the attractions that inspired them to move here.

For visitors, this “off season” is a good time to rub elbows with locals and experience the natural world as it re-gathers energy for spring. And while the human social calendar is a bit thinner in January and February, Mother Nature continues to put on a show. Occasionally, snow dusts the tops of the red rocks, and sometimes a storm will blanket the forest floor, making it easier to see who’s been wandering the winter wonderland.

Tiny cloven prints a few inches apart belong to collared peccaries. Better known as javelinas, they forage in neighborhoods during winter months, parents and older sibs protecting the younger ones. Javelinas can reproduce year-round, and though most babies are born to coincide with the summer monsoon, two tiny brown-and-pink “piglets” showed up in my neighborhood in December. The precocious piggies trot along with the rest of the family band shortly after birth. Another morning, I watched nine mule deer cross the street and head into the forest, and last week a bobcat paused in the driveway. The ground is still damp from the last snowstorm, and trails boast a mosaic of prints.

Though days are short, the low angle of the sun sends rays deep into the alcoves where the prehistoric Sinagua Indians built their pueblos, and hikers may be surprised by the warmth of these original “passive solar homes.” In late afternoon, the setting sun burnishes Sedona’s red rocks, an especially dazzling sight if a breaking storm has topped the high peaks with snow, creating a contrast of light and dark, ice and fire. Nights are long and cold, but the air is crisp, and stars sparkle brilliantly.

By the end of January, nature is already beginning to stir. Manzanita and sugar bush show pink blossoms and buds in sunny locations, and green shoots mark future wildflowers. Sedona’s trails, always inviting, are lightly visited this time of year. Most of Arizona’s winter visitors tend to stick around the Sonoran Desert, where car auctions, the Phoenix Open golf tournament, and Scottsdale’s horse shows offer plenty of entertainment, and temperatures are a warm respite from harsher climates.

Sometimes, there’s a good reason to avoid visiting a popular location during the off-season, such as seasonal closures or unfriendly weather. But while Sedona’s winter weather is 10 to 20 degrees colder than the lower Sonoran Desert, it’s still relatively mild year round. Winter visitors to Red Rock Country will find Groupons or discounts on hotels and spa services, two-for-one restaurant specials, daytime highs around 50, and perhaps a dusting of snow.

In February the social calendar begins to pick up once more. The Sedona Marathon gets things moving on February 2, 2013, and five days later, Sedona’s first-ever yoga festival opens. By the end of the month, when the red carpet rolls out for the Sedona International Film Festival, daffodils and fruit trees are starting to blossom, and the town is already gearing up for spring break crowds.

Until then, Sedona rests quietly under winter’s spell….