What's Closed in Sedona Right Now
An active closure order is in effect
Coconino National Forest closure order 03-04-00-26-004 (the Pocket Fire order) took effect July 13, 2026 and runs through September 30, 2026 at 11:59pm, unless rescinded earlier.
This is a legal closure. Entering a closed area is a federal violation, and the current hazard — monsoon flash flooding on a fresh burn scar — is the kind that arrives faster than you can walk out of a canyon.
As of July 28, 2026, several of Sedona's most famous trails are legally closed under a Forest Service fire closure order — including Devil's Bridge, Boynton Canyon, West Fork, and Soldier Pass. Two of the three Sedona Shuttle routes are suspended as a result.
Still open: Cathedral Rock, Bell Rock Pathway, Little Horse, Airport Mesa and the Airport Loop, Fay Canyon, Doe Mountain, and Sugarloaf.
The order expires September 30, 2026 unless lifted sooner. We re-check this page against the Forest Service alerts feed, but the authority is always the Coconino National Forest alerts page — check it the morning you go.
Getting there
Two separate orders are in effect
It's worth knowing there are two closures running, because they cover different places and expire on different dates.
1. The Pocket Fire closure order (03-04-00-26-004) — July 13 to September 30, 2026. This is the big one, covering trails across the Dry Creek, Boynton, Soldier Pass and Oak Creek Canyon areas. Signed by the Forest Supervisor; violating it is a Class B misdemeanour carrying fines up to $5,000 for an individual.
2. An Oak Creek flood closure — a separate, shorter order covering creekside recreation sites, driven by debris and flash-flood risk off the burn scar rather than by fire itself. This one has affected Call of the Canyon, Bootlegger, Banjo Bill, Halfway, Manzanita, Encinoso and Grasshopper Point, and the swim area at Slide Rock State Park.
Because the second order is short and gets renewed or lifted on its own schedule, the creekside sites are the ones most likely to have changed status since we last checked.
Closed right now
Named in the Pocket Fire closure order:
The big ones: Devil's Bridge Trail No. 120 · Boynton Canyon Trail No. 47 · West Fork Trail No. 108 and the Call of the Canyon Picnic Site · Soldier Pass Trail No. 66 · Brins Mesa · Long Canyon Trail No. 122
Access trails to Devil's Bridge: Dry Creek Trail No. 52 · Mescal Trail No. 174C — which means every approach to the bridge is shut, not just one.
Also closed: Vultee Arch · Wilson Mountain · Wilson Canyon · North Wilson · Secret Canyon · Secret Mountain · Deadmans Pass · Soldiers Crossing · A.B. Young · Bear Sign · Casner Canyon · Casner Mountain · Jim Thompson · Kelsey · Winter Cabin · Fernow Cabin
Day-use sites: Grasshopper Point (temporarily closed) · the Oak Creek swim area at Slide Rock State Park
Shuttle routes: Route 11 (Dry Creek Vista / Mescal) and Route 14 (Soldier Pass) are both suspended.
Still open
Confirmed outside the closure boundary and not named in the order:
Cathedral Rock Trail No. 170 — open, with its usual Thursday–Sunday shuttle-only parking rule.
Bell Rock Pathway No. 96 — open, all three lots, no shuttle restriction. The best pick right now for an easy hike.
Courthouse Butte Loop No. 135 — open. 3.8 miles with only 297 feet of gain, and quiet on its far side.
Little Horse Trail No. 61 — open, and served by Route 15, which is running normally.
Broken Arrow Trail No. 125 — open. Shared with jeep tours, but rated moderately easy with spectacular views.
Airport Mesa and Airport Loop Trail No. 210 — open. The most accessible vortex site and the best sunset in town.
If you had a Devil's Bridge trip planned, Cathedral Rock is the closest substitute for the dramatic-photo itch, and Bell Rock or Courthouse Butte is the substitute if you wanted something the whole group could do.
The genuinely ambiguous ones
Some trails aren't named in the order but sit right against its boundary, and we'd rather show you our reasoning than print a confident answer we can't fully support.
Fay Canyon and Bear Mountain appear in the order's Exhibit D as partially exempted — exempt from the trail prohibition, but only for the portion inside the Red Rock–Secret Mountain Wilderness. Their trailheads are not exempted, and the access road allows pass-through traffic only. So the trail is technically legal and the way to reach it isn't.
Doe Mountain isn't named at all, but its trailhead sits on the same FR 152C corridor at the boundary line. We read that as closed. That's an inference from the order's boundary description, not a Forest Service statement.
Huckaby is split: its northern Midgley Bridge trailhead is inside the boundary — the same spot as the explicitly-closed Wilson Mountain trailhead — while its southern Schnebly Hill end is outside. A through-hike isn't viable.
For any of these four, call the Red Rock Ranger District on (928) 203-2900 rather than trusting our reading or anyone else's. The penalty for getting it wrong is a federal citation.
Why it's still closed if the fire is out
A reasonable question, since by the Forest Service's most recent public update the Pocket Fire was largely contained and its activity had subsided.
The reason is the burn scar. Ground stripped of vegetation sheds water instead of absorbing it, and during Arizona's monsoon season that turns ordinary rain into flash flooding — moving fast, carrying debris, and funnelling into exactly the narrow canyons that make Sedona hiking beautiful. Boynton and West Fork are box canyons. There is no high ground to step onto.
That's why closures routinely outlast the flames, and why "the fire's out, it's probably fine" is the wrong instinct. The order runs to September 30, which lines up with the end of monsoon season rather than with fire containment.
How to check for yourself
We date-stamp this page and re-check it, but a closure order can be rescinded early or extended, and you should never take a third-party site's word for whether a trail is legally open. Two authoritative sources, both free:
Coconino National Forest alerts — every active closure order and forest restriction, straight from the agency.
sedonashuttle.com — carries a status banner when routes are suspended, which is usually the fastest public signal that something upstream has changed.
For anything ambiguous, the Red Rock Ranger District is (928) 203-2900.
Frequently asked questions
Is Devil's Bridge open right now?
No. Devil's Bridge Trail No. 120 is closed under the Pocket Fire closure order through at least September 30, 2026, along with all three of its access trails — Dry Creek, Mescal, and Long Canyon.
Is Cathedral Rock open?
Yes. Cathedral Rock is not named in the closure order and Shuttle Route 15 is running normally. The usual Thursday–Sunday private-vehicle restriction at the trailhead still applies.
When will the Sedona trails reopen?
The closure order expires September 30, 2026 unless rescinded earlier. There's no announced reopening date — the continuing hazard is monsoon flash flooding on the burn scar, so timing depends on conditions.
Is Boynton Canyon open?
No. Boynton Canyon Trail No. 47 is closed under the same order. Of the four vortex sites, Airport Mesa, Cathedral Rock and Bell Rock are all open.
Is the Sedona Shuttle running?
Partly. Route 15 (Cathedral Rock / Little Horse) is operating. Routes 11 and 14 are suspended because the trails they serve are closed.
What happens if I hike a closed trail?
Entering an area under a Forest Service closure order is a federal violation. Beyond the legal question, the active hazard is monsoon flash flooding on burn scars, which is a genuine danger in narrow canyons rather than a precautionary one.
Facts on this page last verified July 28, 2026. Fees, hours, and access rules change seasonally — confirm with the official source before a long drive.