Sedona’s Hangover Trail is a legendary double black diamond route that pushes even seasoned hikers and is strictly for expert mountain bikers. Known for its steep slickrock, dizzying exposure, and narrow ridgelines, the loop winds through dramatic red rock country off Schnebly Hill Road, offering sweeping views of Oak Creek Canyon, Wilson Mountain, and the “Cowpies.” Access typically requires hiking up Munds Wagon Trail first, or for those with a high-clearance 4x4 and off-road experience, starting at the upper loop. Marked by white dots across the stone, Hangover delivers both jaw-dropping scenery and serious risk—an unforgettable challenge in Sedona’s rugged backcountry.
But who built it, and how did it come to be?
Except for a small group of people in the know, most locals — even longtime ones like myself — don’t know the answer. Simon Bosman, my first interview for the Bad Boys series, was the one who gave me the first clue. That clue eventually led me to Leonardo de Sedona, the main trail builder behind this masterpiece.
“I love seeing people on trails I helped build, and it makes me feel good to watch them enjoy it,” Leonardo told me as we walked the trail together one fine April day.
I’ve hiked over 100 trails in Sedona and love them all, but the cherry on the cake of Sedona’s gorgeousness is the epic Hangover Trail. It’s not for the casual tourist who wants an easy two-mile stroll, and it’s not for mountain bikers unless they are truly expert. On days when Sedona is jammed with bumper-to-bumper traffic and the popular trails are packed, Hangover usually has just a handful of adventurers. We saw only a few bikers during the five hours we were out there, and one of them was walking his bike.
I first fell in love with those formations back in the 1990s, when I was a jeep tour guide riding up and down Schnebly Hill. I had my own names for them then — the mini van, the duck kissing an ET, the tooth — but in those ancient days we never imagined we could walk around them. When I finally did, it was even more magical than I had imagined.
When mountain bikers and trail builders told me one person had built Hangover alone, I was stunned. Leonardo de Sedona later clarified that while he did get help at times from other builders on sections of his two-year project, he was still out there in all kinds of weather working solo much of the time. He actually preferred working after rain or snow, when the ground was easier to shape.Hangover came after its mother trail, Damfino, was first built. Damfino was not adopted by the Forest Service because the area was considered a special study cypress zone. Leonardo was working on Damfino with another trail builder when his companion said they'd need to figure out a name for the trail. Leonardo answered, "Damn if I know," and his friend said he liked it and that it sounded good to him. The name stuck.
Another trail builder made a sign, and Leonardo carried it up and installed it, giving the trail a somewhat official look even though it had been bootlegged in without permission.
Leonardo got a real kick out of hearing that when the Sedona Westerners hiking group found Damfino and did a hike on it, they put an article in the paper praising the Forest Service for what they called "the best hiking trail in Sedona."
"I believe that's how the Forest Service found out about it," he told me. Later, the trail was shut down because it crossed that special Arizona cypress study zone, although Leonardo expressed some skepticism as that reasoning.
A few years after he built Hangover, Leo ran into some Swiss bikers who’d flown across the Atlantic after seeing trail photos online. “We had to ride it,” they declared with fire in their eyes. Leonardo grinned and asked, “You want to meet the guy who built it?” Their eyes lit up: “Yes! Then he dropped the bomb: “You know who built it?... Yeah, I did.”
"You would have thought I was a damn rock star," he chuckles, remembering their enthusiastic reactions. An elaborate photo session followed.
We stopped many times along the trail to look at specific sections of cantilevered rocks, walls, and stunning formations the trail was set up to pass.Sometimes it took up to several days to get small sections of the trail done during the building process. We walked past giant slabs of Fort Apache limestone from the Sea of Cortez, which hold fossils — both of us admiring these pitted grey rocks.
I questioned what kept him out on those sketchy ledges, month after month, without recognition. “When I’m building a trail, I’m building one I can ride and one others can enjoy,” Leo explains. “Selfishly, the main motivation is that I just love building trail. That’s the real driving force. You’re creating something for yourself, your friends, and anyone else can enjoy."
As we walked the narrow ledges, he told me about the precarious crumbling sections on the back side that were very risky to build on — places where one wrong step could have sent the builder sliding into the void.
In spots, he told me about the help he had along the way.
"Incognito helped me put this rock in place," Leonardo said. "It was a few yards down and really heavy. Finally got it up to widen this corner under this hangover." He gave credit to two other trail builders — one instrumental in the creation process, the other who worked on the front side of the formations as time permitted. There was once an informal trail build day, but Leonardo found the crew more trouble than it was worth; not everyone shares the same construction skills or ideas.
Every time I hike Hangover, I see something new. Walking it with Leonardo de Sedona let me see the building blocks of trail art through the eyes of its creator. Now, every saddle I crest, every rock I scramble, every gorgeous boulder I pass — I'll always be looking for his handiwork, the invisible artistry of Sedona's greatest outlaw trail builder.
