Cathedral Rock: The Most Photographed Spires in Arizona

Of all Sedona's formations, none is photographed more than Cathedral Rock, a cluster of sandstone spires that seems to gather like the towers of a great church. It is carved from the same red Schnebly Hill Formation as the rest of the region, and its summit rises well above four thousand feet. The classic view is not from the top but from below, at Red Rock Crossing, where Oak Creek fords across a shelf of stone and the spires double themselves in the still water, an image that has sold Arizona to the world.

There is a curious tangle in its name. According to local tradition, when the early settler Abraham James named the local rocks, he called this one Church Rock and gave a blockier neighbor a different name. Later a government mapmaker apparently swapped the labels, so the tall spired formation became Cathedral Rock and the blocky one became Courthouse Butte, a mix up locals have argued over ever since.

The steep trail to the saddle between the towers is short but demanding, a scramble that rewards you with the whole valley spread out in red and green below.