Name: Cathedral Rock Trail
Rating: 4.8

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Description

This trail is fairly straightforward to find - just follow the cairns weaving up the path towards the Cathedral prominence and try not to get side-tracked by the Templeton Trail crossing after scrambling out of the river bed.

Expect mostly exposed rock faces at the start, leading to a few threads of shady dirt trail sections towards the top. There are some sections that are YDS 2, requiring a scramble up loose rocks. There is one boulder at the mid-point which is YDS 3 being particularly steep and exposed but fairly easy to get up if you have good shoes/feet and use your hands.

At the top, enjoy one heck of a view and follow a couple of short side trails for additional treats.

This is a desert trail! Mind the sun and bring enough water

Contacts

Land Manager: USFS - Coconino National Forest Office

Shared By:

Alexander Vengerovsky

Full Details

Trail Ratings

4.8 from 73 votes

#1

in Cathedral Rock

#9

Overall

4.8 from 73 votes

5 Star		81%
4 Star		16%
3 Star		3%
2 Star		0%
1 Star		0%

Trail Rankings

#1

in Cathedral Rock

#2

in Arizona

#9

Overall

55 Views Last Month

7,530 Since Feb 23, 2017

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		69%
		5%

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Photos

Jan 1, 2019 near West Se…, AZ

Jan 1, 2019 near West Se…, AZ

Crest the climb to Cathedral Rock to bask in this phenomenal view. Bring a snack to enjoy, because you won't want to leave!

Feb 17, 2017 near West Se…, AZ

Jan 1, 2019 near West Se…, AZ

Jan 1, 2019 near West Se…, AZ

Jan 1, 2019 near West Se…, AZ

1 Comment

Weather

Current Trail Conditions

All Clear 10 days ago

Update Conditions See History

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Check-Ins

May 24, 2023

David Walsh

Jan 14, 2023

Victoria Castrillo

Nov 16, 2022

Bobby Meyers

0h 55m

Oct 14, 2022

David Carrion

2.2mi — 1h 11m

Aug 16, 2022

Matt Hardgrove

May 28, 2022

Marc Corona

May 15, 2022

Zachary Bowen

0.5mi

Apr 23, 2022

J C

Apr 21, 2022

Catterin Echeverry

1.8mi

Mar 9, 2022

Vince D

Feb 8, 2022

Charlie Capen

Jan 14, 2022

Bruce Hope

Dec 17, 2021

Nick Graziano

Nov 8, 2021

Chase Feldbrugge

0.6mi

Sep 2, 2021

Fred and Jenn Schippa

Here's the trick with Cathedral Rock - simply pace yourself. You can climb, rest, quickly recover and repeat all the way to the top! TOTALLY worth it! — 1h 20m

Jul 24, 2021

Devin Pennypacker

2mi

Apr 16, 2021

Sam Hertz

8.5mi — 4h 51m

Apr 15, 2021

Jacqueline Rollande

Feb 26, 2021

Marianna Rogers

Out and back. 1mi

Jan 4, 2021

Angelika Tokarczyk

Dec 29, 2020

Brianna Freitag

Nov 11, 2020

Shawn B.

Oct 22, 2020

Keith Lehman

Oct 16, 2020

Reid Snowden

Aug 3, 2020

Lauren Sargeant

Jul 12, 2020

Allan Mal

Steep scramble throughout the hike. It's totally worth the view of the sunset if you push past the first break thx jk - Snake, tarantula, Scorpion. 2.9mi

Feb 28, 2020

Meghan Jacobs

1.8mi — 1h 20m

Jan 16, 2020

Sam Malamis

Oct 27, 2019

Guy Dar

Oct 22, 2019

Braxton Cox

Beautiful at sunset. 1mi

Oct 14, 2019

Morgan Hurst

Jul 11, 2019

Rachel Comp

Trail is in good condition. A bit of climbing/scrambling necessary if you want to go to the top, but nothing more than 10-20 feet at a time.

Jul 10, 2019

Spencer Cady

Jul 3, 2019

Sanjida Ali

6h 40m

Jun 13, 2019

Dayna Turner

Jun 6, 2019

Emily Freed

Awesome, loved the scramble. It's kinda like bell rock but shorter. 1mi

Jun 1, 2019

Lawrence Wang

May 21, 2019

Eric Meyr

May 19, 2019

Jaehong Park

May 18, 2019

Marilyn Stasinopoulos

May 14, 2019

Lucas Winson

Apr 27, 2019

Kevin Coen

With Winnie and Gavin 1.7mi — 1h 46m

Apr 23, 2019

Shawn Grogan

Cool scramble all the way up 1mi — 0h 40m

Apr 20, 2019

Conrad Eaton

Mar 28, 2019

Prabin Shrestha

Mar 27, 2019

Laura Levisay

Mar 23, 2019

Scott Wichern

Feb 11, 2019

Sam C

Jan 18, 2019

Sam Wisher

Jan 13, 2019

Sandy Nguyen

1.2mi

Dec 30, 2018

Scott Runkel

Steep, take your time 1.6mi

Dec 15, 2018

Wei Wei

Dec 12, 2018

Rachel Phifer

Steep climb to the top and very rocky, but totally worth it 1.8mi

Nov 8, 2018

Kendall Taylor

0.5mi

Oct 27, 2018

Beth N

1mi

Oct 26, 2018

Bob Drew

Beautiful view!

Oct 26, 2018

Zenon Markewycz

0.8mi

Oct 18, 2018

Uyen M

Oct 17, 2018

J B

Sep 30, 2018

Mary Schlitt

Sep 30, 2018

Olivia Jorge

Sep 29, 2018

Mary Schlitt

Sep 20, 2018

Miranda Wenzel

Sep 16, 2018

Jeri Winton

Aug 5, 2018

Brandon Jew

1mi

Aug 4, 2018

Raf Saavedra

1mi

Jul 16, 2018

Christopher Chadwick

Jul 14, 2018

Omar Albayati

Jul 12, 2018

Dave Milowicki

Another early morning after a rain the night before. Trail was sparse with hikers. A few spots were slippery but An awesome view at the top.

Jul 6, 2018

Juan Canton

Jun 23, 2018

joe bloggs

0.5mi

Jun 18, 2018

Deidre Hope

Such an awesome hike. There was some rock climbing that we did not expect. A little intimidating at first, but we didn't turn around. Worth it!

May 26, 2018

Zach Perrault

May 18, 2018

Cannelle Grizaud

May 13, 2018

Jay Rosencrantz

May 6, 2018

Brooks Hooper

Lost the trail on the way down near the top 1.5mi

May 6, 2018

Luke Mullen

0.5mi

May 3, 2018

Jonathan Greever

Apr 5, 2018

Jeff Grogan

Apr 2, 2018

Paul H

Went past posted sign to the very top. Two difficult spots. One of our favorites of the trip 1.8mi — 1h 35m

Apr 2, 2018

Malcolm Andrews

Mar 20, 2018

Jacob Grendahl

1.5mi

Mar 13, 2018

Brian Slatas

Mar 10, 2018

Tyler Thieding

0.3mi

Mar 10, 2018

Eduard Pfeffer

0.5mi

Feb 27, 2018

Alex Trujillo

Feb 23, 2018

hdjohnson

Feb 11, 2018

Christie Miller

Feb 6, 2018

Jared Connolly

Jan 27, 2018

Chelle Lee

Jan 7, 2018

Rachel Robinson

Best hike in Sedona so far! 1mi

Dec 25, 2017

Abe Ferraro

Great hike... strenuous and plenty of rock scrambling...more to explore on your left at the "end" of the trail. 1mi

Dec 9, 2017

Caesar Garcia

Nov 20, 2017

Rosemary Carroll

Oct 10, 2017

Jordi Bn

Oct 4, 2017

Chris W

Sep 24, 2017

Lainey X

2h 00m

Aug 21, 2017

Lucile Ko

Jul 27, 2017

Eric S.

Jul 17, 2017

Drew Sigmon

Jun 28, 2017

Drew Sigmon

1mi

May 24, 2017

William Jarema

May 23, 2017

Bridget H

May 19, 2017

Jessica Shallbetter

Short trail but very steep with really scenic views of Sedona. Beautiful drive to get there 1mi

May 18, 2017

Olive Evans

May 1, 2017

Natalie Sway-Tin

1.5mi

Apr 6, 2017

Joey Steele

3mi

Mar 24, 2017

Luke Davis

Feb 1, 2017

Humberto Servin

Apr 3, 2016

Erin Chakalos

Jun 13, 2015

Kendall Walker

May 17, 2012

Luke Sandstrom

0.5mi — 0h 35m

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Cathedral Rock Trail

“A short, but heart-rate raising scramble to a viewpoint in the middle of Cathedral Rock. ”

0.5

0.9

Point to Point

4,691' 1,430 m

4,045' 1,233 m

646' 197 m

5' 2 m

23%

40%

Toolbox

Know This Trail?

Dogs Unknown

Features Views

Description

Contacts

Shared By:

Trail Ratings

#1

#9

#1

#2

#9

Photos

1 Comment

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Weather

Current Trail Conditions

Check-Ins

Nearby Recommended Routes

Western Gateway Loop

Mescal Mountain Loop

Brins Mesa - Soldier Pass Loop

Cockscomb Overlook

Wilson Mountain North to South

Tuzigoot Ruins Trail