Cathedral Rock (Sedona)

Cathedral Rock is the most recognisable of the red sandstone buttes around Sedona, Arizona: a long, narrow mass of rock that ends in a cluster of free-standing spires, rising to about 4,967 feet (1,514 m). Seen from the south-west across Oak Creek, those spires do look like the towers of a Gothic church, and the name has stuck since early maps that called it Court House Rock — a title that was later shuffled onto a neighbouring butte. The rock is one of the most photographed natural sights in Arizona, and it earns that reputation every evening, when the low sun sets its layered walls glowing.

The stone itself tells a story of a vanished coastline. The upper butte is carved from the Schnebly Hill Formation, a red-bed sandstone built up from coastal sand dunes along the shore of an ancient sea in the Permian period. On the lower trail, fossil ripple marks are still visible in the slabs underfoot, and in the first saddle a dark band of basalt cuts through the red rock — a dike where molten rock once forced its way up through a crack.

There are two classic ways to experience it. The Cathedral Rock Trail, a short but very steep scramble on bare rock, climbs from the Back O' Beyond trailhead to the gaps between the spires, where the view opens over the whole red-rock basin. The other is the view from below: at Red Rock Crossing, a Forest Service day-use area on Oak Creek, the butte is reflected in the slow water, framed by sandstone ledges along the bank — the scene that appears on countless posters and calendars. The rock lies within Coconino National Forest.

Getting there

Cathedral Rock stands about 2.5 miles (4 km) south of the main intersection in uptown Sedona, about a mile west of State Route 179; the Back O' Beyond trailhead is reached from SR 179, and Red Rock Crossing lies about seven miles south-west of downtown Sedona. Flagstaff is about 44 km away in a straight line, and Flagstaff Pulliam Airport (FLG) is about 37 km away. Most visitors base themselves in Sedona. The trailhead car park is small and fills early; the climb to the saddle is on smooth, steep rock, so go in good shoes and avoid it in wet weather.